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Four Simple Steps Technicians Can Take to Uncover Opportunities

If you are encouraging your technicians to take proactive steps to recommend your products and services to your customers, you may be looking for ways to help them to explore for opportunities to help.  Here are four simple steps that your technicians can take to uncover opportunities to help your customers to be better off.

1. Ask a simple question.

At the beginning or end of each maintenance service call, get your technicians in the habit of asking, “Is there anything else that we can do for you today?”  This simple question will often result in new opportunities that otherwise might go to someone else or go unfilled.

Other questions you may wish your techs to ask include, “Have there been any changes in the building/process/operations since the last time I was here?” or “Have there been any issues or concerns related to the building/process/operations since last time?”

2. Take the customer on a tour of their own facilities.

This approach was shared with me by a seasoned HVAC technician who regularly took his customers on tours.  He used it as an opportunity to showcase the work he was doing, point out equipment that was not under contract and suggest new ideas to make improvements.  His customers appreciated the opportunity to learn more about their systems and he used the time to learn more about the customers’ goals and objectives.

3. Follow up on previously quoted work.

No doubt you have several proposals that have been sent to customers that have not had any follow up.  To the best of your knowledge, no action has been taken by the customer, but you are not certain of the status.  In many cases, it will be because the customer has forgotten about them.

Encourage your technicians to speak to the customer about those outstanding proposals.  The customer will appreciate their interest and they will thank the technician if their follow-up prevented something from falling though the cracks.

4. Offer to demonstrate a new technology or software.

Technology is changing at a rapid pace and it is almost impossible for our customers to keep on top of what is going on.  When there is a technology or software that you offer that can help customers get a competitive edge, then you will be providing a valuable service bringing it to your customer’s attention.

By taking the initiative to proactively explore for opportunities to help your customers to be better off, not only will you generate more revenues, but your technicians will actually be delivering a higher level of service.  Your customers will appreciate the added attention and see great value as you help them achieve their business goals.

As always, I welcome your comments and questions. 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 Baston

“I learned that you don’t get anywhere by sitting comfortably in a chair.”

 – Conrad Hilton

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The One Question Every Field Service Technician Should Ask

What is a simple question that delivers exceptional service and generates profitable revenue? It’s the one question that every field service technician should ask.  So, why isn’t every field service technician asking it?

In our workshops, we discuss the value that field service professionals provide by bringing opportunities to our customers’ attention that can help them operate their facilities/processes more effectively.  One way to uncover these opportunities is to ask this question, “Is there anything else that I can help you with today?”

Strangely, only 10% to 20% are asking this question

When I ask how many in attendance ask that question, I am amazed that typically only 10% or 20% put up their hands.  And I am further amazed at how enthusiastic those who do ask the question are about the value that they are creating by asking it.  To drive the point home of how valuable this question is for the customer, I simply ask those who do use the question a few questions.  The discussion usually goes like this:

Jim: Tell me, when you ask the question, how does the customer respond?  Do they tell you that it is none of your business?

Tech: [Chuckle] Of course not.  Actually, they appreciate the question.  I often get one of three responses:

  1. Can’t think of anything.
  2. Thanks for reminding me.  We have been having …
  3. You guys don’t happen to do [some service need], do you?

Jim: Do you think your customers appreciate the fact that you ask that question?

Tech: Sure do. It reminds them of something that they intended to speak to me about.  Sometimes we get opportunities to provide services that they didn’t previously buy from us because they didn’t know we did it.  It also provides clues to potential underlying problems that we can help with.

Jim: Can you think of any reason why you should not ask the question?

Tech: No.  It’s a great question.  It’s good for the customer and it’s good for us.

Why don’t more service managers ensure their field service teams asks?

If this question is of such value and is appreciated by customers, why don’t more of us as service managers ensure that everyone on our field service team ask it?  One reason I suppose, is the one given to me by some of the attendees.  They tell me that they don’t ask the question because they will not have time to respond to the customer’s request if it does arise.  They have other customers to attend to and don’t have a lot of “spare time” to address additional issues.  Although I can see their point, does it have to be a reason not to ask?  And, if we don’t ask the question, who will the customer turn to to get any outstanding issues resolved?

