By Mike Disney
No matter what official roles you have within your home service company—from customer service representatives (CSR) to the sales team to the technicians—they all have to interact with customers and represent the organization. This makes everyone, regardless of their job title, a “salesperson,” in a way.
And, since the person who generally deals with the customer for the longest period of time is the service technician, they often have to sell, even though it may not be their most important role.
As a leader, owner or critical manager, you’ve probably often considered that given their time spent in the client’s home and understanding of the client’s comfort systems, your techs are integral to your company’s success.
But, if they’re not trained in how best to handle their interactions with the client, there are mistakes they can make that could ultimately doom the sales process.
Three crucial mistakes that techs make that can hinder your sales include:
1. Entering the workday with a poor mindset.
2. Not following the processes you’ve developed.
3. Not understanding their importance to the homeowner.
We’ll explore each of these unforced errors and how you can help your service technicians become some of your company’s best representatives.
Poor Mindset
What we need to understand as owners and critical managers is that today’s world is filled with complexities. Our service techs come with their own personalities, past beliefs and experiences that sometimes lead to their creating a judgment when they enter a client’s home.
Whether they’re considering the home, the client’s car or the neighborhood, they begin judging how clients will react to their consultation and estimates. Their judgment can cause them to assess their presentation of solutions as though they are dealing with their own wallets and not those of the clients.
But, they should be trained to realize that just because they grew up with a father who fixed everything with duct tape and Crazy Glue doesn’t mean that their experiences are the same as their clients. This takes some transformative thinking, but it can be overcome.
They have to be trained to deal with objections and present solutions as something of value. You need to show your technical staff that they must serve the client and have a consultative approach. While it is “sales,” so to speak, they should always treat it as service at the highest level.
The greatest day of your clients’ lives should be the day your service tech comes to their home because that’s the day they’re going to learn about their home’s comfort system, what the solution is to that system’s problems and what the value is in repairing it the right way.
Follow the Process
As an owner, you’ve probably spent many hours defining, developing and improving the crucial processes your teams should follow when dealing with customers in their defined roles.
You may hold practice sessions with your CSRs and sales team on how to deal with clients and how to overcome their objections. And, you probably regularly hold training sessions for your techs so they can stay up to date on the latest innovations and solutions.
But, do you practice the art of handling customer objections with your techs? Do you teach them how to avoid meandering on about solutions so that they don’t overwhelm the client?
If you don’t, you should.
You can probably look at your leaderboard and know who is following the process and who isn’t. And, you probably know who is overwhelming the client instead of listening to them.
The reason you have a process is so that there is a systematic approach that won’t put the client into a state of confusion. A confused client leads to hesitation—“I need to talk with my spouse,” or “I need to think about it.”
Your techs have a right and a privilege to ask for the sale, and they need to know this. Teach them how to learn the system without becoming robotic. They certainly need to interject their own personality or their solutions will appear forced.
That is why you need to practice with them every bit as much as you do with your CSRs and sales team. Remember, the first time you changed a tire, you were probably slow and robotic in the methodology but, once you’ve changed a tire for the 50th time, you know what you’re doing.
Do what you need to do to sharpen the axe and create a culture of improvement.
Understanding Their Importance
Finally, if your service team believes their job is to “fix it and get out,” then they don’t understand their value. They are not at the client’s home to perform a meaningless task.
Most homeowners are busy—they have lives to lead and they don’t understand or want to know what is wrong with their comfort systems. They just want them to be fixed.
But think of it this way: a sick patient doesn’t get asked what kind of treatment they want. Instead, doctors present the processes necessary to provide solutions with the desired outcomes. The same is true for your tech team: they are the experts charged with providing the right solutions to fix your client’s pain points.
Let your tech team know they are valuable and help them build their confidence when working with the client. The client needs to know what a great opportunity it is to have this service expert in their home prepared to help them solve their problems.
Your home service techs have a profound opportunity to change the lives of your clients for the better. and It’s important that critical managers and other leaders impress upon their service techs that they recognize their value. Being knowledgeable about how to improve their clients’ living conditions should inspire the confidence in them to continue your company’s sales experience through the servicing phase.
Michael Disney is a co-owner and the chief operations officer for CEO Warrior, where he leads the large and growing company as a trainer and subject matter expert. Early in his career, Disney was an automotive electrical specialist before joining Gold Medal Service in 2013 as a lead generator. Disney accelerated through the company to director of sales and had a key role in the sales successes, including their highest recorded sales month ever at $3.5 Million. He joined CEO Warrior as a master coach in 2015 and became COO in 2019. CEO Warrior is a business consulting, training, and mentoring firm, providing tested and proven methods to defeat the roadblocks that prevent small to mid-sized businesses from achieving their ultimate success.
