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Understanding and extracting the value of the knowledge within your field service engineers is not just beneficial but essential for field service organisations writes Derek Korte, Editor of thesmartvan.com…

For service leaders, knowledge sharing is a top — and urgent — priority One reason? Older technicians are nearing retirement, and executives need to capture every morsel of those seasoned technicians’ know-how before it’s too late. Another reason is that companies increasingly recognize how powerful the collective knowledge of their workforce could be, if only every employee could access it.

Investing in new technology alone isn’t enough, though. Company culture is the primary driver of knowledge management success. And service leaders set the culture, says John Ragsdale, vice president of technology research at the Technology Services Industry Association. We spoke with Ragsdale about how service leaders can develop a culture of knowledge sharing, and some common mistakes they make along the way.

WHY DOES KNOWLEDGE SHARING MATTER FOR FIELD SERVICE ORGANISATIONS?

Ragsdale: Companies continue to invest in this year after year because they perceive enormous value. In our2014 knowledge management survey, 40 percent of respondents said that great knowledge sharing would improve their team’s productivity by 20 to 30 percent, while a third said they would see a 40 or even 50 percent boost. People really perceive knowledge management as a missing link in their operations.

The survey asked how respondents would rate their company’s culture regarding knowledge sharing on a 10-point scale, from one being share any knowledge and others will take credit to 10 being leaders set the example and reward knowledge sharing. A high “5” was the average, but field service had the highest culture score of any group we surveyed.

 

I spoke with a lot of companies about this finding that said sharing is a part of the culture of field service organizations. Technicians walk into a location to fix something and may see a piece of equipment they didn’t know existed. Collaboration is key. It’s natural for field service people to ask their peers for help, whether through Chatter, email or a phone call.

WHAT’S THE LINK BETWEEN COMPANY CULTURE AND SUCCESSFUL KNOWLEDGE SHARING?  

A lot of service leaders I spoke with at Technology Services World 2014 wanted to talk about culture, specifically how culture is a top-down initiative. If the company doesn’t have a sharing culture, or if there isn’t executive support for the movement, how can managers change the culture of their departments?

Others were curious about the differences between older and younger workers. It’s never safe to make generalizations, but the older workers (baby boomers, like me) tend to hoard knowledge. We’ve spent our entire careers being rewarded for knowing something no one else did. Younger workers, meanwhile, grew up in a very collaborative age, and they don’t think they should have to learn anything someone else knows. They want to share all their knowledge and post it out there for the world to see.

 

We’re seeing a culture shift occurring within companies and even departments. It’s great for knowledge management because the new folks are much more willing to share. They don’t want to hoard their knowledge. They want to post it out there for everyone to see.

HOW DO COMPANIES ENCOURAGE MORE SHARING? 

When I talk to companies that are on their third, fourth or fifth knowledge implementation, culture is very often at stake. If executives don’t value knowledge sharing, they won’t give the service leaders the necessary budget or staff to build or maintain the knowledge base. If the executive team isn’t setting a good example, managers will have to work harder than ever to overcome that challenge.

I’ve spoken with companies who admit to rewarding people for hoarding their knowledge, but they’re trying to change that culture. One step is to hire people who want to share knowledge and to stress its importance during orientation — and to reinforce that. If the only way people will get a raise or a promotion is to become an incredible knowledge sharer, they’ll likely do it — even if executives don’t send a warm, fuzzy message about sharing knowledge.

 

 

ANY BIG SURPRISES ABOUT HOW COMPANIES HANDLE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT?

In the survey, I asked respondents about mobility. Interesting, we found that 50 percent of companies haven’t made updates to their knowledge management system to support mobile. That stat is very telling because you know how horrible it is to consume an old-fashioned webpage on a smartphone. There are helpful knowledge management features, such as index trees and dynamic FAQ lists. But these features often don’t work on a mobile device. I was surprised that so few companies have created an app or rewritten a site in HTML5 to optimise for mobile browsing.

 

We’ve put a lot of emphasis on field service tools and technology, but we haven’t gone back and looked at the knowledge base and other content repositories that technicians access in the field. Some of those are barely accessible on a mobile device. The industry clearly needs more investment in the actual infrastructure to make knowledge more accessible.