Make asking the question a part of your service technician’s routine

My suggestion is to make the question part of the service discussion at the end (or the beginning) of each service call, and then teach the technicians how to address the three typical customer responses (see above).  We can clarify with our field teams what our expectations are for “having a quick look” and what they can say to delay any follow up without giving the impression of putting the customer off.  If time is really an issue, we can provide clear steps the field team can take to get another team member to deal with the issue.

This questions provides great customer service and may help your bottom line

By asking if there is anything else that we can do for the customer today, we provide an excellent service to the customer by reminding them of issues they wanted to talk to us about, uncovering larger issues that may be underlying the customer’s response and informing the customer of other things we do as a service organization.  No doubt we have some on our team that provide this level of service for our customers.  Why not all?

As always, I welcome your comments and questions. 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 Baston

“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.”

– Eugene Ionesco

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Do You Tell Your Customers?

Your field service team can add tremendous value to your service relationships when they recommend products and services that you can provide that will help your customers be better off.  They are in a unique position to do this; they have the knowledge of the technology, an inside understanding of your customer’s current processes and equipment and, hopefully an appreciation of your customer’s goals and objectives.  They also have proximity to the customer.  The question is however, if you engage your technicians in promoting your services, do you tell your customers?

Do You Tell Your Customers?

I recently spoke at the Field Service Forum in Amsterdam.  I asked how many of the attendees either formally or informally encouraged their technicians to proactively recommend their services to their customers.  About 60% of the room raised their hands.  I then asked how many of those who raised their hands told their customers that they were engaging their technicians in this way and not a single person responded that they did.  This is entirely consistent with other discussions that I have had.

How about you?  Do you tell your customers?  Do you tell them that you are encouraging your technicians to look for products and services to recommend to them?  If you are not, you are missing out on an important opportunity.

Why Not?

Let’s examine one of the reasons why we seem so hesitant to let our customers know about the promotion of products and services by our technicians.  I believe that underlying our reluctance is that we tend to see the actions of our technicians as a “selling” activity.  And, it’s hard to promote “selling” as a benefit to our customers.

Where is the value for the customer in a conversation that goes like this?  “Mr./Mrs. Customer, I want you to know that we have encouraged our technicians to look for opportunities for us to sell you more services so that we can increase the revenues we receive from you.”  It’s hard to see any value in this statement, regardless of how noble our intentions or those of our field service team are.

Remember, It is a Service

The key is to keep in mind that we want our technicians to use their expertise and proximity to look for opportunities to help the customer and raise these with the customer when they find them.  This is valuable because the actions of our technicians can truly help our customers to be better off and to achieve their business goals.  Their recommendations therefore, are a service.

Yes, as service providers, we do benefit from this proactive activity through increased service revenues, but those revenues are our reward in return for the value of the service that we provide.  By regarding the proactive activities of our technicians through a service lens, it becomes easier to promote their activities just like we would any other service that we provide.

Have this Conversation with your Customers

An excellent way to promote the proactive actions of our technicians is to have this conversation with our customers.  “Mr./Mrs. Customer, we have provided direction and training to our technicians to encourage them to look for opportunities to help you operate your facility/processes more effectively while they are performing the service.  Would you have any objection when they find something that will help you achieve your business goals, if they bring the opportunity to your attention?”

By explaining the actions of our technicians in this way, we are able to communicate the value of their efforts for the customer.

If you formally or informally engage your technicians in business development activities, I encourage you to tell your customers – and let them know why it is of value for them.

Promote their efforts to your customers as a point of difference.  Let them know that you are providing your “heads” as well as your “hands”.  When they recognize the value of these efforts and benefit from the resulting recommendations, they will be delighted that you have engaged your technicians in this way.

As always, I welcome your comments and questions. 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 Baston

“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”

– Woodrow Wilson

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My Definition of Effective Communication for the Service Business

Thought - 3D

I was engaged in a conversation recently about why communication plays such an important role in the world of service.  It was an interesting discussion and allowed me the opportunity to share my definition of effective communication for the service business.

