[Human Resources] Tapping into Your Technicians

Technicians on the front line serve as the face of your company. According to Harvey Goldglantz of Pest Control Marketing Company, Inc., Elkins Park, Pa., one of the most effective ways to increase your customer base is to invest the time in training your technicians to ask for referrals and cross sell your services, he explained during a presentation at the National Pest Management Association’s PestWorld convention.

“As I travel across the country, I see all these dollars committed to technical training. For the most part, I see very few dollars invested in training the customer service segment — from office staff to technicians — on how to communicate and deal effectively with customers,” Goldglantz said. 

A 40-year industry veteran, Goldglantz helps companies maximize technicians’ skills to become sales conduits. His credo centers on the belief that technicians can make a positive impact on two profit centers — add-on services and customer referrals.

“Hire the right people and invest in them. They will sell your company and their customers will become advocates for your services,” he said.

He suggested setting up a structured, formal training program conducted on a regular basis, recognizing that the needs will be different for each company. Within each company, expectations should be set that the needs of each employee will be different as well. Management needs to understand that not every technician will be successful at selling company services in the same way or at the same rate.

“It takes commitment and dedication from the technicians. It’s difficult for anyone to become a whiz bang salesperson overnight. The program should include defining exactly what your goals are and what you expect from your technicians, as well as how you are going to help them accomplish these goals,” he said. 

HIRE THE RIGHT PEOPLE. As any salesperson knows, one has to first recognize the customer’s needs to be effective. The technician has to be able to identify what that might be. Your technicians need to have the skills to communicate effectively with customers; they also must be attuned to look for opportunities each and every time they go into a home.

“Hopefully when you’re hiring technicians, you are hiring someone who can represent your company well. It should take a willingness to learn and to move ahead in your company. It takes a degree of professionalism,” Goldglantz said. “Most importantly, it takes good communication skills.”

WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM? The technicians need to have a clear understanding of their revenue goals and how much you expect them to sell. Providing them with support materials helps them interact more effectively with customers. You also must address what is in it for the technician, as well as for the person who provides the referral.

“It takes a great deal of commitment and dedication from the technician, so the rewards have to be adequate,” he said. “However, it’s not just an incentive for the technician; the technician also needs to understand what’s in it for the customer providing the referral.”

TRAINING IS KEY. While there are many components to a sales training program, nothing is more important than role-playing exercises. They need to be able to explain the need and service, build rapport, exude confidence and handle objections. So although they may be very uncomfortable speaking in front of their peers, role playing literally forces them to “talk the talk.”

“I don’t know how many times I’ve heard from a technician, ‘I do an extremely good job in front of my customers, I just can’t do it in front of everybody else.’ But for the most part, this is not true,” Goldglantz said. “If they can’t do it in front of their peers, they generally will not be able to do it in front of their customers.”
 
FOLLOW THROUGH. Once the technician sales program is in full swing, Goldglantz recommended making sure you analyze, evaluate and measure its success.  

“You need a multi-pronged quality assurance program with checks and balances. You should monitor the service technicians through quality control programs and testing — both verbal and written,” he added. “You should go out on quality control checks to make sure they are doing a good job and also provide satisfaction surveys to your customers.”

AGGRESSIVE REFERRAL PROGRAM. While many companies claim to have formal referral programs, Goldglantz said they tend to be fairly passive — handing out a discount card or sending a postcard that offers a discount off the next service. 

Proactively pursuing referrals through your technicians increases the likelihood of obtaining referrals since they interface with customers on a daily basis. It’s a targeted, cost-effective approach that pairs trained technicians with enthusiastic customers, resulting in an effective sales team.

“If every one of your customers gave you a referral that turned into a sale, your customer base would grow 100 percent annually,” he said. “Your customer base would double without you spending another marketing dollar.”

To get started on the right foot, consider having your technicians review a list of accounts they regularly service and rank them according to how satisfied, loyal or enthusiastic they think each customer feels about your company. From there, develop a plan to have them approach the highly ranked customers first. The chances of obtaining referrals with these customers are good and starting out successfully will boost confidence. 

CROSS SELLING SERVICES. If your customers trust your company and respect their technicians, cross selling services should be a natural fit and the chances of closing a sale are very high.

“I often find that companies are not maximizing their current customer base by selling add-on services. If you have a lot of termite customers, you should be marketing your general pest control services to them on a regular basis. And vice versa. You need to cross market all of your services.” A properly trained technician is an effective way to do this.

However, when marketing add-on services, technicians not only need to be able to sell the add-on service, they need to be adept at inspecting the property as well.

“I’ve been on quality assurance checks where technicians miss all sorts of opportunities,” Goldglantz said. “Recently, I was with a technician on an inspection and there was a fire ant mound in the yard. The technician walked right by it, went in to do his service and walked out.”

He suggested mounting laminated cards in company vehicles that list add-on services or what the technicians should look for when on site. That way, they always have a list in front of them to keep the potential sales opportunities top of mind.

While it’s unlikely you will acquire a customer referral from or sell other services to every one of your customers, just think about how your customer base would increase even if only a few of your technicians become successful sales people. 

“Even if you are only 20 percent successful with this program, you will increase your customer base by 20 percent,” Goldglantz said. “Who wouldn’t welcome that?”

The author is a freelance writer based in Muskego, Wis.