ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘beyond-great-service’ CATEGORY

Jim Baston, outlines why companies with strong field service delivery have a huge opportunity to add both value to their customers whilst improving their bottom line by tapping into easy accessible revenue streams...

Ask your customers this question:

Which type of service provider do you prefer?

1. Reactive: Quietly goes about performing their service duties with a singular focus of completing the work correctly and efficiently.
2. Proactive: Performs their work correctly and efficiently while keeping their eyes open for opportunities that they believe will help them achieve their business goals.

If the majority of your customers choose “A”, there is no need to read further.

On the other hand, if most of your customers choose “B”, then read on.

What follows is intended to help you provide the highest level of service that you can.

Our field service professionals have a wealth of knowledge and expertise. They understand their services and the value that they can deliver. They are familiar with the equipment that their customer is using and what that customer is trying to achieve. And, hopefully, they have an insight into their customer’s goals and challenges. Like the pieces of a puzzle, this information provides the field service professional with a unique insight into the customer’s business.

They can see opportunities that will help the customer that others with less information cannot. By bringing these opportunities to the awareness of the customer they are providing a valuable service, which a proactive approach does not provide. This is the value ad in business development by field service. Their recommendations can help their customers achieve results they would never have thought possible.

 

"The challenge for service providers is to encourage their field team to see this proactive role as a critical component of the overall service that they provide..."

 

Of course, the field service professional must be proactive in both looking for opportunities and in presenting their recommendations to the customer in order to deliver on this value. The challenge for service providers is to encourage their field team to see this proactive role as a critical component of the overall service that they provide.

The following suggestions are intended to help you support your field teams efforts to incorporate these proactive steps as part of their everyday activities.

 

Remove the word “sales” from your vocabulary

Having proactive discussions with customers about products and services is often represented as selling. “If only we can get our field personnel to sell” is a common refrain. Unfortunately, words like “sales” and “selling” often brings up an image of a pushy salesman who will doing anything to meet quota and this is not what a service professional is all about. They don’t see themselves that way and may resist when asked to take on the “sales” mantle.

Instead, call it what it is – a service. A service designed to add value to the customer by capturing the expertise of the field service professional to recognize opportunities that improve business performance. This is a service as integral and as important as the field service professional’s ability to troubleshoot and repair the equipment.

 

Clarify the service role you want the field service professional to take to deliver this service

Ensure that everyone on the team recognizes the service value they are providing when they take these proactive steps and develop some approaches to help them to do so. For example, when arriving on site, consider providing questions for your field professional to ask that may uncover opportunities to help. Do the same for departing the site. Ensure that your team understands that the goal of these activities is not to generate more sales for the company (although it will), but to improve the service level delivered to the customer.

 

Train your field team to communicate opportunities effectively

If a field team member finds an opportunity that will truly help the customer, then it is likely in the best interest of the customer to take action. However, this will only happen if the customer sees the value in the recommendation.

Train your field team on how to engage in these conversations and how to communicate the value of the opportunity of moving the customer closer to achieving his/her goals.

 

Check your processes

Just like every other service you offer, you must have good processes if you want to ensure that the service is delivered efficiently and effectively.

There are several areas to consider here including opportunity capture, management and follow-up. You might also want to consider how information about the status of an opportunity is shared amongst the service team.

 

Coordinate with internal groups that are necessary to execute the recommendation

Your field team may uncover opportunities that may need to be executed by another area of your company. For example, if the field team finds an opportunity that could lead to a large project of some kind, then the pricing and execution of that project may be the responsibility of a separate operating division.

Ensure that you have the full support of the other division and that they will seamlessly respond to the opportunity. Any slip-ups in these handoffs will result in reluctance by the field service team to make recommendations that will involve others in the future.

 

Educate your customers

Let your customers know what you are doing and why. Show them how the proactive efforts of your techs will directly contribute to their success. Let them know what they can expect and how you will be measuring the success of the initiative. Get their permission to engage your field team in this way.

You may also wish to consider holding regular (annual?) meetings with your customers to review progress. What recommendations have been made?