The quality of our communication is relied on to assess our competence

The quality of our communication is a major source of information that our customers rely on to evaluate our competence and the value of our work.  As an intangible service, it is almost impossible for a customer to accurately evaluate actual work quality or competence directly.  For example, if it takes us one hour to troubleshoot a problem, how does the customer know that the hour spent was amazing and that it would have taken anyone else a day or more to figure out the problem?  The answer is that they don’t really know, so they look to their perception of the quality of our communication as an important input that they use to assess our competence.

Communication can be intentional or unintentional

It is important to remember that communication can be intentional or unintentional.  For example, we can send an email as a way of intentionally communicating specific information.  Unintentional communication may also occur based on the quality of that email.  How the email is constructed (does it use good sentence structure, is it free from spelling errors, etc.) may communicate information to the customer that they use to evaluate our competence. So, for example, a poorly constructed email that has incorrect grammar and plenty of spelling mistakes, may unintentionally communicate an image of us that is not very complimentary.

We can limit the amount of unintentional communication that takes place.  If we recognize that the quality of the email that we send will also communicate something about our professionalism, then we can intentionally make an effort to ensure that the email is constructed in a manner that contributes to the communication of our professionalism.

Effective communication for the service business

Which brings me to my definition of effective communication for the service business.  Effective communication will achieve three objectives:

  1. Accurately transfer information
  2. Create the feeling of assurance in the receiver
  3. Reflect positively on the sender

Obviously, accurately transferring information is important.  Presumably it is the reason we sent the email or had a telephone conversation in the first place.  To be effective, the receiver must understand the meaning of the message in the way it was intended by us as the sender.  The second and third points are also important because they contribute to the perceived value of our work.

We’re in control

Fortunately, we can consciously construct our emails, conduct our telephone conversations and otherwise communicate in a manner that will intentionally convey our competence and professionalism.  This will help ensure that the customer feels reassured by receiving our correspondence and recognize that they are in good hands.  Correspondence of this nature will also reflect positively on us as professionals in our trade.

As service professionals, we have a choice.  We can remain unconcerned about the importance that our correspondence has in providing insight to our customers about us and our competence and leave the resulting image that we create in their minds up to chance.  Or, we can consciously and intentionally use our communication opportunities to effectively communicate so that we continually remind our customers that they are dealing with a competent professional.

As always, I welcome your comments and questions. 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 Baston

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

– George Bernard Shaw

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Are There Parallels Between How we Manage Food Budgets and Training Investments?

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that roughly 30% of all food produced worldwide is lost or wasted, along with all of the resources (water, fuel, fertilizers, etc.) necessary to get that food to consumers.[1]  The statistic brought to mind a compelling advertisement I saw a couple of years ago and got me wondering if we can draw parallels between how we manage food budgets and training investments.

The advertisement was created to make consumers aware of the enormity of the issue.  I can’t recall the exact details but I remember the image of a man at a barbeque with a grill full of food.  He is moving the food to a serving plate.  Every second or third time he bypasses the plate and puts the food directly into a garbage bin.  It is through the absurd nature of the act (who would cook dinner only to throw it directly in the garbage?) that makes the advertisement so effective.  Its point is that, although we would never dream of wasting food by throwing it directly into the bin, we effectively do just that when we throw out the leftovers three days later. This compelling image was intended to help consumers look at the issue in a new light.

Which brings me to training investments.  Like food consumers, no one knowingly makes an expenditure on training their teams with any intent of wasting that investment.  And yet, depending on how well we as managers support the training, we are effectively doing so.

Several years ago, James D. Kirkpatrick, consultant, author and trainer, made a presentation at an event hosted by the Canadian Society for Training and Development.  He presented a chart depicting the relative contribution to training effectiveness between management support and training quality.  He indicated that 25% of a training program’s effectiveness can be attributed to how management positions and introduces the training before the event takes place.  A further 50% of effectiveness will be the result of how management follows up and supports the training after the event.  According to his presentation, only 25% of training effectiveness can be attributed to the quality of the training itself.

This is not to say that the quality of the training itself is not important.  Obviously we want to ensure that the training content and delivery is of the highest quality.  Rather, it is speaking to the important role management has in ensuring that participants get the most that they can from the training event.  Without this support, Kirkpatrick’s research suggests that, like the food commercial outlined above, we are likely throwing training dollars directly into to the garbage bin.

