A1 Garage Door Service's door-sales conversion is up 10-15% and average tickets about $1,500 higher with Mantel.
Mantel's survey finds 69% of homeowners say price is not the most important factor, while 69% search for a price before a visit.
Zach Deering says 3% of homeowners found contractors via an answer engine like ChatGPT at the end of 2025.
Mantel Turns HVAC Sales Into a Shopping Experience
Mantel is building an AI sales platform for home service contractors, betting that homeowners want a shopping experience rather than a sales presentation. Contractors have sold to homeowners for decades, but buyers now research online and care more about trust and agency than the lowest price. Mantel targets $10 million-plus contractors on ServiceTitan and uses AI to augment sellers, and early results at A1 Garage Door Service show higher conversion and average tickets.
Takeaways
Homeowners rank price below trust. Mantel's survey of recent buyers found 69% say price is not the most important thing, while a 2017 double-blind study of 500 garage-door homeowners ranked price ninth. Yet 69% look for a price online before anyone visits.
Contractors sell instead of letting homeowners shop. Zach Deering says homeowners are sold to rather than offered a shopping experience, and he wants the industry to drop the word presentation. Mantel aims to make buying a garage door or HVAC system warm and delightful, with personalized follow-up and real-time coaching.
Mantel lifts conversion and average ticket. Tommy Mello says A1 Garage Door Service's door-sales conversion is up 10 to 15% and average ticket about $1,500 higher since adopting Mantel. At Reliable Comfort in Seymour, Indiana, close rate and average ticket rose 48% blended.
Google dominates discovery, AI search is early. Google is the most common discovery channel at 39%, over 60% for millennials and under 30% for baby boomers. Only 3% of homeowners found contractors through an answer engine like ChatGPT or Gemini at the end of 2025, though models reward specificity.
AI augments sellers rather than replacing them. Zach Deering says Mantel uses AI for tasks sellers dislike or are not good at, such as personalized follow-up and real-time proposal coaching. He expects sellers may stop going into homes in ten to fifteen years, and Tommy Mello predicts commoditization and OEM-built workforces.
Mantel targets large ServiceTitan contractors. The platform focuses on HVAC, plumbing, electrical and garage doors, with roofing likely this year. It suits companies with $10 million-plus in revenue that use ServiceTitan, and its fee is built into pricing so incentives align with contractors.
Tommy's customer-obsession playbook
Bring an empty chair to the table to represent the customer, a practice Zach Deering says was common at Amazon.
Read complaints and one-star reviews. Use secret shoppers. Tommy Mello says this would transform a company within six months.
Hire A-plus players onto the bus, as Jim Collins puts it, and give them impact on things that affect their work.
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On this episode 2
Show 1
Give homeowners five options rather than three, though too many hard-to-understand options confuse them. A technician's customer moved from a three-star to a five-star system because financing made the payments close.
Use financing psychology. Tommy Mello says there are five reasons people do not buy with financing, starting with pride, and that people dislike being sold to.