Which ones are still outstanding and why? How have the recommendations acted on to date impacted the operational performance of the customer? What are the customer’s goals for the next 12 – 24 months? Etc.

 

Measure your success

As a service activity, the proactive efforts of your field service team can be measured. From a customer’s perspective, their measure of the value they see in the recommendations made by your field service professionals is a good indication of the field team’s ability to address the needs of your customers. This should also translate into improvements in customer satisfaction and retention.

 

"The proactive efforts of the field service team provides the service organization with an opportunity to deliver a higher level of service while generating more revenue, higher levels of customer satisfaction and retention..."

 

From a service operational perspective in addition to the increase in business, you can expect to see the percentage of unplanned emergency work go down since you will be proactively addressing pending problems through your team’s recommendations. This will make labour planning easier. You should also experience an improvement in employee satisfaction as their jobs become more interesting and rewarding.

The proactive efforts of the field service team provides the service organization with an opportunity to deliver a higher level of service while generating more revenue, higher levels of customer satisfaction and retention.

To ensure success, it is important to ensure that everyone understand the service we are providing and support that service through systems, processes and training. We should also engage the customer in our efforts by letting them know what we are doing and why.

Our efforts will be rewarded through higher revenues and more loyal customers.

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Jim Baston is President @ BBA Consulting

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In the final feature from our exclusive serialisation of Jim Baston’s excellent industry focused book Beyond Great Service we see the benefits that have resulted in Charlie’s efforts to establish a new sales-focused mentality amongst his service engineers that doesn’t compromise their trusted advisor status and even more importantly that they as service professionals are comfortable with...

In the penultimate feature from our exclusive serialisation of Jim Baston’s excellent industry focused book Beyond Great Service, we begin to see how our protagonist Charlie and his teams journey towards better understanding the balance of building revenue streams from the service department has begun to formulate into a clear and workable strategic approach...

You can catch up with earlier features from this series by clicking here

Based on the feedback from several customers, Charlie is ready to roll out the strategy of engaging his technicians in proactive business development.

He calls the initiative Intelligent Service. We join Charlie as he presents the concept details to his team.

The key components and actions/comments are summarized in the table below:

Charlie reminds the team that the focus is not to sell but to serve. He clarifies that serving means taking a proactive approach to speaking with the customer about the actions they can take to run their facilities more effectively.

Only if the technician feels there is a valid need that could be addressed by a particular service offered by Novus, should the tech promote that service.Only if the technician feels there is a valid need that could be addressed by a particular service offered by Novus, should the tech promote that service.

Charlie emphasizes that in no way do they want the techs to talk up Novus’ services just for the sake of sales.

Charlie is about to move on to the next slide showing the implementation steps and associated time frames when Peter stands up. Peter is a quiet, thoughtful technician and rarely speaks at the service meetings. When he does, he usually has something valuable to say. This was not to be an exception.

“Charlie, with all due respect,” opens Peter, as he pauses and looks down at the floor, “this is a good approach and I am all for the initiative. Frankly, it makes perfect sense to me. In fact, I think we all do this to some degree now...” Peter paused again, and Charlie waited in anticipation.

“But, if we do all the things that you point out here, we won’t have any time to do productive work. We’ll be spending all our time gabbing with the customer and I don’t think they’re going to like that, and neither will Novus.”

Charlie smiled. It was a good point and he was glad it came up, especially by someone as respected as Peter. It probably means that a number of techs feel the same way and it is important to clear the air on this.

“Thanks for that, Peter. You bring up a good point. I don’t think that this will have much of an impact on non-productive time if it has any at all. At the kick-off meeting, we will explain the program and ask the customer if they’re interested in participating. I expect that in most cases they will say yes, and by doing so, they will be giving us permission to discuss opportunities with them.

Also, as techs, you’re only going to be discussing items you feel are in their best interest, taking into consideration your experience and knowledge of the customer’s needs, so the time factor should be quite minimal.”

“Yeah, but what about this mid-year walkthrough stuff, and the time looking for opportunities. Won’t they take a lot of time?”

