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Supercharging Revenue Generation Through the Field Service Team – Defining the Steps to Supercharging your Technicians’ Revenue Generation Efforts

In my last blog, I spoke about how the success of our field team’s business development efforts will be dependent upon whether they accept that their proactive efforts are part of their service role and whether the customer sees value in their recommendations.  We can do this when we take a service perspective.  How?  Treat revenue generation as the valuable service that it is and engage our technicians in the proactive promotion of our services in a manner that we would be proud to tell our customers about.  Then, support our techs’ efforts as we would any other service that we offer.

“Super Service”

Let’s look at this a little more closely.  Imagine you are about to add a new service to your portfolio and you want to take steps to ensure it’s successful.  For the purpose of this exercise, we’ll call the new service “Super Service”.  The service you are about to add has the following characteristics:

  • It complements existing services (does not replace any of the services you are currently providing)
  • It’s a new concept – the customer needs to be educated on the value
  • Some new knowledge and skills are required but your existing technicians can perform the service – no additional staffing required
  • Existing tools and test equipment can be used – no significant capital equipment needed
  • It has the potential to be highly profitable – efficiency in delivery is critical
  • You must rely on another division within your organization to deliver a small part of the service
  • Super Service has the potential to be a game changer

The question is:  What specific steps will you take to ensure the success of this new service?

Take a few minutes to write down what steps you’ll take to launch this service successfully.  Don’t worry about completeness of this list for now.  We’ll come back to this list later.  We only want you to start generating ideas about the steps you would include.

…………………………..

To successfully launch this new service, here is a list of possible steps we could take:

  1. Define the service
  2. Support the initiative
  3. Get buy-in from supporting divisions
  4. Talk the walk
  5. Tell our customers
  6. Maintain focus

How does this list compare to yours?  Chances are there are a lot of similarities. 

Using the Super Service to Supercharge Revenue Generation

Now, look at the description of Super Service once more.  Notice that the Super Service described also applies to the actions of business promotion by our field service team.  Through their recommendations for example, their efforts can complement our existing services.  Their actions will require explanation to our customers so that they understand the motive behind, and the value in, their efforts.  Although some new knowledge and skills may be needed by the techs, no additional staffing will be required.  In addition, there will be no need for any significant capital increases and the results of their efforts can be highly profitable.  Finally, our field team’s promotion of products and services can be a game changer if we can help our customers see how they’ll be better off for those recommendations.

So, we can supercharge our techs’ revenue generation by treating their efforts as the valuable service that they are.  This means identifying those things that we must do well in order to successfully encourage and support their efforts.

Our next step is to determine and apply the specific actions we’ll take.  Using the list above, my next blog will look at some examples of actions we can take.  Please note that the actions that we identify may not necessarily be the actions that you, in your specific situation will take.  It’s the approach that is important here, so simply apply the same approach used here to your list.

Reflection

Go back the list of steps that you have created that will ensure that the proactive efforts of your field service team will be successful.  Is the list complete?  What’s missing?  Rework the list until you assured that those steps cover all that is necessary for your success.  

Let’s Connect

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. 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.

Sincerely,
Jim Baston
President
BBA Consulting Group Inc.

A good leader is not necessarily the most popular person in their business, but the best ones are liked because they are respected for their clarity and vision.

– Alan Sugar

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Supercharging Revenue Generation Through the Field Service Team – It’s All About Perception – Are You “Selling” or “Serving”?

In my last blog, I wrote of the opportunity to stand out from the crowd by helping the customer recognize that they are better off for having engaged us.  Our techs play a huge role in this.  They are in the best position to recognize the opportunities for improvement and typically have the trust and ear of the customer.  However, the success of our efforts to engage our field teams in revenue generation depends on two key factors. The first is that the customer must see value in our technicians’ efforts.  The second is that our technicians must see their proactive recommendations as an integral part of the job that they do.  Achieving both outcomes relies on how we, as managers, define what the technicians are doing when they make recommendations to customers about a particular product or service.  Do we regard the field service team’s efforts as “selling” or “serving”?  Our perception of their actions can mean the difference between outstanding success and mediocrity.

