If you are in the service business, then you know a little bit about change. Just about everything to do with field service has been impacted by technology; and it has changed the way we do business. Technology is also having a revolutionary impact on the relative importance of soft skills.

Technology has allowed us to improve efficiencies. It has enabled us to get a more accurate picture of the effectiveness of our business practices. And it has allowed us to empower our field personnel. Most of these changes have been good for the customer, for us and for our field teams.

Closing the Competency Gap

As the pace of technology increases, we can see the shift it is having on the relative importance of soft skills. And it truly is revolutionary. Emerging technologies in the field service business are reducing the competency gap between top service professionals and less skilled service providers. The result is that it is becoming harder to differentiate on technical skills. With remote diagnostics, artificial intelligence, visual reality and embedded information in the serviced equipment, the field service professionals rely more on their tools to troubleshoot and repair and less on their experience and technical expertise. This opens up the door for less “qualified” individuals who use these same tools to give comparable levels of technical service.

This means that, even though it is highly competitive now, it will become even more so in the future. Customers will have an even more difficult time distinguishing between service providers. Service professionals and service organizations alike will have to rely more on the service experience that they create when interacting with a customer to differentiate them from their competitors. The basis of competition will shift from who is doing the best job of servicing the equipment; to who can create the best service experience while doing the job.

It’s All About The Brand

This is not to say that technical competence will go by the wayside. Obviously, it won’t. Technical competence will remain important. But as technology levels the playing field between service professionals of different capabilities, technical competence of the individual and the organizations that employ them will no longer be a factor of differentiation. The winning service organizations of the future will be the ones that create a service “brand.” They will clearly define the service experience they want to create and invest in the processes and soft skills training of their field service team to achieve it.

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

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

– Buckminster Fuller

The post Technology’s Revolutionary Impact on the Relative Importance of Soft Skills appeared first on jimbaston.com.

One customer told me it was lucky that he was still a customer at all. He told me of an incident that happened a few years previously that caused him some personal embarrassment and had him literally concerned for his own job. Apparently, after a routine maintenance call, the technician informed the customer that they had a problem with a specific piece of equipment. It was showing signs of failure and that it should be replaced. The technician duly included this in the service order summary which the customer signed.

Several months passed and the equipment issue was not addressed. And then one day the equipment failed. The failure caused several days of business disruption and incurred a costly emergency repair. The customer called the President of the service company to complain only to find out that he had indeed been informed.  The President went on to tell him the exact date that the conversation took place and the fact that the customer had even signed the work order that included the equipment failure warning in the summary. “I felt terrible”, said this customer. “I had obviously forgotten about the recommendation. I sheepishly hung up the phone … and that’s when I really started to get angry”.

What made him angry was the fact that the same technician was back at his office to do routine maintenance at least two or three times between the initial recommendation and the failure. “Not once in all those times did the technician remind me of this looming problem. Had he only mentioned this to me, it all could have been avoided”.

Which brings me to the cup of coffee… Taking the time to grab a cup of coffee with a client might give your technicians an opportunity to review outstanding recommendations and avoid disaster.  It might even mean more business and improve customer satisfaction and retention. This is one of the subjects we address in our Proactive Service® workshop.  Each time, several technicians invariably nod their heads and admit that a similar thing has happened to them (or a colleague).

Has this happened to your technicians? Perhaps it’s time for some coaching. I welcome your feedback. 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

“Science may never come up with a better office communication system than the coffee break.”

– Earl Wilson

The post Technician Service Challenges – How to Keep a Customer appeared first on jimbaston.com.

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.

Coaching isn’t the only factor that will determine how well our team adopts and contributes to a Proactive Service culture.  We must ensure that we also “walk the walk”.  Leading by example makes it clear that we are serious and that this is not just another management fad.  It also provides a reference for the team in understanding exactly what is expected of them.

Coaching and leading by example to support new behaviors plays a critical role in new skills adoption.  For some, taking a more proactive approach to discussing opportunities that will help the customer run their facilities more effectively is a challenging task.  It takes time and practice to become comfortable.  Without coaching and reinforcement, most of our technicians will simply revert back to their old ways and our efforts will be lost.  It is helpful to think of coaching as a form of maintenance.  We would never expect a piece of equipment to run very long or very well without maintenance so why would we expect our service team to perform well and consistently at new skills without coaching?

I have written an article that summarizes the key steps I have written about in the last several blogs for instilling a Proactive Service® culture in your service team.  I thought it could be a handy reference.  If you are interested, you can download a complimentary copy by clicking here.

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

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world”

– Mahatma Gandhi

The post Step 6 of a Proactive Service® Culture – Coach and Support appeared first on jimbaston.com.

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

The post Continuous Educational Opportunities – 3rd Step in Creating a Proactive Service® Culture appeared first on jimbaston.com.

Almost every service company can point to one or more of their techs who are naturally gifted to promote their services. They are always making recommendations to customers and promoting new services – and their customers love them. In our experience, these technicians are successful because they don’t see their recommendations as selling, but rather as an enhancement of their service.  If you have one or two techs on your team that fit this description, then you know the potential of getting everyone on your team to act in the same way.

In this series of blogs we are going to examine six steps that you implement to create a Proactive Service® focus from all of your service team members.  This will greatly enhance your efforts of developing a distinctive and sustainable competitive advantage and result in higher revenues and delighted customers.  I also contend that it will make your business a more desirable place to work.

The six steps we will explore are:

1. Focus on the service, not the sale
2. Encourage your techs to get to know your customer’s business goals
3. Provide continuous educational opportunities on your products and services
4. Develop a clear opportunity response process with feedback loops to the technician
5. Create a follow up process for quoted work
6. Provide ongoing coaching and support

Next time we will consider how we position our efforts as a service to ensure we get engagement from our techs and our customers.

What kind of service culture does your organization have today? 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

“Do today what others won’t, so tomorrow, you can do what others can’t.”

 – Unknown

The post Creating a Proactive Service Culture Throughout Your Service Team appeared first on jimbaston.com.