“It will take a bit of time,” conceded Charlie. “During the walkthrough, you can make the most of it by asking questions to get an even clearer idea of their needs and goals, along with pointing out areas where improvements can be made. I think it’s time well spent and I’m sure the customer will agree.”

Look and listen for evidence of problems as you walk to and from the work area. Be prepared to ask questions of the customers and their staff as you go about your normal routines“Remember too, that we will have already discussed the idea with the customer and gotten their buy-in at the kick-off meeting. As far as looking for opportunities, we only ask you to do that as you are doing your normal job.

Keep your eyes open for things that may not be right.”

“Look and listen for evidence of problems as you walk to and from the work area. Be prepared to ask questions of the customers and their staff as you go about your normal routines. Let’s see how things go. I suspect that the return on this effort will far exceed the time invested. Does that address your concerns, Peter?”

Thinking about your business:

• Is your business development strategy positioned as an integral part of the service you provide?
• Have you created a performance “dashboard” to monitor your progress?
• Do you have a plan in place to teach, coach and reinforce the skills development of your field team?

Next time Charlie reflects on the progress he has seen since implementing the Intelligent Service strategy.

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As we begin to enter the final articles in our serialisation of Jim Baston’s excellent industry focused book Beyond Great Service we conclude the section on seeking feedback - an area that has become increasingly important today as field service companies en masse are putting the customer at the heart of their entire service strategies...

Before rolling out the strategy of engaging technicians in business development, Charlie wanted to seek feedback from customers. Last time he spoke with Joe Costello of East Side Property Management. Joe’s response encouraged Charlie that he was on the right track. Joe offered a suggestion for the initiative.“Way back when I first got into the industry, I ran into a bit of trouble that cost me my job, and almost my career. I was assigned as the building manager for a condominium for Chelsea Property Management. It’s still there, and it was at least 25 years old then. You may know it—829 Becket Avenue?”

“Yeah, I know it. My sister and brother-in-law used to live there.”

“Okay, so you will know it’s a pretty prestigious building. I am not sure why I got it, since it probably should have gone to someone more senior. Management must have been desperate. Anyway, I got it. I was pretty cocky back then and had no fear, so I guess I thought that I deserved it. Here I  was just out of college and managing a big building. That was in December. The next spring, I guess it was April, the service technician suggested that I consider changing out the boiler. It seemed to be running fine, but it was as old as the building and parts were almost impossible to come by. It might have continued to operate fine through the next winter, but maybe not. That would’ve been the time to make the decision so that a new boiler could’ve been installed during the cooling system when there is no demand for hot
water for heating.”

I would suggest you encourage your technicians to set up an informal meeting every six months or so, for them to go over any outstanding proposals that have not been responded to. “I told the tech that I wanted to mull it over. I was nervous about bringing this up with the Board at this time, since we were working on a number of capital improvements including a new roof, repaving the parking lot and repairing the pool, and these were seriously depleting the reserve fund. I thought I would wait until the June Board meeting to mention it. By then, the approvals for the major expenditures would be behind us and we’d be thinking about getting things in order to prepare for winter.”

“Well, as I said, I had a lot of things on my mind and I forgot about the boiler altogether—until October, when the heating season was upon us. It was at that point I remembered the boiler, but it was too late. Fortunately, the start-up went fine and I thought I was in the clear. In January, however, the boiler
went down. As luck would have it, it was the coldest day of the year and the forecast was for at least a week, maybe two, of the same. To complicate matters, the parts that were needed were not readily available. It took the service company three days to find the parts and another two days to get them installed and the boiler back in service. We were without full heat for almost a week, and you can imagine the uproar from the unit owners. Some threatened to not pay their maintenance fees. Others wanted to change the building management company. It was absolutely crazy, and all because of my carelessness. When the dust settled, it came out that the service company had actually recommended changing out the boiler way back in the spring. For my company, that was the last straw. I was gone within a week.”

“At first I was bitter about the situation. It was an honest mistake, albeit a careless one, but not one that I thought I should’ve lost my job over. And, it could have been avoided. Had the technician reminded me that I had not made a decision on the boiler, or had he simply asked what my intentions were with regards to replacement, it would have saved my job. Was it his job to remind me? As I reflect on it now, I don’t think it was in the truest sense of the word. However, it would have provided a valuable service to me.”