This feature first appeared on Smartvan.com and is republished here with kind permission

 

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We take a look at some of the advice of our good friends at TheSmartVan.com on how to start seeing clear revenue streams from service techs.

To begin, Sean Lydon, begins by outlining three top tips for gathering refferals from your field service engineers.

Service techs, writes Sean can be a company’s biggest referral booster — or loser.

On the front lines, they are best-positioned to garner new business. But while they undergo rigorous technical education, they often aren’t given sufficient training in the softer “people skills” that earn referrals.

So what are Sean’s three top tips for earning more revenue from service?

PREPARE THE CUSTOMER FOR A POSITIVE EXPERIENCE — BEFORE THE CALL

Keith Lowe, co-founder of Conditioned Air Solutions, a 28-person heating and air conditioning company in Huntsville, Alabama has a pre-service call tradition that he says gives customers a feeling of transparency and prepares them for a great experience: He e-mails a picture and bio of the technician to the customer before the call.

It adds a personal touch and lays the ground for a great service call, he says — and that’s the first step to generating repeat and referral business.

TRAIN YOUR FIELD SERVICE TECHS TO COMMUNICATE

When customers feel at ease with a service tech — an experience they don’t usually expect from technicians — they are more inclined to share that positive news about your company with friends. How to create that comfortable environment?

“When you first arrive, introduce yourself in a professional manner, smile, and announce that you’re there to fix the problem,” says Sally Mounts, PhD, president of  Auctus Consulting Group, a management consulting firm near Pittsburgh,

“Explain how long service calls usually take, since no one really likes having strangers in their homes.  Ask if they would like you to leave your shoes at the door to avoid tracking on their floors. While you are working, be friendly and open. Ask if they would like you to explain what you’re doing and why.”

 

Adds Mounts: “People are not used to empathic technicians who are adept at communicating. If you are [that technician], you’ll be seen as extraordinary.”

 

ASK FOR REFERRALS

Even the most enthusiastic customers may not send referrals. Why? Nobody’s asked them.

Lowe, of Conditioned Air Solutions, says he holds technicians accountable for asking for feedback and referrals. His company uses ReviewBuzz, an online reputation management application, which he says makes it easy for his customers to post feedback on multiple review and social media sites, such as Google Places, Yelp, and Facebook, in a single entry.

“Before they leave the house, our technicians are to hand the customer our ReviewBuzz card with the technician’s name on it, and say something like,

'Would you mind going onto this website to give me a review and let me know how I did? I’d really appreciate it,’ ” Lowe says.

For those who don’t have a system like ReviewBuzz, Mounts offers this advice for techs:

 

“After completing the project, explain what the customer can do to prevent [the issue] from happening again. Give them your business card and tell them to call you personally if they have any problems in the future.

Then explain that referrals are the lifeblood of any successful business, and ask if they know anyone who could also use your services. Ask if you can use their name in your referral call.”

Of course referrals are one thing but what about putting your field service engineers in a position where they can also directly sell. Whether it be upgrading SLA’s or supplementary items leveraging a field service engineer’s trusted advisor status to secure further sales is a solid strategy but not many service techs have a background in sales; they may not even be big people people to begin with.

So how can you train your repairmen, installers, and supervisors — these product people — on the soft skills of up-selling?

In this second feature Ian Stewart came up with a few simple tips you can start using (or reinforcing) right away to boost both your field engineers confidence, and their sales numbers.

KNOWLEDGE IS YOUR BEST TOOL

Whether they know it or not, field techs have a powerful tool on their side that even some very good salesman don’t: intimate product knowledge. And that gives them credibility — something a salesman very seldom has.

“Once the customer gets that you know what you’re talking about, they’ll think everyone in the company knows what they’re talking about,” says Brendan Cooke, an installer-turned-customer service rep for All-Guard Alarm Systems 

“If you can educate the customer, they’re usually going to be satisfied with the product. And being an installer is the greatest education you can get in this industry. Learning all the functions of the product, walking people through it; that’s probably the greatest tool I have.”

