5 Mistakes Service Companies Make Asking Technicians to Promote Services

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Through the years working with Service providers across several industries, I have found that there are 5 common mistakes that service companies make when asking technicians to promote their services. These mistakes can cost the service company in lost revenues, reduced customer retention and higher technician turnover.

Engaging technicians in promoting services is a focus of many service organizations today – and for good reason. A program of this nature can be a significant differentiator in a highly competitive environment. Technicians who use their expertise and knowledge to recommend products and services that help their customers achieve their goals provide tremendous value. They help their customers recognize that they are better off for having known them. And, a customer who recognizes this value in the relationship is very unlikely to take their business elsewhere.

However rewarding providing this type of service might be, even with the best of intentions, engaging technicians in this manner is not easy to achieve. Here are the 5 most common mistakes I have found that service managers make that prevent them from realizing the full potential of this initiative.

Mistake # 1: Language tends to focus on the sale and not the service. Identifying ways a customer can make improvements that will help their business is a critical part of the service that we provide. When technicians recognize this, they are more likely to engage in conversations with the customer to promote services that will benefit them, even though it may be a bit uncomfortable at first. However, our language may suggest that what we are asking them to do is sell. (For example: “Next time you conduct a service, have a look around to see what other services we can sell them.”) When technicians perceive we are asking them to sell, they will be more reluctant to engage in this type of customer conversation.

Mistake # 2: Failure to follow up in a timely fashion. I am surprised by the number of service companies that tell me that they are embarrassed to admit that they do not follow up on all opportunities in a timely way. In fact, sometimes they fail to follow up at all. When an opportunity is brought forward, it is critical that it is addressed immediately. When we fail to do so, we are really just telling our technicians that we were “only kidding” when we said this was an important part of the service.

Mistake # 3: Providing no feedback to the tech. This mistake is related to Mistake # 2. During our workshops it is not unusual to hear techs comment that they rarely get an update on what is going on once they refer an opportunity to the office for follow-up. They often find out the status from the customer themselves. And, when a sale is made, many will lament, the salesperson takes all the credit. This Mistake #3 negatively impacts our efforts in two ways. The first is that lack of feedback can discourage the technicians from speaking with their customers. The second is that we miss an opportunity to shine in front of the customer. If a technician is apprised of what is going on, they can discuss the opportunity positively with the customer and explain what is taking place in order to put the proposal together. Contrast that with a technician who is not kept up to speed with the progress of the opportunity. How do they respond when the customer asks them how the proposal is progressing? What does it say about our internal communications?

Mistake # 4: Assuming the technician knows what you do. This is an understandable mistake. We are often so immersed in our company and our services that we assume that our people will also know about all of our services and be comfortable talking about them to customers. The reality is that our technicians rarely know enough about all of our service to be comfortable about bringing it up to a customer. And, when they don’t, they won’t.

Mistake # 5: Failure to reinforce and encourage behaviour change. Coaching and supporting new behaviors plays a critical role in new skills adoption. For some, taking a more proactive approach to discussing opportunities with customers is a challenging task. It takes time and practice to become comfortable. Without coaching and reinforcement, our technicians will simply revert back to their old ways and our efforts will be lost. Think of coaching as a form of maintenance. You would never expect a piece of equipment to run very long or very well without maintenance so why would you expect your service team to perform well and consistently at new skills without coaching?

For more suggestions and ideas on successfully engaging your techs in promoting your services, check out my book or some of the articles on my website.

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Jim

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”

– Albert Einstein