Techs are the heroes. Blindness is the villain. And there are rules we don't bend.
Contractors ask the right questions before they buy this: what does my tech actually see, what does the customer ever see, and what won't you do with what you know? Here are the answers, and the switch that lets you decide who in your company sees what.
House rules
The five house rulesWhat a brief is not
Not your scheduling software
It sits beside ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, Jobber or JobNimbus and reads from it. It never replaces it.
Not a script
The play is a starting read. The house always wins the argument.
Not something the customer sees
The brief is for your team. Ever.
Not a credit tool
Nothing in ServiceScout approves, denies or scores anyone. The indicators help a tech calibrate a conversation; financing decisions belong to lenders.
Who sees the indicators — your choice
You have a choice about who in your company sees the estimates.
| Option | Office sees | Technician's brief shows | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office and tech | All indicators | All indicators, with the estimate framing | Shops whose techs are trained on the rules and use the credit band for financing conversations |
| Office only | All indicators | Everything except the financial indicators; Today's Play and the Before You Knock card carry the guidance | Shops that want techs to stay techs, or that have had a customer ask 'why do you know that?' |
Every brief is built with estimates from licensed household data — the indicators. They exist to orient a conversation: a long tenure means a replacement conversation is realistic; a strong credit band means the 0% financing conversation is worth having. They are never facts about a person and they are never repeated to a customer. Accounts in the newer Play Card test run office-only automatically. Either way, the play never uses the household picture. Tell support which option you want.
If a customer asks
Roles are about what people can see
| Role | Typical person | What they can do |
|---|---|---|
| Owner / Admin | Owner, GM, office manager | Everything: connect software, choose which techs and job types count, invite users, change settings, billing |
| Dispatcher | Dispatcher, CSR lead, service manager | Work the Dispatch board, assign and send briefs, generate briefs, read Performance and Reports, manage technicians |
| Technician | Tech, comfort advisor, sales rep | See their own briefs, generate a brief for an address, see their own history and profile. No dispatch board, no company reports |
A Technician login sees only their own briefs. A Dispatcher sees the board and reports but can't change setup. Only an Owner / Admin can connect software, run the Performance setup or change billing. It keeps customer information contained.
What close rate is, and isn't
Close rate is briefed jobs that sold divided by briefed jobs that actually ran. Canceled and not-yet-run visits never count. The number cannot be flattered by booking a lot of calls, and it cannot be hurt by a rainy week of cancellations. It only moves when a tech stands in a home and something happens. Close-rate reporting.
Ask Scout knows your briefs, outcomes, techs, plays and delivery stamps — and it will not use the indicators to talk about pricing or who can afford what. That rule is built in. Ask Scout.
Questions people ask
Does the homeowner ever see the brief?
No. Never. The brief is for your team. Nothing is sent to a customer, and the brief link is never written anywhere a customer can see — in Housecall Pro it's a private job note.
Is ServiceScout a credit check?
No. Nothing approves, denies or scores anyone. The indicators are estimates from licensed household data used to orient a conversation; financing decisions belong to lenders, and the play never uses the household picture.
Can I stop my techs from seeing the financial indicators?
Yes. Choose 'office only' and the technician's brief carries Today's Play, the Win Condition and the Before You Knock card without the financial indicators. The office view keeps them. Tell support which option you want.
Can one company see another company's data?
No. Every account is separated at every layer.
Where do I read the full privacy policy?
getservicescout.com/privacy covers exactly what data ServiceScout collects on the marketing site, what it does with it, and your choices. The compliance framework for pre-appointment intelligence is here.
Keep reading
Ask us the hard questions on the demo.
Thirty minutes, a real brief from your schedule, and straight answers about what your techs see and what they don't.