SELL THE OPPOSITE

How often do you run into a customer who says they’re already satisfied with the service they’re getting from one of your competitors? Well Earl King, the founder of King Productions International, a HVAC sales consulting firm in Texas, says that shouldn’t nip your sales pitch in the bud.

“First, I’ll ask [a customer] if they’re satisfied,” King says. “And if they say there are, then I ask if we can do a maintenance audit — no charge, no obligation. I want to look at all their service tickets over the past 12 months or so, review how much has been spent on materials.”

Typically, King says, it’s not much. Having that knowledge in your hands creates an opportunity to sell away from what the customer’s already getting in a full-coverage agreement with someone else. If you can show a customer they’re paying more in a yearly service agreement than they’re getting back, you may be able to pick off a new customer by offering a “programmed maintenance,” labor-only agreement, which is always a lot cheaper.

FIRST, LISTEN

Great salespeople are said to have a silver tongue, right? Actually, it’s the ears that count.

By listening closely to what the customer is — and sometimes isn’t — saying, you can pick up on what their problem is, and how your product or service can solve that for them. Joe Crisara, a sales educator for ContractorSelling.com, talks about the “turn-around” technique, where you as a seller get the customer talking about why he’s interested in your service.

 

Get them, essentially, to sell you on your own service — that helps them reinforce the fact that they want and need it, and it gives you information about exactly what they’re looking for.

“Many times buyers provide a false reason so they don’t reveal too much about their situation, thinking that you may use it against them to close the deal,” Crisara writes on his blog.

“The turn-around helps your buyers ‘think it over’ before you start making prices and solutions so they are certain that the service or product they are requesting information [about] is something they definitely will purchase.”

DON’T ASSUME

Part of listening is keeping an open mind, says Mike Moore, who runs HVAC Learning Solutions. And that means don’t assume anything. You don’t necessarily know what a customer’s budget is, or what they can and can’t afford.

People may surprise you — but if you don’t offer your best, you’ll never sell your best. So start by offering customers the service or product that best fits their needs — not what you think fits in their price range.

“The customer will pay for what he or she can afford, and it is never your job to decide what one can financially invest in,”

NO EXCUSES

Andy Halpein, the owner of Laser Printer Resource in Walnut Creek, Calif., puts it bluntly: “If they want a job, they’ve gotta sell.”

That’s kind of a sink-or-swim directive, but the point is valid: Sales is simply part of the job now. In some cases, that means pitching customers out in the field.

Or, as Halperin says, it can be as simple as just be performing a great repair, gaining the customer’s trust, and making sure to mention ongoing service agreements and handing them the company business card. Either way, it’s now a must. “Hopefully [the tech] is great — and usually they are,” he says. “I only hire great, awesome ones.”

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From Tesla’s electric cars to Siemens’ MRI machines, high-tech devices gather all kinds of data to indicate equipment health. Is the equipment running out of capacity? Is it low on fuel? Is there a problem with the disk drive? The shift in technology means a shift in skill-set for field service engineers. The team at smartvan.com explore this topic further

All of this data is valuable to the technicians who service the equipment, but only if they know how to interpret the information, which is why the shortage of skilled workers in the field is more pressing than ever.

This year 55 percent of hiring managers say they’re having difficulty filling jobs in installation, maintenance and repair occupations, according to a CareerBuilder study. There’s a race between technology and the skills needed to keep up with it, especially for technicians.

CONNECTED DEVICES’ IMPACT ON FIELD SERVICE

If the recent media obsession with the Internet of Things is any indication, we’ll soon live in a world where every device has the ability to talk to other machines—and to humans.

For technicians, it means their roles are becoming more proactive and less reactive. Instead of waiting until a part breaks to fix it, they’ll know well in advance that a screw is loose, for example, and catch an impending failure before it occurs.

New technology also is shifting more field service work from physical to mental labour. “Computers and other digital advances are doing for mental power—the ability to use our brains to understand and shape our environments—what the steam engine and its descendants did for muscle power,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology professors Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee write in their book “The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Machines.”

FUTURE AUTO MECHANICS

BMW’s vision for how its engineers will service cars offers a look at how connected devices are changing work. Jack Stewart, presenter of the BBC’s Science in Action series, paints a picture: “Instead of reaching for any of the shiny silver tools on his cart, the mechanic picks up a pair of what looks like sunglasses with connected buds for his ears. He glances back over to the engine, and this time he sees each component highlighted in bright colors, and is given computer-generated instructions on what to disassemble, in what order.”

