Who do your customers trust more, your sales people or your technicians?
In general, technicians hesitate to sell products and services. They feel like there is a line being crossed where they erode the trust they have built with the customer by trying to sell them a new piece of equipment. After all, you called them to fix things and that’s what they do! They fix things!
The key to leveraging this trusted resource for selling, is to first sell the technicians on the idea. Here’s some discussion starters:
Shouldn’t we present all of the alternatives to a customer? Many times, a technician believes that the equipment should be fixed because that’s what they would do. Customers often disagree. Why not present both options and let the customer decide?
What is the cost of continuing to run old equipment? In many cases new equipment runs much more efficiently than old. Yes, it may take years to pay off the investment in new capital equipment, but if that equipment runs more efficiently, consumes less energy or has a lower impact on the environment, customers may choose to pay more. Why should a technician decide what is important to the customer?
There are things to sell that don’t require replacing the equipment. Customers may choose to invest in an extended warranty, a protection or service maintenance plan. These are great tools to allow a technician to sell their own services and gain confidence in their selling skills before moving on to selling new equipment.
At the end of the day, providing customers with choice is what will ultimately build trust, and loyalty. Allowing the customer to evaluate all of the options through their own lens can maintain the technicians’ integrity while growing the top and bottom line.
If you’re financially compensating technicians for sales, be sure to watch for those overzealous employees who may be trading their integrity for a fat commission cheque.
Are your technicians encouraged to sell service or new equipment? What have you done to ease the transition? Share your experiences in the comments below.
Learn more about field service transformation with Chapman Management Solutions and download the 30 Tips eBook for free at www.chrischapman.ca.
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