“Anyway, the reason I am telling you this story is that I would suggest you encourage your technicians to set up an informal meeting every six months or so, for them to go over any outstanding proposals that have not been responded to. The customer can then tell them if they have decided against the idea or if they are waiting for budget approval. They might also thank the tech for reminding them that they have not attended to the issue. If it makes sense, your technician could also use this time to take the customer on a tour of the facility to showcase work and discuss new opportunities.”

Thinking about your business:

• Is your business development strategy clearly tied to your overall plan to provide each customer with an exceptional customer experience?
• Does everyone know what they are expected to do to delivery on the strategy?
• What hurdles stand in the way of fully engaging your field service team?
• Do you include steps like reviewing existing recommendations with customers to ensure important ideas are not lost?
• Have you sought feedback from your customers on your initiative?

Next time Charlie seeks summarizes the components of the strategy to engage technicians in business development. He calls this new service “Intelligent Service”.

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Jim Baston, the author of Beyond Great Service, tackles one of the most prominent questions amongst field service organizations - can service technicians sell without jeopardizing their trusted advisor status?

Two years ago I gave a presentation about the customer service value inherent in business promotion by field service personnel. I had an audience of almost 100 service managers and business owners.

I asked, by show of hands, how many of them had formal or informal expectations of their field service teams to look for new business opportunities.

About 60 to 70% of the attendees put up their hands.

I then asked the group how many of them told their customers that they had encouraged their field teams to look for opportunities.

No one put up their hand.

Although my research involved a very small and somewhat unscientific sample, I think this anecdote provides an indication of how many service managers and executives view the role of selling by their field service team.

In most cases, it appears that their view is that this activity is a means to increase revenues for the service provider.

How excited would your customers be if you told them that you encouraged your field service team to look for more business so that you could make more money from their current service relationship with you?If this is the case, then it is understandable if they regard this activity as a benefit for their companies, but not necessarily as a benefit for their customers. As a result, they may be having difficulty articulating a benefit that they themselves may not see exists.

For example, how excited would your customers be if you told them that you encouraged your field service team to look for more business so that you could make more money from their current service relationship with you?

And so the idea of sales by service professionals is somehow tainted. It is sometimes viewed as a dirty word. When we feel that way, we may encourage selling by our field service team but we certainly are not going to let our customers know we are doing so.

But does it have to be this way? Does sales have to be a dirty word in service?

What if our focus on business promotion by field professionals was not on increasing revenues, but increasing service levels?

What if we saw selling by our field service teams as a way to help our customers to achieve results they did not think were possible? What if we positioned opportunity identification by the field service team as a service to help our customers realize their business goals?

What if we discouraged selling for the sake of gaining more business alone but rather insisted that any recommendations by field service professionals be directly tied to a benefit for the customer?

It seems to me that if we take this “service” view of sales by our field service team, then their efforts become an integral part of the service – as important a service as their ability to install, maintain, troubleshoot and repair.

If we take this “service” view of sales by our field service team, then their efforts become an integral part of the service – as important a service as their ability to install, maintain, troubleshoot and repair.Recognizing that business promotion is an integral part of the service suggests that this activity will also be more readily accepted by the field service team themselves. My experience suggests that, in general, field service people are not overly fond of salespeople.

Those that feel this way resent being put in a position where they have to sell and therefore do not approach this task enthusiastically if they approach it at all. But if they recognize their selling efforts as a service, they will more likely embrace the initiative.

When we regard selling as part of the service, we can be more comfortable in telling our customers about what we are doing.

In fact, we can use our efforts to differentiate our service from our competitors. Imagine the value you communicate when you advise your customers that you have encouraged your field team to contribute their heads as well as their hands.

That you have requested that your field team use their knowledge of each customer’s processes and systems combined with their technical expertise and understanding of the customer’s goals, to look for ways to help your customers make improvements aimed at achieving their business goals.

You could even ask your customers for permission for your field team to sell to them. “Mr. or Mrs. Customer, we have encouraged our field service team to use their knowledge and expertise to look for ways to help you be more successful.

