Considerations While Setting Up Your Pricebook
Setting up your ServiceTitan pricebook is no simple feat. In fact, the number of decisions that need to be made along the way can be daunting if not paralyzing. This post is geared toward those that are importing or creating their own pricebook. Here are just a few things I thought of (or wish I thought of) when setting up prior ServiceTitan pricebooks. ServiceTitan is constantly making improvements and adjustments so this will not be a step-by-step, or a how-to post. If you’re looking for more help or have further questions, I’d love to hear from you.
Read all the way to the end for a bonus tip!
Consider the Long Game
Are you going to add divisions or locations to your organization? Will you partner with retail or require zone specific pricing? Do not paint yourself into a corner by only thinking about the current state of your organization. What might things look like 2-5 years from now?
Someday, you may find the need to create an entirely separate pricebook that contains only a few key changes. For instance, you may want to expand your service area but you want to pare down your offerings to include only your most profitable services. There are quite a few different reasons you may want to make big changes, and while you certainly can create different rules within the category pricebook modifier, possible duplication and ease of making mass changes should always be kept in mind.
Database Rules and Nomenclature
Every database has rules you need to follow, and it’s likely you’re not in charge of those rules. Stay well within any character and size limits. I’ve had to work through ServiceTitan updates that cut down on the character limit for the title field and it caused multiple errors for longer than I’d care to admit.
Consider creating your own custom nomenclature codes to use. Many of the same materials can be purchased through multiple vendors. The codes or descriptions they use can vary widely. It can be helpful to either adopt one primary vendor’s nomenclature, or create your own. In the example below, I’ve created a custom nomenclature that when searched, returns a nicely sorted results list. To do this, create levels of granularity starting with vague and ending with very specific. I’ve also used the dividing character to split up several sections of the code. This way, you can use this character as a delimiter and update only certain sections if you wish.
Lean (Hard) on Your Primary Vendor(s)
Making sure your services are setup will likely be your primary focus and when your time is finite. It should be, but setting up materials and equipment is also important and don’t neglect them while setting up your pricebook. What you want are their part numbers and descriptions.
Your vendors already have most, if not all of the information you’re going to need. Ask them to give you their list in XLSX or CSV format. Don’t settle for a PDF, it’s useless for what we are trying to do. The faster they get you this information, the faster you can incorporate it into your system and start ordering from them.
This can be a big ask for many vendors so make sure you are honest and up front with how you are going to use their information. You may only have luck with your most trusted or hungriest suppliers. I found that telling them to leave out their pricing helped speed things up since the last thing they want is for their pricing information to be given to another vendor or used against them somehow. Also, be careful when using vendor catalogs, they may not fit the pricebook formatting you’re going for.
Always Consider Your Audience and Users
Will your technicians be putting estimates together in front of customers? Make sure your categories and subcategories are uniform, good-looking, and don’t contain anything that may cause questions or be confusing to your customers. The last thing you want is for the homeowners to discuss your visit after you’ve left. You don’t want them to speculate why you didn’t use that “Preferred Customers” category when you were putting their estimate together.
Remember that technicians and non-technicians like front/back office, as well as warehouse personnel are going to need to look for all sorts of items in the pricebook. Be sure to include all the proper (and sometimes jargon-y) keywords when creating your pricebook items. I suggest creatively working in key terms or part numbers into the description. For example, your title may say “Induced Draft Motor” but maybe your description should contain the words “combustion air blower” if many of your technicians use that term. Also, while a bulleted list of features may look good to your customer, it looks less than ideal to those using a laptop in the office. Everyone may be tempted to make sure the customer gets the best view but having an efficient, happy, and efficient office staff that interacts with those customers is always something to keep in mind.
[As of this writing, the different vendor part numbers used when setting up your pricebook vendor information wasn’t as searchable as the code, title, and description.]
And Finally, Your Bonus Tip!
When making mass updates using Excel you will likely need to sort and filter your data multiple times in the same session. Changing the color of the rows you've already made changes to, or those you don't want to change, will create a visual cues that won't impede your import.