Service Autopilot Software

Everything you can think of with more on the way!

This software is incredibly powerful! We are trying to get our money's worth out of it by utilizing more and more of the features, but there is so much more we can do with it that we're not doing. Customer support is incredible! I chatted with customer support about an issue (after waiting in queue for a whole 15 seconds), and a week later, I got a hand-written card in the mail thanking me for my patience and my business. We used to keep paper route sheets and proposals. We went to mobile app use and eliminated the route sheets and were able to translate jobs directly to invoices! We were taking 2 days to invoice and when we set the system up properly, it went to just a bit over a day to complete all of our invoices! Then, we moved from typed up proposals to using templates and rate matrices through the system and clients can sign the actual proposal right online, two clicks of a button and the jobs are scheduled (work-order notes and all) and then it auto invoices. Everything stays in the system and is easily accessible from anyone in the field! i.e. "Did Mrs. Jones sign up for a fall cleanup? Let's check the system to see which services she accepted on her proposal." or "When were we here last? Just touch "Job History" and it shows the last year's worth of visits. This has saved countless hours and makes our business so much more professional; "Mr. Smith, I just got a note and a picture here from one of our techs in the field, he was just there and the note says there was a car parked in front of the back yard gate so he could not get in, we can come back tomorrow." One of the challenges is getting a handle on every little feature of the app. The Snow Plowing dispatch is packed with features and it can be just the slightest bit complicated. But once we get the hang of it (like every other part of their system), we will be that much more efficient, professional, and PROFITABLE! Well worth the money! Put your SERVICE on AUTOPILOT!

Pros

Robust reporting allows me to see things like "revenue per lead source" and "actual time/budgeted time", job costing, payroll, sales commissions, lead conversion rates and much, much more. A seamless process that takes Lead to proposal to contract to job to invoice to payment to receipt of payment to thank-you note! Targeted marketing and targeted cross-selling with "Sales Campaigns". Mobile dispatch that allows for constant communication between office staff and technicians in the field. Asset management and tracking. Mobile signature and payment on invoices and proposals make quick sales and quick payment possible. AMAZING CUSTOMER SERVICE!

Cons

A bit of a learning curve because of all the awesome features. There are videos that are incredibly helpful, they just take some time to get used to.

Service-Software Dominant Player

Service Autopilot has not just been another CRM to hold customer information and track sales. As a $5MM+ service company with a database of over 55k contacts and their related records, choosing the right software company to transition to was very critical. We had long outgrown our previous CRM and until Service Autopilot we had almost given up on finding a real solution that would fulfil our needs to help us continue to grow and improve our system in the process. Service Autopilot has brought the whole spectrum of a service business together in an easy-to-use format for us. From incoming leads to re-marketing to previous customers and everything that happens in between Service Autopilot is a complete solution that saves times, increases efficiencies and pays for itself. Their awareness of the swift technological changes, attentiveness to member's needs and rapid/timely upgraded solutions is what separates them as the dominant player in the service-software market. In addition, everyone from the support staff to the leadership team of Service Autopilot has proven to be extremely receptive and helpful to provide answers and solutions to its member's needs. This is one of the most valued partnerships we have ever established and are looking forward to a long-lasting relationship as we both grow together.

Pros

The fact that it seamlessly moves every activity of a lead from one phase to the next, from an incoming lead generated through an advertising campaign all the way through the sales process, follow-up, scheduling, invoicing, payment to re-marketing and upselling.

Cons

The reporting has admittedly been their weakness, but they have recently dedicated more resources to improving and adding reports as requested and needed.

Amazing Software

Started using this software 5 years ago when I created this new landscape, lawn maintenance and irrigation business. Wanted to have a solid foundation for scaling up and this was the perfect solution. Before this I used four other software programs and nothing even compares to the ease of use and multitude of features Service Autopilot offers. One great example is our irrigation winterizing and spring turn on list. We have about 300 clients and it only takes an hour or so to sort them and schedule them for the appropriate day. We never miss a client because we have them set up in a "package" that automatically generates the routing and jobs are broken out by neighborhood. As soon as the irrigation technician completes the job on their mobile, it generates an invoice and we have it sent out via email at the end of the day. Sometimes our clients get their invoices before they come home and realize the service has been completed. Just the time savings alone on this project is worth the Service Autopilot cost. Before it would take 15 hours or so to organize the jobs and multiple hours just to enter and send out the invoices. Also, the techs can take pictures and leave notes for the office for repair follow ups that are attached to the job.