“Selling”

Let’s start with the “selling” perspective.  Many service organizations appear to take a “selling” perspective.  You hear it in the language that’s used.  Managers talk about getting their field service team to “sell”. They use terms like “up-selling” and “cross-selling”.  Unfortunately, a “selling” perspective can have a negative impact on our ability to fully engage our technicians in promoting our products and services.

A selling perspective is centred on us – the service provider.  The focus is on how the customer can fulfill our needs.  It arises from the question, “How can we capitalize on our field service relationships to win more business from our customers and increase our revenues and profitability?” 

This can be problematic for a number of reasons:

Firstly, it can appear to suggest that business development is an opportunistic tactic rather than an integral part of the service strategy. 

As such, it can be perceived as an add-on to the tech’s main responsibility. If it’s perceived by the technician as an add-on to, and not part of, their main role of providing service, then the tech may regard making proactive recommendations as optional and not enthusiastically participate. 

Secondly, skills development tends to be focused on selling. 

Maslow famously said: “If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”  When we see the task as “selling”, we may conclude that the solution to improve our techs’ performance is to provide them with selling skills.  Unfortunately, some of the sales training for techs has been adapted from sales programs developed for salespeople.  Such programs often include topics that prove uncomfortable for the technician – closing techniques, overcoming objections are just two examples that come to mind.  As a result, the technician may not see much relevance to what they do every day in the training and some may even resent being considered a “salesperson”.

Thirdly, a sales perspective has the potential to negatively impact trust with the customer. 

Our technicians typically have high levels of trust with our customers, partly due to the fact that they’re not there to sell the customer anything.  If we try to turn our technicians into salespeople, then the customer may perceive that the technician is “selling” to them.  When this happens, the customer becomes confused about the tech’s role and that foundation of trust is eroded.

Fourthly, a selling perspective is difficult to communicate to our customers. 

How do we communicate to the customer about our techs’ proactive efforts in a way that shows value for them?  Can you imagine if we said, “We’ve asked our technicians to look for more products and services to sell to you so that we can get more money out of you”.  Somehow, I don’t think this would resonate well with the customer.

“Serving”

When we see the proactive recommendations by our field service team as a “service” rather than a “sale”, we set the stage for enthusiastic engagement by our field service team and welcome acceptance by our customers.  That’s because the focus changes from being centered on us as the service provider to being centered on the customer and their needs.  Whereas the focus of the selling perspective is on how to get more money out of the customer, the focus of a service perspective is on how we can deliver a higher level of service to the customer through the recommendations of our field service team.

When we take a “service” perspective, identifying opportunities to help the customer becomes part of the service rather than an add-on to it.  Skills development considerations broaden to include all that’s needed to facilitate the techs’ efforts to share their recommendations with their customers rather than limited to “selling” products or services.  The techs’ efforts can add to the trust they have built by demonstrating the value of their recommendations from the customer’s perspective.  And it becomes easier to differentiate because we can discuss it with the customer in terms of what is in it for them. 

The “service” perspective positions the tech’s recommendations as part of their job – as important a part as their ability to repair and maintain the equipment they service.  We enhance our service and add significant value when our field service team makes recommendations to help our customers to be measurably better off.

Reflection

On a scale of 1 – 10 (“10” being “promoting products and services is an important part of the service that we provide”, and “1” being “promoting products and services is not part of my job and should be done by others”), how would you rate the general view of your field service team of the role of promoting products and services?

What are the factors that caused you to give the score that you did?

What steps could you take to increase your field team’s score to a “10”?

Let’s Connect

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. 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
President
BBA Consulting Group Inc.

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.

 – Henry David Thoreau

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Supercharging Revenue Generation Through the Field Service Team – Differentiating Service Through the Field Team’s Proactive Efforts

This is the first in a series of blogs on “supercharging” revenue generation through the field service team.  If you encourage your field team to promote your products and services to your customers and you are disappointed in the results so far, please read on. 

