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Getting technicians engaged in business development adds a valuable service for your customers. Here are 4 steps you can take to turn your service team into enthusiastic business promoters.

1. Treat the promotion of products and services as a service and not a sale.

Those of you who have been reading my blog know that I have spent a great deal of time recently expanding on the importance of treating your technicians’ proactive conversations with customers as a valuable service. If we want our technicians to be enthusiastic about this role, then we need to show them through our words and actions that this is a service for our customers. The reason we do this is to add value to our relationship. The fact that it generates more revenue is an important bi-product.

2. Sign up your customers.

We can make it easier for our techs to initiate these conversations by asking our customers if they would appreciate our technicians taking a proactive role in identifying and promoting products or services that they felt would help the customer. Our conversation with the customer my go something like this: “Mr. Customer, our technicians are experts in their field and they have a unique opportunity to observe your business. We have asked them to keep their eyes open for opportunities to help you. If, during the course of their work here, our technician identifies an opportunity to help your business be more effective in some way, would you have any objection if they bring this idea to your attention?” I am sure that you would agree that there would be very few customers who would answer “no” to that question. If the technician knows that a particular customer would want them to bring ideas to help to their attention, then they will be more likely to do so.

3. Deal with the elephant in the room.

From my experience, technicians as a whole do not see themselves as salespeople and object to being put in that position. It should not be a surprise, therefore, if they are not enthusiastic about a company initiative that expects them to take on a larger business development role. This concern should be acknowledged and addressed, yet many managers act as if this concern does not exist. This is a mistake. It is important to let technicians know that we understand their reluctance and that they are not being asked to “sell”. They are merely being asked to use their knowledge, proximity and good judgement to bring ideas forward that they believe will be of value to the customer. The technician must understand that they are not asked to promote their company’s services unless they feel, given their experience and expertise, that it is in the best interest of the customer.

4. Show that you are serious.

Starting this initiative with great fanfare and wall posters will not be enough. Team members will be looking closely to see if this initiative is here to stay or just a passing fad. They want to know that you are serious. You can show that you are serious in several ways.

• Talk about the initiative at every opportunity and keep referring back to the value it brings to your customers.
• Provide training and other resources to encourage and assist the field team and the support staff in the office to act in the manner that helps the customer to be better off.
• Make sure that your systems that are in place support rather than hinder the technicians’ efforts.
• Celebrate successes and discuss them in a manner that emphasizes the added service the initiative has provided to the customer (rather than the increased revenue enjoyed by the company).
• Measure the customers’ feedback on the initiative.
• Take the time to coach and develop the team on skills and approaches that will help them to be more successful.

One of the greatest values that we can provide to our customers is to help them to recognize that they are better off for having hired us. We can be most effective when our team recognizes their role in making this happen and enthusiastically embraces their responsibilities in bringing new ideas to the customer. By taking these four steps, we can ensure that our team members are enthusiastic business promoters.

As always I welcome your questions and 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

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

The post 4 Steps to Turn Service Teams into Enthusiastic Business Promoters appeared first on jimbaston.com.

Maslow is attributed as saying, “If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”  This sentiment applies to how we view the role of service technicians.  If we see the proactive efforts of technicians to identify and speak to the customer about our services as that of a “salesperson” then everything they do in this regard looks like “selling”.  Unfortunately, this viewpoint greatly limits our imagination to capture the real value in what our technicians are providing.  This constrains our ability to capitalize on these efforts as a valuable and differentiated service offering.

In my opinion, a technician who feels – based on their knowledge and experience – that the customer would benefit from a particular product or service in some way, and brings this to the attention of the customer is providing a service and is not selling.  It is part of their job – as important as their ability to fix or maintain the equipment itself.  In fact, I suggest that they have an obligation to the customer to discuss any action that would be of benefit to their operations.

Despite this, many service managers I speak to as well as several in the training and consulting community, talk about this activity as “selling” by technicians.  Here are the 4 reasons why this viewpoint will significantly limit our success.