Pros

Absolutely wonderful for repeat maintenance jobs and one time jobs. We never miss any billing because the employees only go to places on their mobile schedules.

Cons

It is a little cumbersome on large multi-day landscape projects. They do have a "Projects" option for these types of jobs. I even printed out the instructions on how to use it but it's not as easy and intuitive as the rest of the software.

Service Autopilot will offer more than what you ever need

I've switched to SA from operating on paper notes and without much systems and trackable processes. Main reason opting for SA was Jonathan's track history of lawn care operations and software. But biggest selling point was his vision on an all automated platform. A very detailed price matrix and estimate templates plus the easy to navigate dispatch board are just two of the many features that have helped my company to send out proposals quick, efficient and with the desired profits and making sure no job gets missed. The mobile app is a sure game changer for everyone that used to work with paper route sheets. Customer Support when needed is finding a good solution most times. Many times they will go the extra mile finding a good solution. Occasionally you may find a representative who is not up to speed with some issues but hey...there's new people in any business that can't be perfect from day 1. The people behind the company and the leadership is outstanding as I know Jonathan (co-owner) on a more private level. The progressive approach to today's fast changing technology and demanding customers is second to none. Capabilities of SA are simply staggering and will require at least one full time person in order to utilize the power. One area of suggested improvement is the snow dispatch functionality. Although it works you can sense the immediate lack of insight due to their location not being exposed to real winter service environment . If you're looking for a business software that can grow with your business as well as provides great inside information into your numbers you will not be disappointed.

Pros

no jobs missed anymore
marketing potential
templates

SAP saved our company!

Our business is Lawnpro Grounds Maintenance, We have been with Service Auto Pilot since 2014. When we first came on with SAP I was a little worried about how this one program would fit our company needs. But after about 100 phone calls, 50 emails and many webinars, I can say first hand that without SAP, our company would not be where it is today. The team at SAP was very supportive and patient with any and all our questions. SAP have given us the system and tools to be able to run our company at its fullest. We have grown in numbers and grown ourselves in being more efficient. We depend on SAP so much you could quite possibly call them a business partner. We are truly grateful and recommend SAP to anyone.

Pros

All functions of SAP are exactly what you need to run your company efficiently. We absolutely love the Maps Pro for estimating our clients property. That alone saves us hours of work weekly.

Cons

There really is nothing that we don't like about SAP.

Working our way to a business that practically runs itself!

We had to 'jump right in" and start using Service Autopilot in May of 2012 after our old scheduling software crashed during the middle of our busiest season! The customer service department had us up and running in a few days and we were on our way to making schedules again. They helped us set up our entire company, build packages, and train us all at the same time, understanding that we were in an emergency. However, that same urgency for customer service has continued to be provided to us after almost 3 years! It is hard to determine what is Service Autopilot's best feature, but their customer service department is certainly up at the top. Quick response times and the helpful attitude of each customer service agent makes it obvious that this company's priority is their users. As a middle-aged user, I tend to get set in my ways with how my screens look, the process I use to do daily tasks, and am a little slower than I used to be in picking up new ways of doing things. It is probably easier for the younger user to catch on when new updates are made and features added, but in the end the realization that the software is only getting better makes the updates worth it. And as mentioned before, the customer service agents are always there to help those who are "a little slower" than the rest! My most favorite feature is the fact that I can control my business from anywhere in the world. As a frequent out-of-country traveler, I am now able to schedule, close jobs, keep track of my employees, and send out bills all while in another country. I no longer have the feeling that my business is crashing down while I am gone, and I can be enjoying my time outside the country and only my staff knows I am gone! I can confidently say that this software is one of the most powerful tools a business owner can have to organize, streamline, and take control of their business. I have used 2 other big-name scheduling programs, and Service Autopilot has exceeded my expectations in what a piece of software can do. My business is running more efficiently and I have been able to back away from daily operations and concentrate on the 'big picture' instead. I am excited at where my company is going and I finally have time to plan and take it there!