In this scenario, the engineer needs an understanding of the technology at play, including how to execute the augmented reality system and interpret the computer-generated information.

EFFORTS TO BRING SKILLS UP TO PAR

As technology advances, some companies are backing efforts to retrain their workforces and help the next generation of workers acquire the science, technology, engineering and math skills that roles in the field will require.

MasTec, a Coral Gables, Fla.-based infrastructure engineering and construction company, helps veterans transfer skills to become wireless technicians. The company works with Warriors 4 Wireless, which provides training and advanced certification for veterans to build new careers in the telecommunications industry.

Cisco, purveyor of Internet of Everything ideas, runs a “Networking Academy,” which offers certificate courses to help people across industries build and maintain computer networks. “These programs ensure Cisco, its customers and partners have the talent they need to transform their business through the Internet of Everything,” according to the CareerBuilder study press release.

In April, Siemens donated nearly $660 million in software to a dozen technical schools and colleges in Massachusetts to help train a new generation of workers in advanced manufacturing.

As field service organizations look for and develop future talent, they’ll benefit from having employees whose skills complement those of the cutting edge technology the company uses. In other words, as Wired editorKevin Kelly put it, “You’ll be paid in the future based on how well you work with robots.”

It’s a brave new world for service technicians and field service engineers (FSE) these days — they’ve got iPhones and tablets to manage their work, some are driving cool hybrid vans, and even the equipment they fix can talk to them and tell them what’s wrong.

Beyond all that, the service-tech demographic is changing rapidly: service technicians from yesteryear (the days of clipboards, parts manuals and pagers) are getting sunsetted. A younger, more tech-savvy BYOD-generation service tech is beginning to fill the void. The next-gen service tech is also learning a bunch of critical new skills.

“The ability to accurately forecast what customers want and need is one of the more valuable aspects of field service today,” says Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research. Client knowledge and intuition comes not only from new tools that collect and analyze data, it also comes from a set of interpersonal skills each new technician in the field should be versed in.

Here are 3 skills areas that matter most:

PROACTIVE SALESMANSHIP

Service strategist Alex Alexander put it plainly: “There’s nobody that has more impact on future purchases of service or products than field service engineers.”

Alexander and others aren’t championing technicians in hopes they will put salespeople out of business, in fact, quite the contrary — now salespeople actually have their own workforce in the field, as well. And, as opposed to door-to-door salesmen, service techs are actually being invited into customer homes and places of business. Instead of being turned away by clients and dismissed for a cold-call — technicians are there for a purpose. If they perform their other duties efficiently and successfully, a client is certainly more apt to be open to learning about new products and practices from the company.

Engagement goes a long way. If you can provide your field workers with pertinent client information before they arrive on-site, they can use this information to personalize their service and create a more meaningful relationship with the client. Plus, if you already know what they’ve bought — you’re less likely to try to sell something they already have or don’t need. Attention to detail when it comes to clients is important and shouldn’t fall solely on your company’s sales team.

SOCIAL SKILLS AND CUSTOMER SERVICE

Customers must feel comfortable with the people they allow into their space. Conversation is key to customer service and client comfort. Of course, speed is tantamount — everyone’s busy — but small talk can create a level of trust between your worker and the client.

People are more inclined to raise an issue in person and when they are feeling more comfortable, so arm your field workers with the appropriate customer service tools and information. Clients may raise an issue totally unrelated to the service call, but if your service technician brushes the query aside because they don’t know how to respond, trust (and maybe even the client) will be lost.

MASTERY OF MOBILE TECH

Next-generation field service is powered by the cloud — no longer by file folders, clipboards and your teams in the field need to reflect that.

Not just in the new toolset they carry around (rugged tablets, GPS devices, smartphones), but in how those tools change their behaviour and productivity — being able to pull up a parts diagram on a smartphone display, tapping into parts inventories, filling out job orders on the fly.

Not only is new technology helping FSEs learn more about their clients, it is also helping them complete tasks more proficiently. Because technology is constantly evolving, being able to adapt and learn how these new tools work is a must for today’s field tech.

