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Proactive Service® – Giving Customers your Hearts & your Heads

customer service tech training expertI received an important reminder about giving customers our hearts as well and our heads.  I was having lunch with a good friend and client last week and we got onto the topic of the benefits and pitfalls of engaging technicians in business development activities.  In particularly we were talking about how sales people can use the proactive promotion of services by their technicians to differentiate themselves when selling contract services.  I mentioned that while most companies give their customers their hands (i.e. do good work), proactive service companies provide customers with their heads as well.  By looking out for their customers and making helpful suggestions to allow them to be more effective at operating their facilities, they are providing the highest level of service.

Steve, who is a key part of a large, national service firm suggested, “Actually Jim, I agree with you but I think you need to be more specific.  When engaging our service technicians in speaking to customers about the other things we can do to assist them, we need to ensure that they use their hearts as well as their heads.”  Steve went on to relate a story that a service manager told him.  It seems that they had a technician on staff who took promoting services to a new high.  He would promote anything and everything to anybody that would listen.  As a result, this service manager was getting complaints from several customers.  They didn’t appreciate being “sold” when the technician was really there to service their equipment.  Steve went on, “This technician wasn’t really acting on behalf of the customer, he was acting for himself and the benefits that he would get if the customer bought the product or service he was offering.  His heart was not in the right place and the customers could spot it a mile away.”

Steve was right.  Technicians have to engage the customer in these kinds of discussions for the right reasons.  They have to believe that the customer will be better off by taking their recommendations.  If they don’t believe that the recommended action is in the interest of the customer, then they should not be suggesting the service at all.  That is one of the reasons I don’t think that “commissions” or “bonuses” should be paid for services sold by the technician.  It encourages the behaviour but for the wrong reasons.

I encourage you to look closely at your own programs for promoting services through your technicians.  Are your technicians empowered to give your customers their hearts as well as their hands?  Do your support systems (like bonuses or commissions) reinforce this approach or do they encourage them to leave their hearts in the truck?  Have you made it clear that you want them to use good judgement before making recommendations and be certain, in their own minds, that the recommendation is truly in the interests of the customer?

I’d love your feedback on this. 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

“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”

– Nelson Mandela

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Rude Awakening to a Valuable Reminder

customer service expertIt was a rude awakening to a valuable reminder.  Bang!  I was in Calgary to present a seminar on communicating value.  I squinted at the hotel alarm clock.  Not quite five.  Bang!  There it was again. Another insensitive guest on their way to an early start I surmised and closed my eyes.

Voices.  Hang on.  They are still there! Someone – a man – is in the hall shouting something.  I hear a female voice make some kind of reply – further away.  Bang!   I look at the clock.  Still not quite five!  Voices again. Bang!!

I paddle over to the door and peak out the peephole.  There is a bag trolley in the hall.  The door across the hall has the security bar closed so the door won’t close completely.  Suddenly the door opens and a man, in mid conversation, emerges with a bag.  He is having an argument over his shoulder with a woman in the room… seems that she can’t find something and is complaining to the man.  Unfortunately the man is in a hurry to get away and he is not too shy of sharing this fact with the entire hotel. Bang!  The door slams against the security bar.  He puts the bag on the trolley and re-enters the suite.  Bang goes the door behind him.

Read more

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6 Steps to Using the Telephone to Turn Away Service Business

customer service expertI tried to make an appointment last Monday to take my motorcycle in for the end of season oil change and instead I learned the 6 steps on how to use the telephone to turn away business.  I thought it might be helpful to share it with you.

Step 1:  Put callers on hold for long periods.  I realize that this is not a new revelation, but I am amazed that, with the technology available today, some companies are able to persist in putting people on indefinite hold.  All it took for me was to ask for the “service department”.  After what seemed like several minutes, the receptionist returned to the line and said, “I can’t seem to find him anywhere!  Would you like to leave a voicemail?”  Which brings me to Step 2 of using the telephone to turn away business.

Step 2:  Don’t be available – especially if you are in the “service” department.  I have no idea where the service manager/advisor was (and apparently I was not the only one), but not having anyone who can handle a service call in the middle of the day is one sure way to let the customer know that you do not believe they are important.