If they find something that they feel will benefit you and your business in some way, would you have any objection if they brought that to your attention?”

It is also interesting to note that research suggests that our customers want us to be proactive in making recommendations.

One study found that 75% of customers that left one vendor to give their business to another were actually satisfied or very satisfied at the time that they left.One study found that 75% of customers that left one vendor to give their business to another were actually satisfied or very satisfied at the time that they left.

Further investigation showed that the reason that they left, despite the fact that they were satisfied, was that they felt that the vendor that they were going to, was in a better position to help them achieve their long-term goals.

So, thinking about your business, is sales, when conducted by your field service team considered a dirty word?

If you’re not sure, ask yourself this question.

“Would I tell my customers what we are doing?” If your answer is “no” or “not sure”, then perhaps you have some work to do.

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As Jim Baston continues the serialisation of his excellent service orientated book Beyond Great Service our protagonist Charlie begins outlining the solution to the sales and service equation to his team of service engineers...

If you're new to this series then you can catch up on the story so far by clicking here

Last time, Charlie introduced the strategy to the service team. This time he presents the details.

Great, then let’s examine the actual strategy in more detail.” Charlie powers up the projector again and moves to the next slide. The slide says:

Charlie reads from the screen and then advances to the next slide.

“Let’s talk about what we need to do to deliver an ‘exceptional experience that is valued by our customers and differentiates us from our competitors’,” suggests Charlie.

“The first bullet simply means that we have to do our jobs well; like responding quickly to a customer’s needs, fixing the problem right the first time, showing up promptly, doing PMs as scheduled, cleaning up after our work, etc. All the things that people actually pay us to do.”

“The second bullet refers to the interpersonal experience the customer has over and above the technical work that we do. It is the positive attitude, the welcome smile, the way we interface with people in the workplace, and all the tiny but important interactions we have with our customers or their customers/ employees/ tenants/patients/etc. during the course of our work.

The last bullet is a catch-all to remind ourselves of the importance of continual follow-up, and how such a simple act can help reassure customers they have made the right decision to work with us over any of our competitors.“Perhaps the critical bullet here is moments of truth. Each time we have an occasion to interact with the customer: a visit to the site, an email, a follow-up phone call, a casual meeting in a coffee shop, it’s an opportunity to reinforce in the customer’s mind all the positive reasons why they do business with us, through what we say and write and how we act. It’s the moment we have to help the customers say to themselves ‘That’s why I do business with Novus’.”

“The third bullet is the topic of our discussion today. It’s going beyond doing our jobs pleasantly and professionally and in a responsive and attentive manner. It includes our efforts to proactively look for ways that the customer can make improvements to their operations, and then take the time to discuss these recommendations with the customer.”

“The last bullet is a catch-all to remind ourselves of the importance of continual follow-up, and how such a simple act can help reassure customers they have made the right decision to work with us over any of our competitors."

“So, what do you guys think? Can we add real value for our customers while differentiating ourselves from our competitors in this way?”

Angus stands up. Charlie is surprised and more than a little concerned. It looks to Charlie as if Angus is going to walk out of the room. If Charlie can’t get Angus on board, then the whole initiative is lost, or at least, greatly compromised.

“Charlie, in all the time I have worked for this company, this is the first time that management has talked about business development by putting the customer first. Usually, the question is: ‘What other services can we sell to our customers?’ i.e. what can our customers do for us? What you’re asking, that is if I hear you correctly, is: ‘What can we do for our customers?’ The results might be the same—more sales—but the motivation is quite different. I like it!”

Charlie is thrilled. Getting Angus on side is a big step forward. A couple of other people offer opinions, and they’re along the same lines as Angus’. Angus remains standing and Charlie can feel a big “but” coming . . .

“But . . . ,” complies Angus. “Saying the right words is a lot different than doing

the right things. How are we going to make this work?”

“Yet another good question, Angus.” Angus smiles and takes a bow as the room breaks out in applause.

As Angus finally sits down, Charlie says, “We have a lot of work to do. Here is a summary of what we need to do from my perspective. Perhaps you guys might think of some additional things.” Charlie discusses the bullets on the next two slides:

Charlie goes through the steps in detail and answers questions as they arise.