People with a vested interest in the happenings of the technology world will be more enthusiastic to try new gadgets or implement a new system. Be wary of the technicians that are set to sticking to the “old ways” — this will only slow down the inevitable and can cause fissures between the tech and the customers as well as the techs themselves

 

 

The fleet management industry has seen some radical changes in recent years but the future promises to deliver innovations far beyond anything we have seen so far. Our friends at SmartVan.com have been taking a closer look at the technologies that will shape fleet management in the not so distant future…

Field service technicians are road warriors who often spend a lot of time behind the wheel. But those hours spent driving to the next service call (or sitting in traffic) can mean overtime for techs who need to finish the day’s work. A new wave of Internet-connected vehicles, however, could turn the field service engineer’s vehicle into a mobile office.

“This year is a tipping point,” Gartner analyst Thilo Koslowski told The Wall Street Journal. “There has been a lot of talk about apps in cars, but from 2014 forward, the revolution really happens.”

Here are a few features that drivers can expect to find in their next work truck or van:

4G high-speed Internet: Next year, GM and Audi are set to release automobiles with high-speed Internet and touch-screen dashboards, so drivers won’t even need to look at their smartphones.

In-car app store: BMW is developing an app store, similar to the iTunes App Store, to enable users to purchase mobile apps for their vehicles.

Vehicle data tracking: Automobile manufacturers are working with software developers to pull data from the cars themselves, such as MPG data, idling information as well as driver behaviour.

With these high-tech updates, field service engineers should no longer be stranded without a connection. Of course as with other advances in telematics this will also lead to bigger improvements in driver safety.

However, despite all of these improvements to vehicles the fact remains that distracted driving is inevitable — whether it’s checking an urgent text message from the boss or mopping up spilled coffee — any field service manager would be hard-pressed to find a member of their team that hasn’t experienced a time when their eyes weren’t exactly glued to the road.

 

While not a comforting thought, it’s a reality for field service technicians who are juggling full schedules, heavy traffic and route navigation, to name a few.

Yet, this very human issue of distracted driving may soon be a thing of the past. Recently Google showed off a prototype of its self-driving car, a vehicle without a steering wheel, gas or brake pedal, “because they don’t need them,” Google announced.

While the current prototype can only go as fast as 25 mph, the promise for the future of fleet management could include better route and fuel efficiency, safer driving, and giving field service engineers the ability to answer email and work while on the road.

For urban fleets, the vehicle could even drop the field tech off at the service location, go find parking for itself and then be summoned to pick the tech up once the call is finished. This scenario, however, is contingent on the California Department of Motor Vehicles (and then beyond) adjusting their regulations for autonomous vehicles to allow them to travel without a licensed human driver behind the wheel.

“Ever since we started the Google self-driving car project, we’ve been working toward the goal of vehicles that can shoulder the entire burden of driving,”  Chris Urmson, director of Google’s Self-Driving Car Project. “Just imagine: You can take a trip downtown at lunchtime without a 20-minute buffer to find parking. Seniors can keep their freedom even if they can’t keep their car keys. And drunk and distracted driving? History.”

One challenge to overcome whilst we await for the robot car revolution is that while night driving is inevitable, it comes with an increase in safety risks for drivers.

Well-lit roads are vital for preventing accidents and keeping drivers safe, but governments have struggled with the costs of maintaining street lamps. In the Netherlands, for example it has been reported in the government is shutting down streetlights at night to save money.

To solve this, designer Daan Roosegaarde has partnered with Heijmans, a Dutch civil engineering firm, to create interactive highways that are lit at night with luminescent paint that allows them to glow in the dark. Says Roosegaard, “This road is about safety and envisaging a more self-sustainable and more interactive world.”

A 500-meter stretch of a Dutch highway is the first real-world test case for these technologies.

The green glow in the dark paint charges in the daylight and can glow for up to 8 hours at night. However, the project still has some questions to be asked b efore being accepted as a viable alternative to elective lighting. For example, does the product perform on short winter days and long nights or under overcast and cloudy conditions?

Regardless it seems certain that the future of fleet management is set to see changes in the near future.