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Jim Baston continues Charlie’s journey as the serialisation of his service oriented 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, we saw Charlie come to the realisation that proactive recommendations by his technicians must be positioned as an integral part of the service provided. The challenge now is to get everyone on the field service team to enthusiastically embrace the idea. Ken, Charlie’s service supervisor, is instrumental in helping Charlie uncover two of the possible hurdles that could sabotage their efforts.

Still debriefing the earlier service meeting, Charlie tries to sum up what they have uncovered: “So you’re saying that we need to help our technicians realize that discussing opportunities they feel are in the customer’s interest is a service, and not a sale. In other words, you’re recommending that we not teach our service people to sell, but rather that we should teach them to serve.”

“Right!” responds Ken. “By and large our service people resent being considered salespeople, so a big hurdle to our success is going to be getting our technicians to understand the difference between ‘selling’ and ‘serving’.

The fact that making recommendations they believe will truly help the customer may, at first glance look like selling, but it‘s really one of the most important services they can provide.”

Charlie goes over to the whiteboard in his office and writes: Hurdle – Service person’s view of the salesperson. Solution – Show them that they are serving, not selling. “This is great, Ken. Now that you have explained this to me, it makes sense. It seems obvious, but I have never thought of it in this way before. I can’t wait to get started.”

Ken smiles. “Not so fast, Charlie...while you’re at the whiteboard, put a # 1 beside the hurdle that you have identified, and below it write, Hurdle # 2.”

“You mean there’s another one?” asks Charlie.

“Several. After Hurdle # 2 write: The customer’s image of the service technician.” Charlie writes this down and looks quizzically at Ken. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“The customer trusts the service technician to give them objective advice based on their skill and expertise. As you point out, unlike salespeople who are paid for what they sell, service people are paid for their knowledge and experience, which they use 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 is tempting to exploit those trust-based relationships to build more business, and that’s where the trouble lies.

 

“The logic goes something like this. Our technicians have great relationships and our customers trust them. If we can get the techs to just put a little more effort into selling more of our products and services to those trusting customers, then they will be successful in building more revenues and profits without adding to our overheads. Unfortunately, from my experience this doesn’t work—at least not in the long term. When the customer senses that they are being sold, they become confused—and rightly so—about the service technician’s intent. The technician starts to look like a salesperson.

In the mind of the customer, the technician has just changed from being a ‘trusted advisor’ to just another ‘salesperson’ and the relationship advantage is lost.”

To address these hurdles, Ken points out that the solutions for both of these hurdles are the same.

“Show the field service technician that any new business opportunities they identify should be based solely on solving the needs of the customer—not on the need to sell the services of our company. This directs the field service technician to change their focus from selling Novus and our services, i.e. what we have or do that can be sold—to serving their customers, i.e. what their customer needs and how they can best address it using the resources and capabilities of Novus. Keep in mind that when we encourage our techs to focus on the needs of the customer and discern how Novus can best solve those needs, we are also addressing their concern about becoming a ‘salesperson’. Although we can help our techs by training them on the selling-based skills to engage the customer (such as exploring for customer needs, presenting recommendations and providing compelling supportive information), this approach is not a typical ‘sales’ call. Rather it’s simply a conversation with the customer.

 

Thinking about your business:

• Would your customers say that they are uniquely better off by dealing with you?
• How do you continually remind your customers of the unique value you are providing?
• Does your field service team see their role in speaking to your customers about your company’s capabilities as:
  • A valuable service?
  • A selling task?

What other hurdles exist that would prevent your technicians from providing this valuable service?

Next time we will look at two more hurdles that Charlie will need to address if he is to be successful.

 

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Jim Baston continues Charlie’s journey as the serialisation of his service oriented book beyond Great Service continues...

 

---

 

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

 

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The last time we left Charlie, he was trying to make sense of a comment a past customer made to him.

The comment has helped him to realise that his company is missing a tremendous opportunity to add significant value to its customer relationships. He recognises that asking questions during the contract that gives them more insight into the goals and needs of the customer, will allow them to go beyond simply maintaining the equipment by making recommendations of products and services that could help them address their challenges and achieve those goals. In other words, they could proactively take steps to help the customer to be measurably better off by the end of the contract than they were at the beginning.

This is an important revelation for Charlie as he comes to see the service business as more than a maintenance and repair activity. He recognises that the real value that his company can provide is to use their collective experience and expertise to be a “technical” partner for their customers. Using their unique knowledge and understanding the needs of the customer, would allow them to make recommendations that will help their customers achieve their business goals.

He immediately recognises the important role of the technician in making this a reality. They are in the best position to recognise and make recommendations. They know the technology and the capabilities of their company. They have an established relationship with the customer with typically high levels of trust. They know the customer’s equipment and the challenges they are facing. And perhaps most importantly, they have an understanding of the needs and goals of the customer. These are the critical pieces of the puzzle needed in order to make intelligent recommendations.

 

The challenge for Charlie is that he sees the task for the service people as selling and this doesn’t go over very well with the service team. He introduces the subject at a service meeting.

[Charlie] … brings up the issue of selling by simply asking, “So what do we have to do to encourage you to sell more of our services to our accounts? I am convinced that we could grow our revenue significantly, if you guys would just spend a little time talking to the customers about the other things we can do.”

The group sits in silence for a few minutes. There is a lot of shuffling of feet and a few uncomfortable grins as people look at Charlie, and then around the room at their peers. Finally, Angus speaks up, and Charlie is surprised by his response. “With all due respect, Charlie, it’s not our job to sell. We have a sales person that does that. You need to find a way to get him to sell more. Anyway, I can’t speak for the rest of the guys, but whenever I’ve brought opportunities forward, I’ve been disappointed with the way they were handled—if they’ve been handled at all.'

"Just last week, the building manager at Marsh Estates wanted to know when I was going to get my sales guy to show up to discuss our energy audit program. I brought that to John over a month ago. Frankly, I was embarrassed, and I’m gonna think twice before I make a recommendation like that again!”

John is Novus’ service salesperson for maintenance contracts and small project work. He reports to Lauren Baker, Director of Sales and Marketing. Although John does not report to Charlie per se, he has an informal dotted line of accountability.

Charlie was taken aback. From his perspective, Angus was very good at generating new work. He had the least number of contract hours of anyone in the place, and yet was never one who was short of hours. “How can you say that selling is not your job Angus, you’re one of the best ‘salespeople’ in the place?” inquires Charlie.

Charlie was surprised by Angus for the second time this morning. He did not expect the reaction that he got.

 

Angus smiled and said, “That’s where you’re wrong boss. I’ve never sold a thing in my life. I leave the selling to the guys with the expense accounts and the company cars. I simply keep my customers informed, and keep my eyes open for things that they should be doing to improve the operation of their facilities. I could never be a salesperson.”

… Charlie looks around the room. “What do the rest of you guys think? Don’t you see the value of selling our services to the customer?” … Pete sits forward in his chair and says, “Angus is right—we’re not salespeople. We have no business trying to sell the customer anything. We’d lose our credibility with them.” At this point, the room becomes animated and various techs chip in with their comments. Generally speaking, they are all in agreement.

Now Charlie is in a quandary. He recognises that he can really help his customers by making recommendations aimed at helping them achieve their business goals, but he can’t do that without the direct involvement of the service team. And, based on the reaction from the service techs to his suggestion, he won’t be very successful in getting them to participate.

Thinking about your business:

• Do you have a formal or informal expectation of your field service team to generate opportunities in the field?
• How enthusiastically does your field service team participate in this activity?

Next time we will look at this role of making recommendations as an integral part of the service provided.

 

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