Step 3:  Don’t return your calls.  No matter what, don’t call the customer back – certainly not on the same day!  Prompt responses to voicemail messages only serves to encourage more customers to leave more messages that might result in more business.

Step 4:  Make sure you are able to set your phone system so that callers cannot reach a live person during busy periods.  This is especially important to screen out angry callers who want to know why you haven’t responded to their voicemail.  This particular system would not let you dial “zero” to reach a live person.  You could only dial “1” for service, “2” for sales, “3” for …  (Refer to Step 2).

Step 5:  Encourage your staff to talk negatively about the company.  This is a particularly good one and highly recommended if you are serious about reducing the number of pesky customers.  In my case, after several attempt at reaching the “service” department (Press “1”), I decided to try to reach a salesperson (Press 2).  It worked!  A rather unenthusiastic voice announced “Sales” and asked how he could help.  I explained to him that I was trying to reach the service department and was unable to get any response.  I asked if he could see anyone.  “Hang on” he replied and put me on hold.  (See Step 1), “I found him, but he is on the phone,” came the eventual reply  (See Step 2).  I told him that I thought his phone system was terrible.  “Yes!”  he agreed.  “It’s not been the same since we got the new system last year.  We keep telling the boss that it sucks but he won’t listen.”  This was the first bit of enthusiasm I could detect in his voice.  He obviously took Step 5 seriously.

Step 6:  Tell people how busy you are.  This assumes that you failed at Step 2 and the persistent caller finally manages to break through your defenses.  I finally got through to the service advisor/manager at about 4:55 that evening – I had been trying since 9:00 am.  I explained who I was and that I had left a voicemail message early that morning. “Oh yeah! I got your message and you’re 23 on my list to call back.  What do you need?” (“What do you need?” is industry jargon for “How may I help you?”).  I repeated the information that I left on the original voicemail – that I would like an oil change and hoped to be able to schedule it for Thursday morning and that I would like to wait.  “What time do you have available?” I inquired.  “What time do you want to bring it in?” he responded.  “Early, if possible.”  I replied.  “Well, we’re wide open so name the time.”  Wide open?  How could they be so quiet and yet be so busy?

And then it hit me.  Their strategy was working!  Use the telephone to turn away business and get rid of those pesky customers who only end up making the job more complicated.  I started to wonder if service manager/advisor and everyone else were really busy at all, or were they just pretending they were as part of the strategy (Step 6).

Now, I should explain that the manufacturer of the motorcycle I ride has only one authorized service centre in my area so, unless I am prepared to ride a considerable distance, I don’t have much choice on where I take my bike for service.  Given the experience I just had, I don’t imagine that this will be a problem for very long.

How about your organization?  Are you turning away business too?

I’d love your feedback! 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

 “A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.”?

– Mahatma Ghandhi

 

 

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Dealing With Emotional Customers to a Positive Result

customer service expert Jim BastonRecently, I had the opportunity to observe a manager of a large, electronics store deal with emotional customers to a positive result.  My daughter and I were the emotional customers.

My daughter, Julia, had arranged for a new smart phone to replace her aging iPhone that had a small mechanical problem.  Her plan had a replacement option for such situations.  Although she was happy with her iPhone, the clerk at the store suggested that she try an android.  She took the advice and within 12 hours it was a shattered mess on the floor.  Turns out that she dropped the new phone and it fell apart.  The phone was inoperable.

The next morning, desperate without contact with the outside world, she went to the local store to get the problem resolved.  Her point was that the phone, although not “bullet proof”, should be able to withstand “normal” wear and tear such as the occasional dropping on the floor.  Her plan, she argued, should cover the breakage since she had a replacement option in case of a mechanical or electronic failure.  The clerk at the store did not agree.  He advised her that she could buy a new phone (several hundred dollars) and the store would give her a $100 credit or she could have the old one repaired (estimated at between $200 and $300).  When Julia objected, the clerk simply told her that was all he could do. Read more

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“They Don’t Pay Me to Look Good” in Service Delivery

service tech trainingAt one of our Proactive Service® workshops, one of the techs – let’s call him John – told me, “They don’t pay me to look good, they pay me to fix things!”.  We were discussing the importance of how we personally present ourselves at the customer’s facilities.  John, who looked like he hadn’t shaved in a few days and was wearing a well-worn company T shirt, was obviously not convinced about the importance of appearance in service delivery.  It wasn’t the first time I had heard this.