Here are three things that we can do to get the greatest return from our training dollars in terms of skills adoption and behaviour change.

  1. Before the Training Takes Place. Introduce the training in context of how it will benefit the participants. What will they learn?  Why will this be beneficial?  What results should they expect by implementing the new skills?  Prepare for the training and provide necessary backup so that attendees can participate fully.  Arrange a venue that is suitable for the training purpose.
  1. During the Training. Although it is not always possible or practical to participate in all training that takes place, make a point of participating fully in training events when it makes sense.  Get an advance copy of the training materials and review them carefully.  Make notes in the margin of the workbook about examples from the day-to-day lives of the attendees that can help illustrate key points.  Participate in the training and avoid sitting at the back of the room eyes glued to the computer or cell phone.  Let others speak and avoid dominating the conversation, while making contributions of key points that are not otherwise raised.  Network with participants during breaks to get a sense of how they feel about the workshop and the key points they are learning. Be enthusiastic throughout the workshop.
  1. After the Training. Follow up with participants and assess how clearly they see the relevance of the training to their day-to-day activities.  Spend time to see how well they are applying the new skills and constructively provide feedback and coaching where applicable.  Identify key behaviours to review in future meetings and provide opportunities to practice new skills (role plays for example) when practical.

No one wants to throw training resources into the waste bin.  A good way to prevent this from happening is to recognize and act on our role as managers to support, reinforce and coach new skills and behaviours.  We must remember that, in reality, we are not paid for what we do but for what our team does.  Therefore it makes sense to do what we can to help our teams to be the best that they can be.

As always, I welcome your comments and questions. 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 Baston

“If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.”

– Margaret Fuller

[1] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations at:  http://www.fao.org/save-food/resources/keyfindings/en/

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6 Steps to Support Your Technicians in Making Beneficial Recommendations to Customers

Coaching Concept

When I managed a service business several years ago, we introduced a new initiative where we wanted to stress the importance that we in management had in ensuring the success of the project and we adopted the motto “If it is to be, it’s up to me.”  We challenged ourselves to measure our performance through the lens of that motto and, if performance was not up to plan, ask ourselves as managers what we can personally do to get things on track.  Especially in the way of supporting our technicians when it came to making beneficial recommendations to our customers.

I have the good fortune to work with businesses that have embarked on a strategy of engaging their field service teams in promoting their products and services and, through this work, I am reminded of that motto. Even though it is the proactive actions of the technicians that actually generate the opportunities, it is squarely the responsibility of those that manage them to ensure that they act as expected and that they act well.

With that in mind, here are six steps that you can take to encourage and support your team to ensure they perform at their best when identifying and presenting opportunities to help their customers.

  1. Teach your technicians how to do what you want them to do. For some of your technicians, speaking to the customer seems to come naturally but for the majority it is uncomfortable and feels “foreign”.  Conversations such as these however are a skill and, like any skill, can be learned.  Our job as manager is to teach our technicians what to do so that they have a studied approach they can apply when the next opportunity arises.
  2. Let them practice. If you learned to drive on a manual transmission vehicle, you may recall how uncomfortable and perhaps terrifying it was when you first started.  Everything seemed so complicated, particularly since you had to do so many things at once while still keeping your attention on what was going on around you.  With practice, you soon became more comfortable – to the point that now, you probably don’t even think about the individual steps you are taking to drive smoothly through traffic.  This is the same for engaging in customer conversations about recommended products and services.  Practice allows your technicians to learn the skills more quickly and in a “safe” environment.  More practice leads to higher comfort with the approach and when they do find an opportunity to help a customer, they will be much more likely to take the initiative to make beneficial recommendations.
  3. Recognize efforts from the customers’ perspective. Technician recommendations that can help your customers operate more effectively are a valuable service – as important a service as fixing or maintaining the equipment itself.  Instead of recognizing the technicians efforts solely from your bottom line, acknowledge how their efforts have contributed to the overall success of the customer.
  4. Share customer satisfaction results. If you solicit customer feedback about your services, I encourage you to add a question or two to measure the customer satisfaction about the technicians’ proactive efforts.  For example, you could ask something like, “How satisfied were you with our technician’s ability to make recommendations that can help you run your business more effectively?”  As these scores trend upward, it will reinforce the value of your technicians’ efforts and help them realize that the customer really does see value in their proactive recommendations.
  5. Seek and act on feedback from your technicians. Ask your technicians how they feel about their efforts in executing the strategy and what they feel would be helpful to keep them focused and on-track.  Through an open channel you will get great insight into what is working and what is potentially holding your team back.  Whenever possible, act on their feedback quickly to demonstrate the value of their insight and the importance that you place on their initiative.
  6. Join your technicians in the field. If practical, set aside some time to ride along with your techs to meet key customers and observe them in action.  This provides a wonderful opportunity to provide on-site coaching for the technician about their proactive efforts in real time.  It also allows you to meet the customer and reinforce why your technicians are asked to make recommendations and the added value it provides for your customers.