Our field service teams represent an excellent opportunity to increase revenues and profitability by proactively making recommendations of our products and services to our customers.  They need only bring their ideas to the customer’s attention while they are on site performing maintenance.  And the revenue generated in this manner can be highly profitable.  No increase in overheads.  No additional travel or other incremental costs.  Profits go straight to the bottom line.

It sounds too good to be true.  And for some of us this must seem to be the case.  Despite our best efforts, we struggle to get our teams as engaged in business promotion as we would like them to be.  We fail to meet our revenue generation goals.  We continue to be disappointed in the results of our efforts.

In this blog series entitled Supercharging Revenue Generation Through the Field Service Team, we’ll look at the possible reason why our results fail to reach expectations and look at specific steps that we can take to turn those results around.  We’ll examine how any service organization can supercharge their revenue generation through their field service teams and use those efforts to stand out from the crowd.

Standing Out From the Crowd

The reality for every service provider is that it is an increasingly competitive world out there.  The challenge is how to stand out from the crowd.  How can we differentiate our service from our competitors when our customers see very little difference between us? The answer is that we can do this by helping the customer answer “yes” to this question, “Am I better off for having known you?” 

Imagine a customer reflecting on our work over the past several months.  Will they say, “Not only does my equipment continue to run exceptionally well, but we’re saving more money today than we’ve ever saved before.” or “… we’re achieving better productivity than we’ve ever achieved before.” or “… we’re getting fewer complaints from tenants than we ever have before.”, etc.  When our customers say those things about us, we will stand out from our competitors and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.

Our Customers Want us to Make Recommendations

Studies suggest that helping the customer to be better off is exactly what our customers want their service providers to do.  In May of 2015, the Globe and Mail newspaper published an article entitled “Why Customer Satisfaction is Overrated”.  In the article, they reported on research that found that 75 percent of organizations that left one vendor to go to another, were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the vendor they left at the time that they left.  Upon further investigation, researchers found that the reason that satisfied or even very satisfied customers left was that they thought that the company that they were going to was in a better position to help them achieve their long term business goals.  This study suggests that good customer service, although important, is not enough.  Today’s customer is looking for a business partner who can use their specific knowledge and expertise to help them achieve their goals.

Our field service team is in the best position to recognize opportunities that can help our customers achieve their goals.  They have the technical expertise, they understand our company’s capabilities, they have an intimate knowledge of our customer’s equipment and they have insight into our customers’ goals and challenges.  And, of course, they have direct access to speak with the customer.

Next time we will look at our perception of the proactive efforts of our field service teams and how our mindset may be impacting our results.

Reflection

Think about how your customers view your business:

  • Do they see you as a “service provider” or a “business partner”?
  • Do they claim they are better off for having engaged you? What steps do you take as an organization to help your customers see this value in your relationship? How do you measure your customers’ perception about this? 
  • How well does this customer viewpoint allow you to differentiate your business from your competitors?  How sustainable is this differentiation?

Let’s Connect

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. 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
President
BBA Consulting Group Inc.

Expect change. Analyze the landscape. Take the opportunities.
Stop being the chess piece; become the player. It’s your move.

– Tony Robbins

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Announcement: Proactive Service® Self-Delivery Workshop

I am pleased to announce that we have developed a self-delivery version of our very successful Proactive Service® workshop to allow organizations to deliver top quality customer service training during these times of restricted travel and social distancing.  The program comes with a step-by-step presentation, videos highlighting the key points and clearly defined exercises so that anyone within your organization can deliver the workshop. 

The Proactive Service® Self-Delivery Workshop is designed to help service organizations successfully and enthusiastically engage their field teams in making recommendations aimed at helping their customers to achieve their business goals.

