, , , ,

Do Your Techs Promote your Services? Why not Tell your Customers?

service technician training program

Do you have an expectation (formal or informal) for your technicians to promote your services to your customers? If so, why not tell your customers?

I spoke at a conference recently in Europe where we discussed the engagement of field service teams in business development. The attendees were senior level service executives from many well recognized global companies. I asked how many of their companies had a formal expectation and program to engage their technicians in promoting their products and services. Most indicated that they had. I then asked how many have informed their customers about their technicians’ actions. No one raised a hand. Read more

,

Too Much Focus on “Upselling”? A Cautionary Tale

customer service expert

I had a negative experience last week with a car rental firm that I have dealt with faithfully for many years. If not resolved, this experience will cost the company my business. The issues arose because I believe the company in question has too much focus on upselling by their front line personnel at the expense of serving the interests of the customer. This is a cautionary tale for all service providers who engage their field service teams in business development.

I rented a car at the airport in Denver. As the clerk processed my rental, she advised me that she had a Chevy Cruze available. There was no mention that there would be an extra charge for the vehicle and I initialled and signed the various parts of the form as I have done so many times before.

When I returned the vehicle three days later, the total was higher than I had expected it to be. (The confirmation I receive when reserving the vehicle gives the estimated total costs.) When I looked closely, the receipt indicated that I had paid an additional “upgrade fee”. It wasn’t a lot of money in the scheme of things but there was a principle at stake. Read more

, ,

5 Steps to a Service Experience that is Beyond Great

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

I’m often asked how to enthusiastically engage technicians in business promotion to create a service experience like the one I describe in my book, Beyond GREAT SERVICE, The Technician’s Role in Proactive Business Growth. In answer to this question, here is a summary of the 5 Steps to a service experience that is beyond great.

Critical to our success is the recognition by technician and management alike, that business promotion is an important part of the service delivery and not a sale. They must appreciate that when we take proactive steps to make these recommendations that will help our customers to be better off we greatly enhance the service value and the service experience. With the intention of promoting our services to help our customers, this proactive approach will become a significant differentiator in a competitive environment where service providers must fight for every dollar and fight for the right to hold, maintain and develop customer relationships.

With this in mind, here are the 5 steps that you can take to deliver a service experience that is beyond great. Read more

, , ,

A Tale of 2 Auto Mechanics – Which One Would you Prefer?

customer service expert Jim Baston

Like us, our customers are in competitive industries and are struggling for a business edge. They want more than just good customer service that makes them feel good. They want GREAT customer service that also helps them gain a competitive advantage. The tale of 2 auto mechanics below, is indicative of the choice we have as service providers. Which one would you prefer?

Our technicians play a major role here. Their value comes from going beyond doing great work. They must also understand the goals their customers have and the challenges that they face and make recommendations based on their knowledge and expertise that will help the customer succeed. Those companies that don’t engage their technicians in this way are at risk of losing business in the future.

Imagine two scenarios. Read more

, ,

How Proactive is Your Field Service Team? – Take the Test

service technican training expert

Just how proactive is your field service team? Perhaps the best way to find that out is to take a test to evaluate your performance against the Proactive Service® best practices.

As service leaders, our long-term success will be determined by our ability to deliver an exceptional service that our customers value and are willing to pay. As importantly, it must be a service experience that differentiates us from our competitors. Engaging our technicians in proactive business development is one such strategy that can deliver on these prerequisites because, if approached correctly, it can help our customers be measurably better off for having engaged us. Customers that recognize the unique value we provide, reward us with more business, with their recommendations to others and with their loyalty.

The question becomes, how well are we doing in our efforts to differentiate our business in this way and what additional steps can we take to become even better? The answer can be found by:

  • Comparing our business to industry best practices
  • Realistically evaluating our performance against each practice
  • Identifying actions and timelines to make improvements where needed

We have created a self-evaluation checklist that will allow you to evaluate your progress against Proactive Service® best practices. It is available for anyone who would like to download it from our website. It covers six key areas of performance measurement. These are: Read more

, ,

I-CARE – 5 Steps to Work Orders that Shout “Value”

service tech training expert

During our workshops, we discuss the importance of the quality of the written word and how it helps the customer recognize the value that we provide in the work performed. This easy acronym – I-CARE –highlights the 5 steps to create work orders that shout “value”.