Technicians who make proactive recommendations of products and services that will help the customer be better off are providing an exceptional service.  As managers, our role is to take the steps that will help them execute this plan as effectively as possible.

As always, I welcome your comments and questions. 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 Baston

“If it is to be, it is up to me.”

– William H. Johnsen

 

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BYOB Service – The Competitive Edge

Close up of human hand holding brain

I don’t need to tell you that field service is a competitive business and getting more so with each passing day. Customers are more knowledgeable and demanding, competitors are innovative and tough, and the great things you do for your customers are often overlooked. It’s time to bring BYOB service to your customers and gain the competitive edge. BYOB stands for “Bring Your Own Brains” and the service company that offers this service encourages their technicians to bring their heads as well as their hands when providing a service for a customer.

In today’s competitive environment, the best way to stand out from the crowd and to take market share is to demonstrate to your customers that they are better off for having hired you. Not only is their equipment running in tip-top condition, which is what they would expect by engaging a professional and competent company like yours, but they can say that your efforts have made a contribution to their business that was beyond the scope of the work you were contracted to perform. Maybe because of their relationship with you they are operating more efficiently or safely. Perhaps your recommendations have helped them extend asset life or achieve some sort of important recognition or goal. Regardless, they can look to your relationship as bringing much more value than simply keeping the equipment running and they will reward you by renewing their contract and telling their friends and colleagues.

Of course, the only way to help your customers to be better off is to recognize what is important to them and identify and communicate those actions that the customer can take that will help them make improvements. Our field team plays a critical role here because they are the ones in the best position to gain an understanding of the customer’s challenges and goals and recognize steps that can be taken to address them.

This is where BYOB Service comes in. This helps technicians recognize that a critical part of the service that they provide is looking for ways they can help that customer achieve their goals and helping the customer recognize the value in taking action. BYOB Service providers show their field personnel that proactive conversations with their customers about their recommendations is not selling, but rather an integral part of the service that they provide. BYOB Service companies nourish and build upon the brains of their technicians through training, coaching and practice.

How about your service offering? Do you provide BYOB Service for your customers? Do your technicians recognize that their job is more than fixing things and keeping the equipment running efficiently? Do you and your management team nourish the proactive efforts of your technicians through ongoing training and constant coaching and support? Do your customers recognize your efforts and can they say they are measurably better off for having engaged you?

As always, I welcome your comments and questions. 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 Baston

“I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.”

– Woodrow Wilson

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5 Things to Consider When Paying Technicians Commission

Discount and commission concept represented by percentage sign.

If you have encouraged your technicians to promote your services, you may be considering ways to recognize their efforts.  Perhaps one of the most obvious approaches is to pay them a commission based on the number of opportunities identified or on the value of the resulting order.  If you are thinking of paying your technicians a commission for new business consider these 5 key points. Read more

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Time to Reflect on your Proactive Service® Culture

customer service expert

For me, the end of December is a time for review of the year past and planning for the year ahead. The welcome change of pace I typically experience during the holidays naturally leads to this type of reflection. If it is the same for you, here are 7 indicators to help you take the pulse of the extent to which the Proactive Service® approach is embedded as part of your culture within your service team. Read more