Amazing Service Company Management Software!

Extremely customized and detailed client and employee management features. The dispatch boards and calendar views are amazing and offer flexibility.

Pros

Features! This software can literally do anything you need it to! I have tried just about every maid service software out there and Service AutoPilot is hands down the best one and offers the most customizability and different functions! Also the amount of reports you can run through SAP is unreal! You can easily get a snapshot of your business at your fingertips. I love it!

Cons

It does take some time and patience to learn and get everything set up. The positive is you can layer your learning to help the process be more smooth. The other positive with that is it takes time to fully learn and utilize all of the functions because it really does so much!

HANDS DOWN THE BEST SOFTWARE FOR ANY SERVICE RELATED BUSINESS!!

Before using SAP it seemed like it took hours on end to schedule and invoice my clients, then I was always forgetting about jobs that needed to be completed. After really learning how to use SAP and entering all the relevant information, SAP does 99% of the work for me! All I need to do is click a few buttons & SAP handles the rest. SAP has allowed me to devote more time into growing my business instead of doing the time consuming paperwork that used to take me forever. And I never miss any work or invoices. I HIGHLY recommend SAP for anyone in a service related business, it really does "Pay For Itself" in the amount of time it saves you every month!

Pros

Never have to worry about forgetting to schedule or invoice clients! Tracks anything from scheduling to "Job Costs."

Cons

Takes a little time to learn the system and enter in all your existing clients information correctly. But once you do this IMPORTANT step, its all gravy!

A game changer for the service industry

Great company to work with, amazing customer service, and they are always working on devoloping new fetures with new techonlogy. Highly recomdended.

Pros

The system is very customizable. You can export all your data at any time and run excel reports if you choose to, however the internal reports are very detailed. This program will save any service business huge headaces by automating your service business. Service autopilot handles routing, invoicing, marketing, CRM and accouting seamlessly. It also handles large sales volumes efortlessly. As it runs on the cloud, it can be accessed from anywhere, anytime. Very happy with this program.

Cons

Be prepared to spend extra time setting up your account the way you like it. This is a huge plus, because you only have to do it once, and after that, you will get huge time savings.

Awesome Product and Company!!!

I have been using Service Auto Pilot since November of 2012. Setting up Service Auto Pilot: We set this product up in the winter of 2013 and spent a few weeks doing this. I would highly recommend doing this in the off season. You have to be disciplined and watch the videos. Don't try to set up everything. Try it and use it. You will learn more using it and it is very easy to make changes as you go. We are three years in and we make changes all the time to improve our time management. Customer Service: This is one of the bright spots of this business! These folks always respond and have spent hours with me and our staff as we learned all of the features of this product. They have helped us set up our invoices, estimates, packages, and services. They are really 2nd to none and I can't say enough about how much they have done for us. This product would be worthless without their customer service and they realize this. They have delivered in this area a hundred times over. How we use the product: We email all estimate and invoices. We charge credit cards for 95% of our business all done through the system. We send all route sheets to our crews daily and if we need to change them they get an update in the field. We are able to track and see what properties our crews have completed in real time. We can send advertising emails to all of our customers with a few clicks and in less than 5 minutes. We can track phone calls and keep important information about our customers for future reference in the customer file. Our customers can log in to their Service Auto Pilot account and change their credit card info, see their invoices, and request services. All of this is tracked in the system and notifies our staff when this happens. All of this is cloud based which means that I can work anywhere in the world. Many days I work from my car in the field as I meet my customers and work with my crews. I could go on and on about this product. In the past 2 years we have added over 400 customers. This product didn't do that but it has made adding that many customers easier and quite frankly it would have been impossible without a product like this.

The system is awesome. I originally signed up for the fertilizer dispatch feature but got a lot more

Help manage the growth and organize the jobs and employees.