Participants will learn:

  • Why making recommendations is a critical part of the service provided
  • How success depends on the customer’s perception of their credibility
  • Specific and practical steps to build credibility with the customer
  • How to make recommendations to the customer in a concise and engaging way
  • What to do if the customer says “no” and the risks are high

Click here to view the Workshop Topic Overview

Advantages of the Self-Delivery Option

The combination of videos, guided facilitator presentation and comprehensive workshop delivery notes means that anyone can effectively facilitate the workshop – no previous facilitation experience is necessary, and at a time and location that is most convenient.

This option provides a number of advantages including:

  • Ability to deliver an excellent training experience during these times of limited travel
  • Flexibility in workshop delivery such as:
    • From small to larger groups
    • One day delivery or smaller segments delivered over a set period of time
    • Adjust emphasis and time to specific components of the workshop most relevant under current circumstances
  • Opportunity to include relevant examples from real-life experience
  • Thought provoking follow up emails encourage and reinforce behaviour change
  • Videos can also be used for:
    • Keeping core concepts top of mind
    • On-boarding new employees

What’s Included

  • Subscription to a series of seven videos – each focused on a key component or sub-component of Proactive Service® and presented under the following headings:
    • Personal Credibility
    • Professional Credibility
    • Proactive Recommendations
  • Facilitator slide deck
    • Step-by-step guide and presentation notes to deliver the workshop materials
  • Facilitator “how-to” video
  • Facilitator guidelines
    • Background information
    • Scripts for each slide
    • Suggestions for leading the in-class exercises
  • Participant workbook and exercises
  • Pocketbook of Proactive Service®
  • Follow-up emails to reinforce key learning points

For more information on our Proactive Service® Self-Delivery Workshop, please visit our website at www.jimbaston.com and click on Proactive Service® or contact me directly at jim@jimbaston.com.

Sincerely,

Jim Baston

President

BBA Consulting Group Inc.

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Preventative Maintenance for Business Promotion – Step 6

Today’s equipment typically runs on a software platform and it is important to keep that software current.  Not updating software may compromise performance and may result in errors and ultimately failure.  A key part of our field team’s role when performing maintenance therefore, is checking the equipment’s software version and updating it to maintain currency.

Updating the Field Service Team

In our efforts to support our field service team as they look for opportunities to help the customer, we must also ensure that we keep them current.  As a service organization, we are always adding to our portfolio of products and services.  If we do not continually update our field team on these new capabilities, then not everyone on the team will be familiar with all that we do.

This is problematic because if one of our field service professionals is unaware of a capability, they will not recognize that there is an opportunity to help.

Even if they are aware, if they are not comfortable talking about the capability at a high level with the customer, then they may avoid the discussion altogether.

There are some things that you may wish to consider as you determine the currency of your field service team.

  • Do you regularly update your team on your products and services?
  • Does this update include how each service provides value for the customer and which circumstances would make a customer a candidate to benefit?
  • Do you provide some suggested questions that the field professional could ask to uncover whether a customer would benefit from that product or service?
  • Do you provide opportunities for the field team to practice a conversation about the product or service in a safe environment (i.e. role plays)?
  • Do you help your team recognize the value to them and to their customers of keeping themselves updated on your capabilities?

We provide great value when our field service team uncovers opportunities that will help our customers to be better off.  This proactive approach to service will differentiate us from the crowd by helping our customers realize that they are better off as a result of working with us.

To keep our business development by our field service team working in tip-top order, we need to maintain it.

This maintenance includes:

  • Checking for overall mechanical condition and wear
  • Replacing, refurbishing, or cleaning of the wearable parts and consumables
  • Checking alignments and readjusting if applicable
  • Lubricating moving parts
  • Checking and updating spare parts inventories
  • Updating software to maintain currency

By regularly addressing these key maintenance tasks, we can be assured that the proactive efforts of our field team will deliver a service that goes beyond keeping our customers’ equipment running well and measurably helps them them achieve their business goals.