He points out that since this initiative is driving the overall customer experience, then everyone who has contact with the customer must participate, not just the technicians.

Since this initiative is driving the overall customer experience, then everyone who has contact with the customer must participate, not just the technicians.Although the techs play a large role in this, they must be supported by the entire organisation.

Everyone who has contact with the customer; from technician to the accounts receivable person, all contribute to the overall experience and therefore must be in sync. That is why point number four references ‘all customer-facing personnel’.

After answering a couple of more questions, Charlie sums up by saying,

“Thanks everyone for your input today. I am really excited about what we are doing and I sense that you are too. Ken and I will get to work on the next steps. In the meantime, if any further thoughts come to you on this issue, please let Ken or me know.”

“Also, please be proactive in discussing with the customer those things you feel would be in their best interests to implement and work with us to ensure that they are properly followed up until we can bullet-proof the opportunity management system.”

With that, Charlie hands the floor over to Ken to discuss this week’s safety item.

Thinking about your business:

Is your business development strategy clearly tied to your overall plan to provide each customer with an exceptional customer experience?

Does everyone know what they need to do to deliver on your strategy?

Are support functions aligned to facilitate the efforts of the field team?

Next time Charlie seeks feedback from one of his ex-customers.

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Charlie's continued journey towards the perfect balance between service and sales continues as we explore the next section of our exclusive serialisation of the excellent industry focussed book Beyond Great Service.

If you're new to this series then you can catch up on the story so far by clicking here

 

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Last time Charlie put the preliminary plan together to implement the strategy. First stop, discuss it with the technicians and get them on board. Here we find Charlie as he presents the concept to the technicians.

It’s Charlie’s turn again and he turns on the projector. As it is warming up he gives a brief introduction. “Last week we talked about the idea of getting you guys to be more proactive in promoting our services to our customers, and many of you provided me with your opinions. I think you made it pretty clear that you didn’t see your role as selling and, when you do bring opportunities forward, we don’t have the systems in place to consistently support you.” If Charlie expected a room full of nods, he was disappointed. No one moved or showed any change in expression.

Charlie continued, “I have to tell you that your feedback put me back on my heels a bit. I was a little disappointed frankly, because I felt that you were in the best position to point out to our customers what we can do for them. Fortunately, Ken was able to re-walk me through the meeting and your comments, and help me understand what you were saying. And am I glad he did. I would like you to know that based on our meeting last week, I have come full circle. I don’t want you to sell our services to our customers. That was a mistake!”

Now there was movement in the room. Charlie noticed the techs looking at each other and the shuffling and murmurs. Angus speaks up. “Let me get this right, Charlie. Are you saying that you don’t want us to talk to our customers about our products and services?”

[quote float="left"]If you took your car in for an oil change and the mechanic noticed that your brakes needed replacement, would you not expect him to advise you of the fact and recommend they be changed?

“Good question, Angus. No, I am not saying that you shouldn’t talk to our customers about our products and services. In fact, you should, so long as you feel it is in the customer’s interest. What I am saying is that I don’t want you to act as salespeople for the company.”

 

“It makes sense to me, but what is the difference between what you have outlined here and selling?”

“Another good question, Angus. There is a difference and, although it is very subtle, it is critically important. If you took your car in for an oil change and the mechanic noticed that your brakes needed replacement, would you not expect him to advise you of the fact and recommend they be changed?” 

“Absolutely!” 

“Would you consider it selling?” 

“No, not really.”

“Why not?”

“Because it is an important part of the service he provides. If he did not tell me, I don’t think he would be doing his job. In fact, I think he has an obligation to tell me. It’s a safety issue.”

“Okay. How about this? Let’s say what he observes is not a ‘safety issue’, but instead simply an action you can take that will save you money. Perhaps your particular model of car could be modified to improve your gas mileage by at least 10%. And the cost of the modification could be paid for through savings at the pump in just 9 months. Let’s say that he points this out and recommends that you do the modification. Let’s also assume that if he didn’t tell you about the modification, you would be none the wiser, and your car or your safety would not be at all compromised. Would your answer change? Would his recommendation be selling?”

