Position Technician Promotion of Services as a Valuable Service – 4 Steps

Many firms perceive and describe this role as “selling”. In my last blog I explained why this perception can limit the success of the initiative. In this blog, I would like to discuss why we should approach technician promotion of services as a valuable service and the 4 key components that will help ensure our success.

When a technician recognizes an opportunity for the customer to make an improvement and takes the initiative to speak to the customer about it, he/she is performing a valuable service – a service every bit as important as that technician’s ability to fix or maintain the equipment. When a firm perceives and describes the technician’s role as part of the service, many good things happen. The technicians more readily buy into the role, customers experience a higher level of service and the service firm can create a substantial and sustainable competitive advantage over its competitors. Here are 4 things that you can do to ensure that everyone approaches product and service promotion by technicians as a service and not a sale.

1. Be Clear About what the Role Is (and What it Isn’t).

It is important that everyone in the organization understands what you want your technicians to do. As a service, technicians will use their knowledge and expertise, their understanding of the customer’s goals and objectives and their proximity to the customer and their business for the purpose of exploring for ways to help that customer make improvements. Once an opportunity is identified, the technician will make the recommendation to the customer and show them how they will benefit. This will only occur when the technician truly believes that their recommended action is in the best interests of the customer. When technicians act in this way, they provide a service that allows the customer to say, “I am better off for having known you.” There is no higher level of service that we can provide.

By being clear in what you expect the technicians to do, you can now help all parties understand the reasons for this approach. It helps technicians recognize the role as a critical part of the service. It allows you to gain acceptance from your customers. It helps others in your organization provide support for the initiative.

2. Integrate Opportunity Identification into the Service

If identifying and speaking to the customer about the various ways our companies can help them be better off is a service, then we should integrate it into the service delivery just as we would any other service provided. Some examples include:

• Holding initial assessment meetings on new contracts and/or with new customers to explain the technician’s role, gain agreement and gain insight into the customers objectives and challenges
• Formal annual review meetings to discuss progress, measure effectiveness and update objectives and challenges
• Periodic informal reviews by service technicians between formal meetings
• Measure customers’ satisfaction with your technicians’ efforts at bringing new ideas to the them

Another part of integration is to ensure that the processes and tools for tracking and communicating opportunities are aligned to the task and designed not to let anything fall through the cracks. If your current process is prone to “drop” opportunities and not provide feedback, your technicians will not enthusiastically stay the course regardless of how sincere you are in their service.

3. Train for the Service You Want to Deliver

In my last blog I mentioned that when we see promoting our products and services to our customers as “selling”, we tend to think that training need only be limited to training how to sell. In reality, the task we are asking our technicians to perform is much more complex that simply having a conversation with the customer. The technician must have the trust of the customer and be compelling in their recommendations. They also need to maintain a professional approach through all types of situations. To be successful therefore, we should consider training that helps them to:

• Become proficient at building customer trust and confidence quickly,
• Acquire a broader knowledge of our capabilities and the results we have delivered
• Hone their skills at identifying opportunities as well as to deal with challenging and emotional customer interactions as well as on training on
• Engage the customer in conversations to capture the customer’s attention and motivates them to take action.

This broader look at training needs will better prepare the technician for what they will experience in the field.

4. Support the Initiative with Coaching and Support

Effectiveness of engaging technicians in business development will be largely dependent on how well the manager coaches and supports their team. For example, managers should regularly review key aspects of the skills training provided and give technicians an opportunity to practice. They should keep the team current with new capabilities and remind them of ongoing initiatives. They should continually encourage technicians to proactively recommend products and services and remind them of the valuable service they are providing.

Next time we will discuss how a service firm can use the proactive efforts of their technicians to differentiate their service from their competitors.

I welcome your feedback. You can connect with me via telephone or email or leave a comment right here on the site. And as always, please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog if you have one via the commentluv feature here on the site. If you are reading this blog post via email, you will need to locate this post on my website by clicking here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will find the comment section.

Jim

“The greatest complement you can receive is when the
customer acknowledges that they are better off for having known you”

– Jim Baston