1. Opportunistic/Short-term Focus. As I mentioned in my last blog, when the proactive recommendations by our technicians are seen as selling they become “add-on” activities and we tend to see them from an opportunistic perspective.  “While you’re there have a look for other things that we can sell to that customer.”  This misses the opportunity to imbed this activity into our overall service strategy.

2. Skills Development is Focused on Selling. When we view the activity by our technicians as selling in nature, then it is natural to look to sales training to upgrade the skills of our technicians to handle the new expectations.  Although these are important skills and can be helpful in many cases, they aren’t the only skills or even the most important.  The technicians’ ability to build trust and maintain credibility is more important.  Unfortunately, if we simply teach our technicians to sell, they may come across more like salespeople and actually diminish the amount of trust they have with their customers.

3. Measurement is Limited to Selling Activities. When we regard the technician’s role as selling, then we will tend to limit our measurement of the success of the initiative to factors such as overall revenues, small project work vs. contract base, number of proposals by technician, etc.  Although it is prudent to measure these things, this limited focus may cause us to miss key measures that will impact our long-term success.  It may also cause us to reward certain activities that may encourage unnecessary “selling” activities that may also erode trust.

4. Difficult to Promote as a Differentiating Service. Many service companies that view service technicians’ proactive efforts as “selling” fail to capture and communicate the value of this activity to their customers.  These firms typically don’t mention to their customers that they are encouraging their technicians to look for more opportunities.  After all, how do you communicate the value from the customers’ perspective of the fact that your technicians are actively looking for more ways to make more money from them?

Next time we will look at changing our perspective of the proactive activities of our technicians from that of selling to serving and how that simple change in mindset can have a enormous impact on our ability to deliver a differentiated (and valued) service experience.

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

“If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”

– Abraham Maslow

The post The Limiting Reality of Getting Technicians to “Sell” – 4 Reasons Why appeared first on jimbaston.com.

1. Kick off the session. This allows you to put the training into perspective for the attendees. Introduce the topic and why it is critical for the business. Show them how the skills that will be learned will be of benefit to the participants. Introduce the speaker and explain why you have chosen that person to lead the group.

2. Be fully engaged in the exercises. Roll up your sleeves and work with your team as they complete the exercises and discussions. This gives you the opportunity to add key points that you want to reinforce and to get a sense of how your team is responding to the training. Be careful not to talk too much which brings us to the next point.

3. Let your team do most of the talking. In our enthusiasm, it is easy to get carried away and do most of the talking. We sometimes feel as if we should know all the answers and, as a result, we jump in too quickly to fill in the blanks. When the team looks to you for the “right” answer, turn the question back to them. For example, you might say something like: “You experience this sort of thing first hand, what do you think we should do in this situation?’

4. Have relevant examples ready that tie the learning into the everyday reality. Whenever possible, obtain a copy of the training materials in advance and review the content carefully. Identify some specific examples that correspond to some of the key learning points. Be ready to bring them up in group work and general discussions when appropriate. This will help make the learning more relevant for participants and helps them grasp some of the more complex concepts.

5. Network. Avoid ducking out at breaks and lunches to do “real” work. Although you may have to deal with telephone calls and requests from others, try to keep these to a minimum. Use your time to network with your team. Talk up the course, ask for their feedback and take a genuine interest in their success.

6. Have fun. Just because training is a serious business, you don’t have to refrain from having fun. In fact, studies have shown that people learn more in a positive atmosphere and when they are enjoying themselves. You can help your team learn more by loosening up a bit, being positive and taking steps to contribute to an enjoyable time.

Taking people out of the field for training is a major investment for any company. A few simple steps can increase the effectiveness of the training in achieving skills adoption and behaviour change and ensure a higher return on your investment. By attending, you, the manager, clearly communicate how important the initiative is. It allows you the opportunity to observe your team, how they react to the material and identify possible areas for further focus. It provides the opportunity to enhance the discussion with real-life examples that participants can readily relate to.

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

“Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work.”

– William Arthur Ward

The post 6 Ways to Get the Most out of Training your Team appeared first on jimbaston.com.