Let’s Connect

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. 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

“We cannot solve our problems with the
same thinking we used when we created them.”
– Albert Einstein

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Preventative Maintenance for Business Promotion – Step 4

An important step in any maintenance activity is to ensure that the moving parts are properly lubricated and that there is a regular lubricating schedule that is consistent with manufacturers’ specifications.  Lubricating moving parts is critical.  Proper lubrication will reduce noise, heat and extend asset life.  Failure to lubricate will result in premature failure.

Management Support is the Lubricant

Our initiative to engage our field team in business development needs regular lubrication too.  Lubrication is vital to prevent premature failure of our efforts.  Management support is the lubricant of the initiative.  Consistent and engaged management support will contribute to the efficiency and longevity of the efforts of our field service team.  Initiatives that are poorly supported by management will never achieve the planned performance levels and will lose whatever momentum they have quickly.

As you assess management support as part of your PM program, consider the following:

  • How often do you speak of the initiative? Is it part of most conversations?
  • Do you speak of service promotion by field professionals as part of the overall strategy to serve the customer? Are the proactive efforts of the field team referred to as a service to the customer?
  • Do you regularly provide training for your team to enable them to perform capably and comfortably?
  • Do you offer reminders and refreshers to keep the initiative fresh? Do you provide an opportunity such as role-playing to let your field service professionals practice their customer conversations in a safe environment?
  • Do you make time to regularly coach the team on the desired behaviours?

Providing the coaching and support needed to maintain momentum and achieve desired results is difficult.  Because coaching and support is not “urgent” (like responding to an emergency breakdown for example), and the results of the efforts tend not to be immediately visible, it often takes a back seat to other opportunities.  Management must be disciplined.  The effort is worth it, however.  Research shows that the most important component of any initiative requiring behaviour change is how management introduces and supports the initiative, not the quality of the initiative itself.[1]

Next time we will consider the importance of spare parts and how providing the security of this backup will help keep the processes running smoothly.

Let’s Connect

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. 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

“Learning is not compulsory… neither is survival.”
– W. Edwards Deming

[1] This series of blogs is based on an article published for Field Service News – https://www.fieldservicenews.com

[2] James Kirkpatrick, Transferring Learning to Behaviour

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Preventative Maintenance for Business Promotion – Step 2

This series of blogs discusses the application of preventative maintenance in order to maintain our field team’s product and service promotion effectiveness. [1]

Step 2 – Replacing, Refurbishing or Cleaning Wearable Parts and Consumables

In order to help our customers to be better off for having hired us, we must continually be on the lookout for ways that we can help them achieve their business goals.  Our field service team is in the best position to do this because of their knowledge of the technology, our company’s capabilities and our customers’ challenges and goals.  However, in order for our team to be effective in making proactive recommendations, we must have the system and processes in place and working smoothly.  Regular preventative maintenance (PM) of our systems and processes will help ensure that our field service professionals continue to provide recommendations that will be appreciated by our customers.

Last time I wrote about conducting a high level assessment before getting into the details of the PM.  This time, I would like to focus our attention on the parts of the initiative that wear and need refurbishing or replacement – the opportunity capture and management systems and processes.

Opportunity Capture and Management Systems and Processes

Opportunity capture and management systems and processes are the backbone of the business development initiative and are the parts of the overall initiative that is most subject to wear and tear.  If the systems are not working smoothly, then opportunities get lost, field professionals get frustrated and customers become disappointed.  Failure to maintain the processes and systems will be a sure way to bring the entire initiative to a grinding halt.

Capture Opportunities

To keep systems and processes operating in tiptop condition, check to ensure that there is a clear and simple process to capture opportunities and that the process is clearly understood. Look for any opportunities that may have fallen through the cracks.  Identify opportunities that are in limbo and the clarity and effectiveness of the process to follow-up.

Feedback Loops

Look at the feedback loops. Check to ensure that the feedback loops are working properly so that the field service professional is informed on opportunity status when visiting the customer.

Response Times

Ensure that management is responding quickly to address any anomalies when problems in the process do occur.  Failure to address concerns about the processes and systems will communicate to the field team that you are just not that serious.

