I feel that the technician is in a unique position to identify opportunities that the customer can act on to help them operate their facilities and/or processes more effectively. In fact, I believe that technicians have an obligation to reach out to the customer to discuss these opportunities to help and to assist them in making informed decisions. To me, this really isn’t selling at all, but rather an important part of the service.  And, this approach has a significant benefit. My experience indicates that service firms that engage their technicians in this way will create a sustainable competitive advantage and be rewarded with more business, higher customer satisfaction and unprecedented levels of retention.

Last time, I mentioned that some “sales” training programs for technicians are singularly focused on “selling” and as a result, may include sales techniques and approaches that are of limited value. That is because, in my view, sales technique is not as important as the other critical factors for success, factors such as trust, motivation and fit with company and technician culture.

A key reason for this is because the success of the technician’s efforts in applying the “sales” skills taught in a training program will depend more on the credibility that the technician has with their customers than on the “sales” techniques themselves; the higher their credibility (both personal and professional), the higher their likelihood of success. They may need some “sales” skills and practice to feel comfortable in engaging the customer in a conversation that effectively communicates their recommendation, but sales “techniques” of the kind used by “salespeople” to “persuade” a customer are largely unnecessary – and can have a detrimental effect.

My view of the relationship between technician credibility and sales technique is shown in the chart below. (This is my view based on years of experience and not on scientific research.) The vertical axis represents the amount of technique or sales persuasion needed. The horizontal axis represents the amount of credibility (trust) in the relationship. Note that where credibility is low there is a greater reliance required on technique and the ability to persuade. When the credibility is high, however, much less reliance on technique is required. Since most technicians have high levels of trust with their customers, this suggests that elaborate selling techniques and honed selling skills are not as important for as building credibility.

click to enlarge

Training for technicians that is singularly focused on sales technique also fails to adequately take into account that success will also be dependent upon whether the technician sees this business development role as part of their responsibility. If technicians don’t recognize that the conversations with customers about how their services can help them is an integral part of the service they provide – as important as their ability to repair and maintain equipment – then they will be less likely to engage in this behaviour. In addition, if they focus on technique at the expense of building trust, they might be perceived as merely selling and lose the trust advantage they had in the first place.

All this is to say that there is a lot a stake when engaging technicians in business development activities and that training to engage technicians in promoting services should be more than teaching them how to sell.  Doing this well with engaged, right-minded service technicians can create a sustainable competitive advantage that will be hard for your competitors to duplicate.  Doing this poorly, with service technicians focused on technique at the expense of trust building can have the opposite effect and result in less business and lower margins.

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

“Trust is the highest form of human motivation”

– Steven R. Covey

The post Technician Sales Training – Inverse Relationship Between Trust and Technique appeared first on jimbaston.com.

Are you thinking of providing “sales” training for your technicians on how to promote your services? Before making a decision, consider what you want the training to achieve. Below are 4 questions that are key when evaluating training programs that can help you ensure you get a higher ROI.

Those of you who have read my book and subscribe to this blog know that I feel that the technician is in a unique position to identify opportunities that the customer can act on to help them operate their facilities and/or processes more effectively. In fact, I believe that technicians have an obligation to reach out to the customer to discuss these opportunities to help and to assist them in making informed decisions. To me, this really isn’t selling at all, but rather an important part of the service.  And, this approach has a significant benefit. My experience indicates that service firms that engage their technicians in this way will create a sustainable competitive advantage and be rewarded with more business, higher customer satisfaction and unprecedented levels of retention.

Many of you may be considering training your technicians on “selling” to support them in their efforts to add more value to their service relationships.  If this is the case for you, I encourage you to consider the critical components that will drive the success of the training program in attaining the results you are looking for and provide you with a higher return on your investment.

This is important because not all training programs are the same. Some training programs for technicians are sales programs originally designed for salespeople and “modified” for the field service tech. They often cover a full range of sales topics that were originally designed for people who sell for a living.  As a result, programs in this category may include sales techniques and approaches that are foreign to the technician and of limited value.

These “sales programs for technicians” also may have limited impact because they have a solitary focus.  They only address one aspect of success – one that is of limited value without the support of the other key success factors. Success of a workshop for technicians will be dependent upon:

• The connection the technician sees between what he/she is being asked to do and their perceived role (i.e. is this part of my job?)
• Their ability to conduct themselves when promoting services in a manner that continues to build the trust and confidence of the customer
• The fit of what is being taught with your company’s culture
• The technicians’ comfort level in applying the skills taught in the field (are the skills consistent with the technician’s “culture” and the service “environment”?)

This brings me to the 4 questions that are key to helping you evaluate a training program to enthusiastically engage your technicians in business development.

1. Does the training position the role of engaging the technician in business development activities as an integral part of the service that they provide?
   2. Is the approach presented consistent with your business culture and strategy and the role you have defined for the technicians?
   3. Does the training help technicians recognize and develop commitments to enhance their credibility with the customer?
   4. Does the training provide situation relevant skills in communicating ideas to others in order to help technicians comfortably articulate their ideas and confidently deal with resistance when it occurs?

By evaluating training options by asking these questions, we ensure that the training we select will encourage our technicians to be “business partners” who bring their unique knowledge to help the customer solve problems and capitalize on opportunities – problems or opportunities that the customer may not even know they have. Your technicians will be more comfortable in engaging the customer as a “problem solver” in partnership with the customer and therefore more likely to adopt the skills that will contribute to their success. Your customers will appreciate this approach as well and be more receptive to the new ideas presented to them.

Next time I will look at the relative importance of the “selling” skills themselves in terms of the effectiveness of “sales” training for technicians.  You may be surprised to find that these may not be as important as one might first surmise.

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

“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”

– Pablo Picasso

The post 4 Questions to Ask When Evaluating Technician “Sales” Training Programs appeared first on jimbaston.com.