Pros

During the winter a snow plow operator was accused of hitting a car in a parking lot. Since Service Autopilot has a time tracking feature when on the job, we where able to prove the time we where on the property and exposed that the manager was trying to pin the hit and run on us! Since they have cameras on the property and we demanded they show us and the car owner the time frame footage from when we where actually on the property. Bottom line they hired us just to pin the hit and run on us but since we had the power of Service Autopilot their plot to pin it on us failed.

Cons

Not really anything I can point out. It has the occasional glitch, but what powerful app/software doesn't.

Handles an unlimited amount of clients, jobs and employees.

I was first attracted to this company because they are very experienced in my line of work and do understand what we need from a very hands on point of view. There attitude toward customer service has taught me a lot about what it take to keep clients happy and coming back for more.

Pros

The dispatch board is laid out so you can customize the view you need of your work by client, status, resources assigned etc. It allows you to read notes and see pictures from the field in real time and correspond with your supervisors efficiently. The custom invoice templates are great and the fact that it syncs with Quick Books has reduced the time we spend billing customers. The Client screens allow us to keep track of every estimate, service and communication. Service Autopilot is capable of retain detailed info about each property and all job history. The training videos are great and the help staff is very polite and patient when you call with questions.

Cons

There is not much to dislike about Service Autopilot. It has been a little slow, but since it is cloud based software it could be my ISP or something else. They have made great improvements in this area.

Anyone in the market for a Lawn & Landscape Application must use this software!!!!!!!!

We are thrilled and love the software and its functionality. Most people don't understand the full capability of the software compared to the cost. Its very minimal money for alot of capability. We have personally gone through 4 other software programs in search of the right fit for us. SERVICE AUTOPILOT was it. From implementation to tech support we love our SA family.

Pros

Two way sync with Quickbooks, the batch credit card function, dispatching and great mobile app, pretty much everything.

Cons

I wish I could TEXT multiple people at one time, but its probably possible I just dont know how too.

Service Autopilot is a Godsend

Pros

Saves me 60 hours per month. No longer have to rely on spread sheets that take forever to update daily and weekly. Made it possible for us to expand; have hired two new employees serving 40 yards per day on average (60+ on Friday). Service Autopilot also provides extensive advice and coaching on how to expand our business. It is not cheap, but you get solid value for the money. We use credit cards to bill everyone and with SA we can bill everyone with one click, and since we have cash coming in daily, there are no issues with cash flow. We do the work, we get paid the same day or week.

Cons

Their computerized routing software is poor at best. For us, we do more than 20 stops per day in two crews, the SA routing software is a fail. Luckily, I had already learned how to route by using Road Warrior.

Service Autopilot Makes Crew Management A Breeze

We started using Service Autopilot in January 2016. Service Autopilot has been a wonderful tool for streamlining the maintenance aspects of our business from scheduling to billing. The integrated mapping service makes it a breeze to modify existing routes. Scheduling changes are accomplished with just a few clicks. I love the budgeted vs actual job hours feature as it allows us to see which jobs and or crews are most profitable. My favorite feature is that billing is literally done with the push of a button. No more long weekends or translating spreadsheets to send out invoices! The mobile app has been an invaluable tool for logging labor in real time and tracking crew location. I love the United States based customer service. The Service Autopilot customer support unit is always courteous and knowledgeable. Additionally, there are online training videos available which are always continually updated. Service Autopilot made implementation of their software as easy as possible with their extremely helpful and patient launch and implementation staff. I look forward to learning more features of Service Autopilot to help make our company even more profitable in 2017! Renee Linkner Lawnovations Office Manager Tulsa OK