Simplify the Efforts of the Technicians

Speak with the technicians to explore for improvements in the process that will simplify their efforts.  They are the ones who live and breath within the system and irritations, no matter how small, will slow down their efforts and discourage the desired behaviours.

Taking the time to check and address worn parts and consumables will ensure that the core of the initiative is working smoothly.  Next time I will discuss checking alignments and readjusting if necessary.

Let’s Connect

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. 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 I had six hours to chop down a tree, I would
spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.”

– Abraham Lincoln

 

[1] This series of blogs is based on an article published for Field Service News – https://www.fieldservicenews.com

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Are You Fully Capitalizing on One of Your Most Valuable Assets?

Are you fully capitalizing on one of your most valuable assets – the knowledge and experience of your field service team?  Sure, you depend on their expertise to provide maintenance service, troubleshoot and make repairs correctly and efficiently.  But do you fully capitalize on their abilities to recognize additional work opportunities?  They offer much more than the opportunity to identify more business.  Their proactive recommendations can help your customers achieve results that they did not realize were possible and can differentiate you from the competition.

When you think about capitalizing on the proactive efforts of your service team, here are three questions to consider:

1. Do you see the field service professional’s promotion of services as an opportunity to serve your customers better or simply as a means for generating more business?

If we regard the field team’s proactive efforts as a service we will be more likely to treat it like one; we will be much more likely to support it, provide training for it and promote it like we would any other service we provide.

2. Do you discourage “selling” for the sake of merely gaining more business and insist that any recommendations by your field service team be directly tied to a customer benefit?

By focusing on how the recommendation will help the customer rather than how it will generate income, we will reinforce the service nature of the recommendations and show the field team why proactive recommendations are an integral part of their day-to-day service role.

3. Do you “convince” or do you “tell” your field team to promote your services?

To fully capitalize on our field team’s expertise, they must be willing participants.  A field service professional who is not convinced that promoting services is part of the service that they deliver will never achieve their full potential.  A willing participant must be convinced that business promotion is part of the service.  We can do this by what we say, what we do and how we position business promotion as a service.

Our field service teams provide a valuable service when they apply their technical expertise to maintain or repair equipment – as do the service teams of our competitors.  But we can offer more than this.  We can enhance the value that our teams deliver and differentiate our business from our competitors by capitalizing on our field team’s ability to recognize opportunities to ultimately help our customers to be better off.  By doing so, we will be capitalizing on one of our most valuable assets.

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 human mind is our fundamental resource.”

– John F. Kennedy

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Are You the Reason Your Technicians Are Not Enthusiastically Promoting your Services?

It is no secret that field service technicians represent an excellent opportunity to increase revenues without adding to overheads.  They understand the technology, know their products and services and are familiar with the customers’ equipment and their goals.  And, of course, they have the ear of the customer.

Chances are you already have one or two techs who are great at developing new business and you recognize that, by getting all of your techs to act like them, you will experience tremendous growth.

If, despite your best efforts, your technicians are still not generating as much business as you think they are capable of, then perhaps you are the reason your technicians are not enthusiastically promoting your services.  Perhaps it is your perception that is standing in the way.

Review Our Perception

Ask yourself this question:  “Am I prepared to tell my customers what I have asked my technicians to do?”  If your answer is “no”, then it may be because your perception is that your field service technicians’ proactive promotion of services is “selling” and that you don’t see value in this from the customers’ perspective.  As a result, you are uncomfortable promoting this to them.  After all, how compelling is the following:  “We have trained our service technicians to sell so that we can get more business from you.”  Now, I am sure that you would not be as blunt as that, but clearly there is not a positive message here for the customer.

Change Our Perception from Selling to Serving

But if we change our perception to one that recognizes the tech’s proactive efforts as a serving activity rather than a selling activity, then we start to look at what they are doing through the lens of how it benefits the customer.  As a service, the technician is looking to uncover opportunities for products and/or services to help the customer achieve their goals.  The focus is on identifying and solving customer problems rather than on generating more revenue.  When this is the case, it makes good business sense to let the customer know what your technicians are doing.  In fact, their proactive efforts can become a significant differentiator.

