Anyone doing business today knows that you must tap every resource you have at your disposal to increase revenue. One possible resource within the service industry is the service technician. That said, it is not uncommon to see technicians expected to act like sales people, pushed to sell more products and services for the company while also augmenting their salaries.
I have found that there are usually two camps of thought as to whether or not technicians should also be salesmen. The first camp believes that if the tech is on premise with a customer then they should take advantage of that opportunity to try and up sell a product or service. The other camp believes that the tech is there to do one job and one job only, to resolve the problem at hand and move to his/her next service call. From a business standpoint, I can see the argument for both camps of thought.
On the one hand, you have the tech in a position to take advantage of a captured audience. Once they have completed the service call, they can hand out flyers or begin a sales pitch making the customer aware of a sale going on for today only or on other products or services that they may benefit from. It only takes a few extra minutes and besides, what do they have to lose right?
On the other hand, the technician stands to create more revenue for the company by doing as many calls as possible throughout the course of the day. If the calls they are doing are COD related, the number of calls can make a huge difference in monthly revenue for the company. The technician has no time to stop and have a sales chat with the customer and must keep moving.
In either case, there is usually resistance from the technician as to whether they should or should not be selling to as well as servicing the customer’s needs. There are some people who believe that they are not cut out to be sales people (like me). And then there are other people who could sell the Brooklyn Bridge if they were given the chance. The problem in either case is finding a happy medium and doing so without jeopardizing new and old ways of generating revenue for the company.
My opinion on this subject is simple and straight forward, let the tech decide. Don't force them into an uncomfortable situation. Most customers can see when a tech is being forced to do something that they are not good at, like sales. My philosophy throughout my management career has always been to take advantage of the strengths of an individual and let them do what they are best at. In this case, your tech will be much happier if they are fixing a problem and not having to act like a sales person when they have no desire to be a sales person. On the other hand, there are techs out there that are very good at selling. Again I say, take advantage of your techs strengths. If the tech is good at repairing things and at selling additional products and services, then by all means let them do both. In most cases, the tech that knows how to sell and is good at it is going to sell more than the tech that does not want to sell at all. They will also do it in a way that will not upset or push away your customers. In essence, the tech that knows how to sell and is comfortable doing so will make up for the tech that is more content while servicing the customer’s repair issues. Using this strategy, your company can both service its customers and increment sales at the same time while keeping both the customer and your technicians happy.
Do you think that your service techs should try and up sell to your customers? Do you find that some of your techs are willing to be sales people and others are not? Let us know by responding below.
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