Pros

Dispatching
Crew Management
Mobile Reporting

This program breaks down over time

BEWARE!!!!!! I own a lawn and tree fertilizing company. I have used this software for the past 3 years. We were extremely pleased with Service Auto Pilot for the first 2 years. It worked great and helped us tremendously with getting the business organized and up & running. Unfortunately over the past year I feel the software has done the complete opposite. With the constant updates there is some serious issues with the code the system is running. My balances on the invoices are off (which I have contacted them about several times over the past 5 months and they agree and confirm there is an issue) and even worse the jobs that are supposed to pop up for service are not. I have customers calling asking where we have been. There were always some small problems before with routing and just general things you need would be compromised. I once thought overall the site was a solid 4-4.5 stars out of 5 and a fair price. At this time however I DO NOT recommend this software! Check back once they get all the bugs worked out. The good thing is they made it easy to export your clients and leave. UPDATE September 21 2016. None of the issues I have been experiencing have been resolved and even more issues are popping up. Soon as season is over I will be leaving this company UPDATE 10/24/2016 I was told my issues were looked at by the development team and that they were some deep routed issues that would take a long time to fix. However the company has stopped updating me of the progress and it seems they have left my account for dead. There are even more issues popping up and it has become almost impossible to work with this software. I think what happens is after using the program for multiple years there is too much code interacting with itself and jumbles things all up. You may be wondering why I am still using it. That's because my business is seasonal and I was just hoping to get through the year before I went through all the work of inputting my customers into another service software program.

Pros

I loved its ease of use and how easy it was to teach my workers how to use it. It also has tons of extras that really come in handy when it comes to managing all aspects of business

Cons

I hate that it imploded on itself after using it for multiple years.

If you have a few hundred customers, expect to spend 10-15 hours per week correcting its mistakes.

Much easier than using a spreadsheet and hand inputting info into invoices and estimates.

Pros

The estimate, invoice templates and customization for letters is awesome. Other companies need to take a look at making easily customizable forms for invoicing and estimates. The software is excellent for emailing detailed estimates and letters. Converting leads/estimates into active customers is very simple. The pricing matrix conversions (size or piece per job into prices) is extraordinarily well done. Honestly, the software setup shows a ton of promise. I believe it could easily be the best out there if they would fix the basics listed below.

Cons

They do not have the basics down. Payments that are applied to balances are constantly unassociating from accounts. I spend 10-15 hours per week rechecking this error which causes serious billing problems and has cost me customers. Payment check boxes also tend to dissociate every once in a while. I spend another several hours per week on routing because single accounts cannot be pulled. If I have to add a customer into the route for that day the entire days work has to respool for printing. This takes up to 2 minutes to load and then another minute or two to scroll through the pages to print the necessary work. Routing, Call Logs, and To Do's are all scheduled for route printing. This costs a ton of time sorting it all out and paper costs add up quickly. My business (lawn care fertilizing and pest control) runs on renewing accounts each year. There is no way to auto-renew and send updated pricing and service schedules to existing customers. Each year I have had to input entirely new estimates for every active customer and send them individually. I then have to delete the prior years services and convert the estimate (pre-pay letter) into a whole new package. For a few hundred customers this process takes 90 hours! Customer information is split up between multiple screens and the jobs history for each has to be manually looked up by pulling up prior invoices. Support answers the phone but has not fixed even one of these issues nor has answers.

Customer for 2 years. Service is great but unreliable.

The software allows our sales team to effectively communicate with crews and the crews to effectively communicate with billing team. We lowered out administrative burden.

Pros

The package is feature rich and will do most of what you need it to do. With modifications to your SOPs can work with almost any service business. Customer support is polite and will walk you through the program's features. Has the ability to handle our 6 crews and more.

Cons

1. Despite advertisements is NOT a full sync with QB. Only syncs limited data and is unreliable in doing so.
2. The servers are way over worked and crash at least weekly. Often in the busy morning hours the servers are too busy to be able to quickly access our company information.
3. Services are unreliable. Features that work this week may or may not work next week. This can be anything from merge fields in email, routing systems, ability to assign work to crews and a wide assortment of things we experienced in the past month alone.
4. The reporting features are worthless and unreliable. Sales reports contain inaccurate totals and present conflicting data. Crew performance reports don't include all jobs. Crew time sheets don't show breaks. Reports will show different totals when you rerun the reports despite setting all the same filters (sounds like I am exaggerating, I am not).
5. When issues are presented to customer support they say they will create a 'ticket' and will get back to us. We have literally over 100f open tickets that are unresolved. When we ask about those tickets from almost 2 years ago they simply say they are "in development" which means someone in the development team is supposed to review the ticket.
6. The support staff at SA have told us on two separate occasions that the administration at SA is more concerned with implementing new features than they are in having the features work correctly because it is the new features that sells.

