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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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

service technician selling program

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. Read more

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You Said “Two” – The Importance of a Good First Impression

customer service expert

“You said ‘two’.” These were the three simple words she spoke to me and they set the tone for our business relationship and a lasting first impression. As I write this, it is early on a Sunday morning in Vancouver. I am staying at a downtown hotel and reviewing the details of a workshop that I am delivering to a group of technicians on Monday. I had decided to take a break and walk a couple of blocks to get some fresh air and cup of coffee.

One of the topics of discussion at the workshop will be the power of first impressions and how they can set the tone for a business relationship. When meeting customers for the first time, a poor first impression can greatly hamper our technician’s ability to build trust and negatively impact their ongoing relationship. That is because, once an impression is made, we begin to filter the information we receive about the person who made the impression to fit our view. And, it works for both positive and negative first impressions. For example, if a customer’s first impression is that we are lazy, they will filter their observations about us and pick up on any evidence that may reinforce that view and ignore evidence to the contrary. For example, they may come across us taking a well-deserved coffee break and chatting with one of their employees. If they are of the impression that we are lazy, then they may think, “There he goes again, taking another break! And now they are wasting the time of one of our employees as well!” If we are perceived as hard working by another customer and they were to observe the same situation, they might think, “Finally, she’s taking a break. And look how well she gets along with our staff”. Read more

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Spontaneous Empathy – Addressing Concerns Before the Customer Raises Them

customer service expert OntarioSpontaneous Empathy – anticipating concerns and addressing them before the customer raises them. I recently observed a server at a national (and very popular) coffee shop chain use this technique to great effect. It was a few weeks ago and I still reflect on the value of the gesture.

A friend and I were heading to northern Ontario for a few days of fishing. We started driving at 6:00 am and by the time we took our first break at 10:30 we were more than ready for a coffee. We were delighted to see the unmistakable sign of our favourite coffee chain ahead, conveniently located near some gas pumps. I dropped my friend off at the coffee shop to get our order to go and headed next door to fill up. The plan was for him to pick up the coffees and meet me at the gas pumps. When I finished filling up, my friend was still nowhere to be seen so I pulled up to the coffee shop and went inside. Read more

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5 Mistakes Service Companies Make Asking Technicians to Promote Services

click image to enlarge

click image to enlarge

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. Read more

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How is Your Business Really Doing? – Part 2

How to rate Customer ServiceHow is your business really doing was the subject of my last blog. In the article, I discussed the challenge of determining if your service technicians are really delivering a Proactive Service® experience by bringing ideas to your customers that will help them be better off. If you recall, I suggested that you consider two questions to ask your customers:

1. “Do our technicians bring you ideas that help you operate more effectively?”
2. “Do you feel that you are better off for having known us?”

If you are interested in tracking your progress over time or compare branch operations for these questions, for example, I would like to suggest a scoring key that will help you. In his article in the Harvard Business Review, “The One Number You Need to Grow”¹ , Frederick Reichheld introduces us to his research into the one question that he found was a good predictor of customer loyalty and growth. The question was “How likely would you recommend [company X] to a friend or colleague?”  He introduces a scoring key that provides a “net promoter” score.   The “net promoter” component comes from the fact that Reichheld’s scoring key considers not only the percentage of responders who rated the company highly (promoters) and who would likely promote the company (i.e. recommend to friends and colleagues), but also the percentage of responders who would rate the company poorly and likely speak negatively about their experience (detractors). By subtracting the percentage of “detractors” from the percentage of “promoters”, Reichheld ends up with a “net promoter score” that can be compared from branch to branch, period to period, etc. Read more