[quote float="right"]The service we provide is using our knowledge and expertise to make recommendations to help the customer achieve their goals. It’s like offering them our heads as well as our hands

“That’s a harder one, Charlie. I guess strictly speaking it is selling in a way, but I don’t honestly think it is,” responds Angus. “So long as what he is telling me was not a load of bull to pry me away from my wallet, I’d say it was an essential part of the service to let me know about the modification. I could always say no.”

 

“So would you call that selling?” asked Charlie.

“In a way it is and in a way it isn’t. Like selling, he is talking to me about the modification and trying to convince me to take his advice, but he is doing it with the best of intentions. If I had to choose, it is more like a service and an important one at that.”

“Thanks Angus. That’s what I am talking about. We provide a service to the customer any time we use our know-how to help them be better. What I am suggesting should not be mistaken as a ‘service-of-the-month club’. The service we provide is using our knowledge and expertise to make recommendations to help the customer achieve their goals. It’s like offering them our heads as well as our hands. Does that make sense?”

Thinking about your business:

• Have you clearly communicated why proactive recommendations by your technicians are an integral part of the service they provide?
• Do your actions support your words[/unordered_list]

Next time we will see how Charlie presents the strategy to his team.

 

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As we continue our exclusive serialisation of Jim Baston’s excellent service industry focussed book Beyond Great Service, our protagonist Charlie has begun to edge closer to an epiphany in his quest to establish a perfect balance between service and sales...

If you're new to this series then you can catch up on the story so far by clicking here

Last time Charlie and Ken had uncovered the four hurdles that could sabotage their efforts of engaging their technicians in making proactive recommendations and thereby identified the factors critical to their success.

We join Charlie as he works to put his plan together to implement the strategy.

That evening after dinner, Charlie retrieved his journal and sat down in the study. It was a busy day and Charlie had very little time to reflect on the discussions he’d been having with Ken, although they never quite left his mind. Thoughts kept popping back into his head at odd times throughout the day.

Had they really found the answer to generating more sales revenue through their field service technicians AND improving the level of customer service?

Could management really expect to enhance the customer’s experience by being more proactive in approaching the customer via the techs to do more business with them?

Could they truly differentiate the business through this strategy?

 

It almost seemed too simplistic. After all, managers with a lot more experience in technical services than Charlie have considered this opportunity to engage the technicians.

If it was such a good approach, why weren’t more companies successfully applying this strategy?

Looking at the four hurdles on the page in the journal, Charlie began to feel more confident that he was on the right track. Perhaps the reason many companies were not successfully differentiating their business through this proactive model was because they had not addressed all four of the hurdles.

Maybe they simply sent their techs on training courses on how to sell.

Maybe they did not have the systems and processes in place to support the increase in business opportunities brought in from the field. Perhaps they did not reinforce the training or the strategy on a regular basis. Whatever the explanation, Charlie began to realise that if Novus was going to be successful, they would have a lot of work to do.

Charlie knew they needed an implementation plan if they were going to make this work. He jotted down a few steps that he felt would be important to get the strategy right.

He intended to share these with Ken, fine-tune them as necessary and then create a schedule to put them into action. Charlie wrote:

1. Draft a plan to address the four hurdles.
2. Reduce the strategy to a short summary that could be shared with the technicians and customers.
3. Sound out the technicians to get their perspective and suggestions.
4. Identify some customers to visit to discuss the plan to help hone the approach and the unique service proposition.
5. Fine-tune the plan and put it into action.[/ordered_list]

Charlie then drew a chart on a blank page in the journal:

There were three columns and five rows. Across the top row, Charlie wrote Hurdle, Comments and Preliminary Action Plan. In each of the remaining four rows he put the four hurdles. When he finished a couple of hours later, the chart looked like the one laid out on the previous page.

Charlie looked at the table he had created and smiled. He knew that the hard part had just begun, but he felt good. He had the basic strategy in place, one that he felt would engage the techs and also be valued by Novus’ customers. The next step would be to review this with Ken and reduce the strategy to a simple statement. That would have to wait until another day.

