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

The post Step 4 of a Proactive Service® Culture – A Clear Opportunity Process appeared first on jimbaston.com.

Our field service technicians represent a huge opportunity to generate revenues. They have a special relationship with our customers based on a high level of trust. Through that relationship, they have gained a unique understanding of our customers’ goals. They have a practical understanding of the latest in technology and they know our company’s capabilities. Who better than them to recognize and explore opportunities for your company to add more value through more services?

Despite this truth, we have found that most service firms are not fully capitalizing on the unique relationships that their service people have. This is unfortunate for both the service firm and the customer. When we do not fully leverage the special relationships that our service technicians have, we are missing a tremendous opportunity to grow our business, reduce competition and increase customer satisfaction levels. But there is more to it than that. The customer is being denied the opportunity to run their plant or facility better. The customer is not benefiting fully from the knowledge and expertise of our service technicians.

Many firms have considered teaching their service technicians to become part time salespeople. Unfortunately, those firms that we have worked with who have taken this approach report mixed results and any improvement in business development appeared to be short lived.

One of the main reasons that turning technicians into part time salespeople does not work as well as we might hope is because customers trust the service technician to give them objective advice based on their knowledge and experience.  Unlike salespeople who are compensated for what they sell, service people are compensated for what they know and using that knowledge to do their job well – installing, fixing or maintaining things.  They are viewed as honest brokers – “telling it like it is” with no hidden agendas.  It would seem natural that, if they just put a little more effort in selling to those trusting customers, then they will be instrumental in building more revenues and profits.

Unfortunately, the harder the technician tries to “sell” to the customer, the less effective they will be in building new business.  The reason is that the moment the service technician starts to “sell”, he/she transcends that bond of trust that has been forged with the customer.  The technician’s focus changes from the needs of the customer to the interests of making the sale.  The very reason the customer trusted the service technician in the first place – the fact that they aren’t out to sell them anything – is suddenly no longer the basis of the relationship.   When the customer senses that they are being “sold”, they become confused.  To the customer, the technician has just changed from being a “trusted advisor” to just another “salesperson” and the relationship advantage is lost.

The solution is to provide the field service technician with training that ensures that any new business opportunities that are identified are based on solving the needs of the customer – not on the need to sell the services of our company.  This subtle change in approach directs the field service technicians to change their focus from our firm and our services – i.e. what we have or do that can be sold – to the needs of our customer – i.e. what our customer needs and how we can best address it.

When service technicians approach business development in this way, they offer a higher level of service altogether. They will be using their knowledge, skills and experience to help our customers realize how they can make improvements.  They will be giving our customers their heads as well as their hands.

I’d love your feedback. Feel free to leave a link back to your own blog as well via the commentluv feature here on the site.

Jim Baston

P.S. If you would like to explore the “Five Hurdles to Engaging Technicians in Business Development Activities“, I encourage you to download my article which you will by clicking here.

 “If you work just for money, you’ll never make it.
But if you love what you are doing,
and always put the customer first, success will be yours.”

-Ray Kroc

The post Increase Revenues Generated by Your Service Techs appeared first on jimbaston.com.