Do not purchase waste of time and money

Hello I started with service auto Piliot in March 2014. I had extremely high hopes and what they offer or said they offer I thought was exactly what was needed to run business. Wow was I wrong and they are a joke. I paid $108/ month for March April May. I cancelled end of May. Called Credit card company and disputing charges for fraud. They stated for fee a website they would build. I had info to them in 5 days of sign up on March 8. May 27 I finally was able to review the website. Let's say I had 5 people provide opinions. 1 said ridiculous a 4 year old could do better. 2 just stated you have been had. Get money back.your site is a joke. The last called me in such disgust and wanted the company information cause he felt they were a fraud of a company and wants to make sure this happens to no one else. The site stated we mowed lawns and next sentence asked to call to have swim pool opened. One area stated to check out our lawn care services and then listed swimming pool services. The pictures and format is something from th 80's. I do have screen shots and they stated its first one with this new format. I tell you this site would not have been acceptable for any company and back in times when we all used dial up. It was that sub par. The accounting services. I watched what felt like hours of videos and you will cause its set up that way. The gentleman who does them rambles on and on says the same thing over and over and what he accomplished in 19 min of video He could have done in 5. I spent hours and hours learning and finished criteria they ask you to do so you can have your one on one training session with a tech. I asked so many times to get my one on one I was begging by May. Each Time a new video of step to complete. I finally screamed I am paying for this I will sign a form if I waste my one on one training phone call I will not ask for another one. ( they stated they do not do the one on one training unless you complete certain steps cause they do not want you to waste) That did not work and no one on one. I can go on and on. It looks to me like they have a great base system and now are using it to make money to figure out how to implement to different fields of work. They offer websites and have no clue how to make one and the wording was poorly done. I beg of all you business owners. I truly wanted this to work. I sent clients letters raving about our new system, client portal and website. I wasted 3 months and now have to start over

After a season, I'm not sold, but still willing to give it another chance.

We started using this program this season. Previously we tried another system that was atrocious to implement. SA has been much better, but also has some serious issues. First major problem: We offer 2% 10 day discount, have for over a decade. There is no accounting setting for this in SA. I can accept payments into SA and add it as a line item with another 4-5 steps per payment. It's not a savings of time, or effort. If I enter the payment through QB Pro with the discount, SA does not recognize the discount and the customer has a past due balance. This can later be "adjusted" with more steps. Second major problem: If you use QB Pro for accounting (purchasing material for jobs or using it out of inventory, and assigning the expense as billable to the customer) you can not easily add the billable charges from the QB Pro side and have it sync to the the SA side. YOU MUST MANUALLY SYNC EVERY TIME before switching from QB Pro to SA and vise versa if you are adjusting invoices to avoid losing data. This program is mostly good for tracking time. It has good features and is pretty easy to navigate. Customer service has been very good and helpful. We have not been able to reach our goal of eliminating paper records from the trucks, but still intend to do so, perhaps with SA involved. It's still too easy to lose data with SA in the trucks. I plan to continue working with the software to see if we can indeed get it where we need it to be during the slow season. An observation about the company: The culture of SA is to push more products (acadamy, sync, training convention, etc...) and the constant statement that you need to "follow their program" in order to be successful. This is the only way you can do so. And the new products/ services keep coming, but I still see the same glitches in the core program. Maybe they should follow through with the original and make it a little stronger before chasing the next rainbow. .... I just keep getting the feeling like when I used to deal with a big bank. They want you to be so entangled with multiple accounts, programs, etc.. that even when you want to, it becomes difficult to extract your business from them.

Pros

time tracking converts to invoicing

Cons

Very weak on the accounting side. Minor glitches in the drop down boxes are annoying.