“Actually John”, I replied, “they pay you for both – fixing things and looking good.”  John was not convinced.

I asked John if he had been to a wedding recently and it turns out he was just the month before.

“What did you wear?” I asked. Read more

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When the Customer Service person says “I Can’t Help”

improving customer serviceWe’ve all experienced it. You need to get something done and the customer service person you are relying on says, “I can’t help”.  The solution requires a little bit of empathy, perhaps some creativity and a lot of common sense.  Although the clerk may be smart, efficient and good at their job, they fail to show any of the three requirements.  There is no empathy, little creatively and certainly no evidence of common sense.

It happened to me recently on a flight from San Diego to Toronto.  I was running late for my 11:30 am flight – the only one of the day by that airline.  I ran up to the ticket counter.  I had checked in on-line and all I needed to do was drop my bag.  As I jogged up to the counter, I was relieved to see that there was only one person in front of me – a family checking in bags presumably for the same flight.

As I stood at the front of the line puffing, but otherwise quietly waiting my turn, the ticket agent looked up from her work and asked over the shoulders of the family she was serving, “Going to Toronto?”  “Yes, thanks,” I replied.  “If you’re checking that bag, you will have to go without it.  You’re six minutes past the cut-off time.” Read more

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Step 6 of a Proactive Service® Culture – Coach and Support

Jim Baston Customer service expertIn step 5 of our previous blog, we talked about following up on opportunities. The 6th and final step in creating a Proactive Service® culture within your service team is to provide coaching and support.  If we want to see results, we must create an environment that fosters learning and encourages the desired behaviour.

It is important to keep in mind that, as managers, we are not measured so much by what we do, but by what our employees do.  That means that we should be trying to spend as much of our time as possible in helping our employees do their jobs better.  However, the reality is that we are in a fast-paced, real-time business that often forces us to put coaching and development activities aside to address more urgent matters.  When we allow this to happen too often, we find we spend little or no time providing the critical support that will truly help our employees excel.  And that can be costly in terms of our team’s effectiveness and therefore our overall performance.  Some research has demonstrated that with new skills adoption, as much as 75% of an initiative’s success will be dependent upon the actions of management to support and coach their employees.  A large association of training and development professionals found that training, followed by coaching, showed a four-fold improvement in skills adoption. Read more

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Step 5 of a Proactive Service® Culture – Follow Up on Opportunities

Jim Baston service tech trainingThe 5th step in creating a Proactive Service® culture within your service team is to follow-up on opportunities.  Following up on opportunities may seem like a self-evident step, but it is often not accomplished.

During our Proactive Service® workshops, we ask technicians if they have ever proposed an idea to a customer where the customer has never gotten back to them and where they do not know what the customer has decided to do.  Almost everyone’s hand goes up.  We then ask, “Why do you think that is the case?”  Responses range from, “They decided not to do it” to “They got someone else to do it.”  Occasionally someone will say something like, “Maybe they forgot about it” and if they don’t, then we suggest it.  We then relate the story that I told in my last blog about the technician that passed on a lead from the field that was never followed up by the salesperson.  In that situation, the recommended action was to prevent a failure and a few months later, the failure indeed occurred.  Of course, the customer was angry and the technician was put in an uncomfortable position because of inaction on the part of the salesperson, but the problem would have been avoided altogether if the technician just took a moment to inquire with the customer whether they had given any more thought to the matter. Read more

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Step 4 of a Proactive Service® Culture – A Clear Opportunity Process

Jim Baston service manager trainingThe fourth step in creating a Proactive Service® culture for your field service team is to ensure that there is a clear and consistent process for handling opportunities from the field.  Without a clear process, we leave the follow-up largely to chance and create the potential for frustration and resentment on the part of our technicians and customers.

Nothing will stop a technician from making recommendations to a customer more quickly than poor or inconsistent follow-up by the rest of the company’s staff.  A technician that makes a recommendation that requires follow-up by others (salesperson or manager for example) and which is not followed up, is unlikely to continue to do so.  But worse than that, lack of follow-up can have serious consequences.

