Your phone quit ringing when you lost another tech. How many customers do you lose every time you lose a tech? I remember in 1997 telling someone I was not worried about techs starting their own business because I was spending $3,000 per month in Yellow Pages and they could not compete with that.
Well that was absolutely true in 1997. And let’s face it, you always lose their family and friends when they quit or get fired but you could stand that. However, then what happened? Along came the internet. Do you notice just how many people you actually feel a bond with on Facebook that you never even knew existed a few years ago? So today if a tech quits or gets fired who do they tell? Just their 500 closest friends. And another question is this, how many of your customers have a closer relationship with your technician than they have with you? That is a good indication of how many customers will follow them from company to company and finally to their own company.
So is it harder to make the phones ring today? You bet it is. And another thing, just what were you teaching those technicians that took so much of your time, money, and effort? Was it salesmanship, customer relations, flat rate pricing, up-selling, repair vs. replace, communication skills, how to write an invoice and how to collect money on each call? So when they did leave to start their own company what else did they need? Just a few customers. And you probably provided that.
So today think about how many customers of yours have that close relationship to your technician, how many have a closer relationship with them than with you? Is there something you can put in place now to tighten your bond with them? A simple start would be by friending them on Facebook.
What else has to change?
First thing to recognize, it is 10 times more costly to lose a technician today than it was 15 years ago. Not to mention there are probably at least 10 times more companies running around in your market anyway. And while we are on the subject of customer base, how is your closing rate? If your service department is not running very close to 100% closing on repairs then you are already losing customers that were very costly to acquire in the first place.
What causes poor closing rates? High or perceived high prices.
What causes techs to leave? Most research says they are unhappy with the boss.
Why are they unhappy with the boss?
1. The boss doesn’t appreciate me or my skills
2. The boss is greedy and only cares about money
3. All the boss cares about is making me go sell for him
4. They don’t care about quality work just money
5. Money Money Money is all they care about here
If a technician leaves your company with that attitude, you can be sure they will pass it on to everyone who will listen. And thanks’ to Facebook, that is 500 of their closest friends, and many of those are also on your client list. And they will be quick to let those people know that they will honor any service agreement promises that the customer had from your company.
This is not a happy article is it? But I repeat it is 10 times more costly to lose a technician today than 15 years ago.
Something has to change for companies to grow and thrive in this business climate. Yes a few of you have nice solid retirement plan from the wealth you have garnered at your service company. But I bet 95% of those reading this do not have that luxury.
What is the answer? Well one of them is to change your business model to one that appreciates quality and craftsmanship because that is the core value of a true technician. And to change the idea that you can take a true service technician and get them to sell and up-sell the customer, that’s at least 80% of the problem. They do not want to do that and it causes them to disrespect you.
The solution is to let the technician be just that, a service man or woman, a technician. The selling, well maybe you need to do that, or find a system that sells for them. The Home Depot doesn’t believe in selling associates, Ford doesn’t believe in selling mechanics, IBM doesn’t believe in selling technicians. There is a better way and other industries have found it.
In our research we have found a complete turnaround in company cultures when technicians are allowed to excel at what they want to do which is “fix stuff” . And since they are most productive when they are “fixing stuff” then don’t you owe it to them and to your company’s bottom line to take the selling out of their hand and put it where it can actually produce the numbers you want?
How dangerous is it to lose a tech or a client? For some companies it is disastrous.
Start by patting those techs on the back and telling them you are amazed at their ability to fix anything. They like that.
Rodney Koop/ Founder The New Flat Rate, Menu Pricing System