If our perception changes from selling to serving, our conversation with the customer can communicate the value of the technicians’ actions from the customers’ perspective:  “We have encouraged our technicians to use their knowledge and expertise to identify steps that you can take to help you achieve your business goals.  Would you have any objection if, in the course of doing their service work, they identify a product or service that will help you to be better off that they bring their recommendation to your attention?”

Benefits of this Change in Perception

This change in perspective will positively affect a number of factors that will be critical for success and which I will cover in a future blog.  These include:

  1. The technicians’ perception of their role.
  2. The processes and systems that you create to support the techs.
  3. How you talk about proactive recommendations.
  4. The customers’ trust levels.
  5. Sales of new contracts.
  6. Our customers’ perception of us.

We offer tremendous value when our field service team takes proactive efforts to make recommendations to our customers that will help them to be better off.  If your attempts to engage them enthusiastically are falling short of your expectations, look closely on how you perceive what it is that you have asked them to do.  You may be the reason that your technicians are not enthusiastically promoting your services.

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 want to make the world a better place,
take a look at yourself and make a change.”

– Michael Jackson

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Is Your Field Service Team Missing Opportunities to Help Your Customers?

Here is a simple test for you.  Count the number of “F”s in the sentence below.

Don’t read any further until you have decided your number.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you said six “F”s, then congratulations!  If you said anything else, don’t feel bad.  Most people see three.  Look at the sentence again.  Did you miss the “F”s in “OF”?  Now that you see the “F”s, it’s pretty obvious right?  It makes us wonder why we missed it in the first place.

Now, think of your service business.  Opportunities to help your customers should be obvious too.  Or are they as obvious as we might think?  Is your service team missing opportunities to help your customers?

Even with a Process in Place, Is Your Customer Seeing All the “F’s”?

Perhaps you have encouraged your field team to look for ways that you could help your customers achieve their business goals.  You’ve set up processes and systems to capture any opportunities identified.  You may have even told your customers your intentions and why your field team’s actions are not only unique but of great value for the them.  Even with all of this in place, how confident are you that they are seeing all of the “F”s – that is, how confident are you that they are not missing any opportunities to help the customer to be better off.

Four Actions to Ensure Your Field Service Team Does Not Miss Important Opportunities

Here are four actions that you can take to help ensure that your field service team does not miss opportunities that are important.

1. Establish a customer visit routine

Whenever your field service professional calls on a customer, ensure that each one of them follows a specific process which may include steps like:

    • Stopping by the customer’s office to explain the nature of the visit upon arrival and asking if anything has changed since their last visit.
    • Stopping by the customer’s office after the work is completed to go over what was done and asking if there is anything else they would like them to address while they are there.

2. Have your field team follow up on previous recommendations

Your customers are busy and, even with the best of intentions, some of your recommendations will get forgotten.  It’s a valuable service that you provide when your follow up reminds the customer to address something that had completely slipped their minds.  This is particularly important if the recommendation would prevent something that could seriously and negatively impact the customer if it is not addressed.

3. If appropriate, have your field team ask the customer to take them on a tour of their facilities

While on the tour, the field professional can point out ideas where you may be able to help and even some issues that may not be related to your business at all but will help the customer see that there are improvements that can be made.

4. Share best practices between team members

Whenever a field service member makes a recommendation that benefits a customer in a significant way, share it with the rest of the team.  What was the issue at hand?  How did the recommendation help the customer?  How many other customers might benefit from a similar recommendation?  What do these customers look like?  What questions might the field professional ask to uncover whether they could benefit from a similar recommendation?

Every time we make a proactive recommendation to a customer, we have an opportunity to help them toward achieving their business goals.  But, recognizing opportunities is not always as easy as we may first assume.  Andmissed opportunities might result in a problem for the customer.  Help your field team establish a process that will minimize lost opportunities and further enhance the value that you offer to your customers.

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 was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one”

– Mark Twain