I worked with one service firm that did not have a formal process for handling opportunities from the field.  I interviewed one of their technicians and he related a story that highlights the problems that can occur.  The technician had found a problem with a key piece of equipment and recommended to the customer that it be replaced as soon as possible.  The customer asked the technician to have someone get in touch with him with pricing and installation information for the replacement.  The technician reported the opportunity on the work order along with the request for a follow-up call by the salesperson responsible for the account.  Unknown to the service tech, the information did not get to the salesperson and no one followed up.  About a month later, the customer called in a panic because the equipment failed, just as foretold.  Rather than praising the technician for his ability to predict the failure, the customer was furious that there was no follow-up on the part of the firm.  The service technician took the brunt of the customer’s anger and felt let down by his colleagues.  Needless to say, by the time we spoke to the technician, he was reluctant to identify opportunities in the future.

Even when a process for opportunity management is in place, it may not include an important step.  One of the most common complaints we hear from technicians is that, even when there is follow-up, the technician is not kept in the loop.  The lack of a communication loop to keep the technician informed causes more than hard feelings.  It also can cause a customer service failure.  Let’s assume that the technician has spoken to the customer and they are interested in pursuing an idea that she brought forward that may reduce energy consumption.  The salesperson or manager is duly informed and goes out to visit the customer.  If there is no communication back to the technician, the salesperson may develop a solution that is beyond what the technician had in mind and far exceeds the customer’s expectations.  A simple discussion with the technician would have prevented this from happening and the technician would have an opportunity to share her ideas with the salesperson that could be incorporated into the ultimate solution.  In addition, by keeping the technician in the loop, the technician will have an informed response if the customer asks about the progress on the opportunity development the next time she is in their facility.

A key step therefore, to ensure that you create a successful and lasting Proactive Service® culture is to ensure that you have a clear, concise and consistent process for identifying and following-up on recommendations from the field.  Not only will this improve your service delivery, but it will let your technicians (and customers) know that these recommendations are important and that they play a key role in your firm’s the overall service delivery.

I’d love your feedback! 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

“Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.”

– Peter Drucker

 

 

 

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Continuous Educational Opportunities – 3rd Step in Creating a Proactive Service® Culture

Jim Baston service technician trainingIn the last blog post, we talked about the 2nd step in creating a Proactive Service® culture or focus for your field service team. The 3rd step is to provide them with continuous educational opportunities about your products and services.  We often assume that our staff knows more about what we do as a company than they actually do.  In fact, in many cases, our technicians’ lack of knowledge is actually holding us back and negatively impacting our bottom lines.

In our work with training technicians to be more proactive in business development activities, we ask them to list all of the products and services that their company offers.  We usually get two, three and sometimes as many as four sheets of flip chart paper filled with products and services.  We then ask them’ “How many of your customers know that you do all of these things?”  “Very few, if any” is the usual answer.

We then ask the technicians, “How many of you know enough about all of the services and products that your company offers to have a high-level conversation with your customers about what you do?”  Several, if not all of the technicians typically will indicate that they are not aware of all of the products or services offered.  We then ask, “If you were more aware and were able to carry on that high-level conversation to explore if the customer could benefit from the product or service, do you think that you would be of more value to that customer?”  The answer is invariably “Yes!”  “So what are you prepared to do about it?” is our challenge.

Now we have had many discussions with both technicians and their managers about who is responsible for their learning about the capabilities of the company.  Is it up to management to educate their technicians or should the technicians make it a point to educate themselves?  Regardless of where you sit on this question, you will do your customers, technicians and yourselves a great service by taking the initiative in educating your technicians on your products and services.

Take every opportunity to educate your technicians about your products and services.  Ensure they know the value of each one and how your customers will benefit.  Help them understand what to look for to determine if there is an opportunity to help and encourage them to speak to your customers about these services when they think that they will benefit.  Doing this will ensure your team knows the complete range of services you offer and give them more confidence to engage the customer.  This will allow your technicians to offer a higher and more valued level of service.  Your customers – and your technicians – will thank you.

I’d love your feedback! 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

 

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest”

– Benjamin Franklin