What could I bring to the table that would continue to improve something I’d truly come to love? And that’s how Route came to be…

Built by service technicians for service technicians, Route is a data-driven platform for the service business industry. Route was created to empower companies with the data, sales, and human capital management tools they need to grow their service business. Sales teams can sell with confidence using Route, the only service business software offering powerful features specifically designed for sales teams to help create detailed walkthroughs, accurate estimates, and winning proposals.

BusinessInterviews.com: What inspired you to launch your business?

Ricky Regalado: Out of college, I was working in the mortgage banking industry. Even though this ultimately wasn’t my calling in life, I learned so much from my experiences: how to cold call, the dos and don’t of successful sales, and the knowledge that a structured corporate environment just wasn’t a fit for me long-term.

When the opportunity came up to get into the cleaning business through some family connections, I jumped at the chance to try something new. After some trial and error, I started the Rozalado brand along with my wife. The hours were long, the work was hard, but it meant something to be responsible for the success and growth of a business – my business.

After expanding Rozalado to 250 employees and contracts in seven states, I started thinking about the cleaning industry more broadly. What could I bring to the table that would continue to improve something I’d truly come to love? And that’s how Route came to be – the desire to bring technology to a hands-on industry in a way that would improve productivity, save money, streamline workflows, empower employees, and take everyone into the future.

BusinessInterviews.com: Do you have any recent success stories that you’d like to share with our readers?

Ricky Regalado: Rozalado has been an amazing case study for working with the Route app. With a robust sales group, a sizeable field team, and enhanced product knowledge we were really interested to start digging into the numbers and see how Route really helps companies. These are preliminary, but some of the insight we’re seeing is even more impactful than we initially hoped for.
– The Rozalado team was able to increase sales 40% and won 67% more of the accounts they bid on after implementing use of the app.
– The time from Walkthrough to Proposal on a service contract is 60% faster, saving 25 hours per week on writing up proposals
– Our sales team has grown by over 100%
– Improved profit margin
– 100% reduction in unprofitable bids (underbidding jobs and losing profit margin in the process)

BusinessInterviews.com: What issue does your core product help solve and how so?

Ricky Regalado: Route was developed for the unique and complex needs of building service contractors and commercial cleaning companies, featuring mobile and web applications to manage the full Account Lifecycle while creating synergies across the day to day activities happening across the business. Some examples of industries our product works well for are janitorial services, handyman services, HVAC, painting, pest control, and carpet cleaning but there are many other successful use cases.

The value of Route above other offerings on the market is the product’s unique 1-2-3 workflow for walkthroughs, estimates, and proposals, providing digitization of the entire sales process. Walkthrough Builder collects and organizes the scope of work including dimensions, floor type, hot points and special notes by room, area, or task on site with actual images of the prospect’s space. Use this information to calculate your Bid with Route’s Estimator, then generate a Proposal supercharged by custom templates, personalization, and automation that bring you and your team unprecedented growth and productivity.

No more jumping back and forth for different portions of a job, Route can take a client all the way through the process, supporting the back office and the workers in the field from one app. The live data being fed through the app also empowers sales teams to make the most accurate proposals possible, eliminating under-bidding contracts and destroying profit margins. The available proposal and contract templates also cut down on administrative time and gets everyone back to the work that really matters. Automatic push notifications, text messages, and emails also keep your entire team on the same page, no matter what happens.

BusinessInterviews.com: What has been your biggest challenge as a business owner and how have you met that challenge?

Ricky Regalado: The hardest part of being a business owner for me has been learning how to delegate. When we started Rozalado, it was just me and my wife. We did everything. But as the company grew, I learned how to trust others to get the job done right. Every time I’ve handed down responsibilities, people have exceeded my expectations. When I need to, I’m able to confidently let my amazing team handle the day-to-day while I focus on the big picture. I still love to go out on sales calls and work with clients, but it’s an amazing relief to know that if my mind needs to be elsewhere, I have nothing to worry about.

BusinessInterviews.com: What’s the most exciting thing on the horizon for you/your Company?

Ricky Regalado: The Future of Work for Building Service Contractors has exciting potential. Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, 5G, the Internet of Things, Drones and Robots, the list goes on. As a business management platform in this space, we can’t wait to work with these innovators to further empower our users with cutting edge technologies.

BusinessInterviews.com: Have you had any mentors or role models that have influenced you? Describe the impact.

Ricky Regalado: My parents are absolutely the biggest role models in my life. They worked every day to support our family, and make our lives better in every way they could. Through the examples they set for me I learned how to be prepared for anything and work hard. It made me an entrepreneur and gave me two businesses that I’m extremely proud to be a part of.

BusinessInterviews.com: How do your competitors view you?

Ricky Regalado: One great thing about being a software company is our collective perspective on competition.
We recently attended the annual ISSA North America Trade Show as an Exhibitor, and we tried connecting with not only every other software company there but also other industry players developing technologies for things like equipment and supplies. Almost everyone we spoke with was interested, supportive, open and collaborative. We actually got some great advice too.
Working together through open APIs, integrations, referral programs and other technology partnerships can be so much more powerful in this space and ultimately empowers all of our users.

BusinessInterviews.com: What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs and business owners? What do you wish someone told you?

Ricky Regalado: Don’t be afraid to start something for yourself. Becoming an entrepreneur is a big leap of faith – in yourself, in your community, in your potential customers. But it’s so worth it when it works out. If you stay on the grind and really believe in what you’re doing, there’s no greater reward than building a business that creates jobs, empowers its employees, and improves lives.

BusinessInterviews.com: What’s the biggest risk that you’ve ever taken and how did it turn out?

Ricky Regalado: Route might take the cake. Starting from a pitch contest with a rough idea and no technology background, and to now have a full team with a commercial product making waves is a dream come true. Every step of the way has been a risk, but we continue to accomplish the goals we set out to accomplish and that continues to make the journey worth the risk.