Paul Riddle
Contributing Writer
Success Group International
It feels like the contracting industry changes and evolves every day. With every trade show or trade magazine, you can come across new products that are entering the market.
And if you’re like and most other contractors, you get excited about the possibility of offering these new products to your clients!
So, after researching this new product and ensuring it’s something that will help homeowners, you order a bunch. You tell your technicians about this new product and explain that it will be on their trucks.
A week goes by, and you’re exited to see how much of this new product has been sold! You’re hoping this will be a huge boost for your company! Then, you look at the results… and you see that none of your technicians sold any of this new product! Frustration sets in, and you ask yourself: What went wrong?
I hate to say it, but you probably presented this new product to your technicians the wrong way. To enhance the service you provide your clients, you have to enhance your technicians’ perspective first.
The ultimate fear of the good technician is being perceived as a salesperson. You have to take that into account when presenting anything new to your team because there is often a big difference between what you say and what your technicians hear.
Here’s an example.
Let’s say you started out with something like this. “This is a great new product that we’re going to be stocking on our trucks so you can offer it to our clients.”
What the technician thought was, “Oh great. The company wants me to push another new product off on the client.”
Then you probably said, “If you can increase your average ticket, I can pay you more money, so this is going to be great for everyone.”
What the technician thought about that was, “The company wants me to be a salesperson.”
Finally, you may have said, “I’ll give you a bonus every time you sell this product.”
What the technician thought was, “Oh great, the company is trying to bribe me to be a salesperson.”
You can see how things get misconstrued when the technician is desperately trying to avoid being a salesperson. At this point, the honest technician becomes irritated because they feel you’re pushing them into the role of a pushy, obnoxious salesperson that’s being bribed to push the product down clients’ throats.
Meanwhile, the dishonest technician thinks, “Great! The company just told me I could take advantage of the client and sell anything and everything I can!” This irritates the honest technicians even more and frustrates you as a business owner. So, how can you do what is best for the client and reward your technicians? You must give a great presentation to your team if you want them to buy into your idea.
What are the steps?
1. The technician must believe in the product. Rather than telling them you have this great product, get your team to tell you how great it is. Bring the new product into a team meeting. Let them know you’re thinking of offering it, and you’d like to know what they think. Get them talking about it.
2. Technicians want to do what is best for the client, so present it as a way to reduce frustrations and headaches for homeowners. Also, mention that you’ll be reducing the number of after hours and weekend calls that will occur by reducing breakdowns. Then, get your team’s buy-in by asking, “Do you all think it would be a great idea to offer this product to our clients?”
3. Next, if possible, I would give the technicians the product to use in their homes. I know it will be an investment, but the rewards are great. Your technicians will have a tremendous presentation. When the homeowner asks for their recommendation, your technician can honestly say, “Mrs. Jones, I recommend this product because it’s the one I have in my home.” Your technician is an authority on the matter, and your client will often follow their recommendation.
4. Determine how you’re going to financially reward your technicians. Profits are the reward for outstanding service. For providing outstanding service by helping customers own this new product that will enhance their home, you’re going to make more money. So, you could say, “For enhancing our level of service, we’re going to share that profit with you. For offering outstanding service, I’ll offer you ______ every time a customer wants this new product!” That puts the emphasis on enhancing your service rather than selling.
5. The final step is having fun! Develop an outstanding service contest board where you can post the daily, weekly, and monthly results so your technicians can see who’s really taking the time to provide outstanding service to the homeowner.
And that’s how you can get your team excited about helping homeowners so you can make more money every day in this business!
About the Author: Paul Riddle, Vice President, Success Group International
Paul Riddle has over 25 years of hands‐on experience as GM, COO, CEO, and owner of service companies specifically in the mechanical and restoration segments. Throughout his career, he has personally trained the owners and employees of hundreds of businesses, including several turnaround situations. His hands‐on training for owners and their employees has been in the areas of business planning, sales & marketing, and company culture. Paul enjoys applying his knowledge and experience working directly with business owners and their employees to increase profits, improve the company’s present value, and unlock the intrinsic value of the business when sold. Paul joined SGI in 2009 as the VP of Operations.