Thinking about your business:

• Do you have a clear and concise plan to implement your proactive business approach with your technicians?
• Have you discussed the matter with your customers to get their input?
• What steps have you taken to fully engage your service team in the process?
• Next time we will touch base with Charlie as he explains the plan to the technicians.

 

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Charlie’s fictional journey to service sales nirvana continues as Jim Baston continues the serialisation of his excellent industry focussed book beyond Great Service continues...

 

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If you missed the earlier parts of this series you can catch up by clicking here

 

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Last time Charlie and Ken had uncovered two hurdles that could negatively affect their efforts at getting their technicians to make recommendations to their customers. These were:

1. The service person’s view of the salesperson
2. The customer’s image of the service technician

They return to Charlie’s office. Charlie is ready to get started, but Ken points out that there are more hurdles to consider.

Ken begins: “…we might have to tighten up how we handle opportunities around here or our efforts could be in vain. Think back to the service meeting on Monday. Remember when Angus spoke about handling opportunities? Do you remember what he said? … when the lead is given, we don’t always follow-up in the timeliest manner."

"Put yourself in the tech’s shoes for a moment. There you are at the customer’s facility, and you see something that would benefit them. You work up your nerve, and as you ask them to sign your work order, you mention that you noticed something that might save them money (or time or improve air quality, etc.), and would it be all right if they arranged for someone in their office to call you."

The customer says yes.

Now the tech writes a note on the work order regarding the opportunity with the request that someone call them to discuss. One month later, the technician is back at the customer’s to perform maintenance, and the customer asks if anyone is ever going to call. How would you feel if you were the tech?”

“Well, I would be a little embarrassed and more than a little ticked off,” offers Charlie.

“Now, let’s suppose this happened again, with two or three different customers. How do you think this will impact your willingness as a tech to continue to speak to customers about additional things that Novus can do?

And, what is Novus signalling to the technician about the importance of finding new opportunities?”

 

“Sometimes following up on opportunities is not enough either,” continues Ken. “It is important that we communicate to keep everyone informed. For example, how difficult would it be for the salesperson to send a note or voicemail to the tech that initiated the lead, to thank them and let them know they’re on the case?”

“I’m starting to get the picture,” says Charlie. “So, if we are going to ask the techs to reach out to the customer to discuss the things we can do as a company to help them, we’d better have a bullet-proof system for handling the opportunity and communicating to the techs our progress along the way.

I also hear you saying that despite the fact we are pretty good at this, it’s still not good enough. “… let me capture this as the 3rd hurdle: Systems and Processes for Handling Opportunities from the Field. Charlie writes this down on the whiteboard. “This is good, Ken. I think we are getting somewhere. Any other hurdles?”

“Yeah. … What we are asking will require some of the guys to change their behaviour and step into a role that might be uncomfortable and cause some uncertainty. To make matters worse, when they try something for the first time, they may not do it very well, which will add to the discomfort. When this happens, the path of least resistance is to revert back to the old ways. To get the results we are looking for, we need to be proactive in providing support and reinforcement to encourage their progress.”

“Why don’t we call it management coaching and support—that is, giving feedback to reinforce good behaviours, and encouragement to adjust behaviours that detract from their effectiveness in serving the customer’s needs?”

“Sounds good to me.”

Charlie writes: Hurdle # 4: Management coaching and support.

“If we are to make this work, we will need to provide ongoing resources to encourage the technician to take the risks accompanied with trying new skills—like speaking to the customer about our products and services and the potential benefits. I read somewhere that skills adoption can be as much as four times more effective when combined with coaching. Training and supporting these new behaviours will also serve another purpose. It will tell everyone that this is an important strategic initiative for Novus—not simply the latest management fad.”

Thinking about your business:

• Are your processes and systems for capturing and tracking opportunities clear?
• Do they allow any opportunities to “fall through the cracks?
• What steps do you take to provide encouragement and support for your technicians as they learn new skills and behaviours to become more proactive in making recommendations?[/unordered_list]

Next time we will consider what Charlie needs to do next to put his strategy into action.

 

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