When I have the opportunity to speak with service managers, one of the discussion points that inevitably comes up is about the quality of the work order summaries written by their service technicians. It seems that in many organizations, the quality of the written summaries of work is all over the map – from very poor to excellent. When I ask if they have clear and simple guidelines to help their busy technicians to consistently write well, they often admit that those guidelines are still on the “to do” list.

The quality of the written work order summary is important for a number of reasons. One reason is that the customer relies on the summary to give them a sense of the quality of the work that was performed. Because of the nature of our work, it is unlikely that our customers will be able to objectively assess the quality themselves. A clear, concise and comprehensive summary will communicate more value than a simple “fixed unit” on the report. Another reason for complete and concise reports is that the report may become an important document if there is ever a dispute about what work was actually performed. Yet another reason is that a complete and concise report will save time in the long run. Think of your own organization. How many times has the technician had to be interrupted in the field to answer a question about the work performed that could have been prevented if the work order summary description was more complete? Read more

, ,

4 Steps to Turn Service Teams into Enthusiastic Business Promoters

service tech training expert

click to enlarge

Getting technicians engaged in business development adds a valuable service for your customers. Here are 4 steps you can take to turn your service team into enthusiastic business promoters.

1. Treat the promotion of products and services as a service and not a sale.

Those of you who have been reading my blog know that I have spent a great deal of time recently expanding on the importance of treating your technicians’ proactive conversations with customers as a valuable service. If we want our technicians to be enthusiastic about this role, then we need to show them through our words and actions that this is a service for our customers. The reason we do this is to add value to our relationship. The fact that it generates more revenue is an important bi-product. Read more

, , ,

Give Your Customers Your Heads as Well as Your Hands

service tech training expert

If you want to clearly differentiate your business and earn your increased revenues and customer loyalty, give your customers your heads as well as your hands. Help your technicians realize the service that they provide when they bring to the customers’ attention those things that your firm can do to help that customer be better off.

The last several blogs have been dedicated to discussing the role of the service technician when they take the initiative to identify and discuss actions that they believe the customer could or should take to improve their operations in some way. When the technician brings to the attention of their customers, those actions they can offer that will measurably help the customer be better at what they do, they provide a valuable service. It is a service that is every bit as important as the technician’s ability to repair or maintain things. Read more

, ,

The Limiting Reality of Getting Technicians to “Sell” – 4 Reasons Why

service tech training expertHow we define the world impacts our perception of it.  How we define our technicians’ role in promoting our services is no exception.  This blog post is about the limiting reality of getting technicians to “sell” and the 4 reasons why this is the case.

Maslow is attributed as saying, “If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”  This sentiment applies to how we view the role of service technicians.  If we see the proactive efforts of technicians to identify and speak to the customer about our services as that of a “salesperson” then everything they do in this regard looks like “selling”.  Unfortunately, this viewpoint greatly limits our imagination to capture the real value in what our technicians are providing.  This constrains our ability to capitalize on these efforts as a valuable and differentiated service offering. Read more

, , ,

Want your Technicians More Proactive in Promoting your Services? Your Perspective May be Getting in the Way

service tech training expertMany service managers I speak to see value in encouraging technicians to be more proactive in business development. Although many of those are taking steps to implement a formal plan for their service teams, many fail to achieve the results that they seek. If you want your technicians to be more proactive in promoting your services, check out your perspective. It might be getting in the way.

When it comes to engaging technicians in promoting services, many service managers see the role of selling as different from the role of service. They often describe selling and service as distinct and almost unrelated activities. With this view, when someone is selling they are not serving and when someone is serving they are not selling. The chart below illustrates this view of the relationship between selling and service activities.

The Distinct Activities of Selling and Serving

Read more