Windshield Time

On this podcast, Chris & Chris continue the series, “You have to PRESS before you can PLAY”, by discussing the R – Relationship Building.

Building a relationship is key to the process. Even though it comes early in the process, Relationship Building is something you must continue to do throughout the service or sales call. Here are the two main things you must do to begin building a relationship with your customer on the call.

First, recognize the customer’s personality profile. We use the DISC profiles to recognize the key profile traits of the customer and ourselves. Understanding and using these known traits, should allow you to begin observing immediately upon arriving at the home clues as to the homeowner’s personality. How the customer comes to the door and responds to your introduction will begin to help you recognize their profile. Once you recognize the profile, you must adapt your communication to their personality type.

Second, you need a great introduction. There are six distinct points to the introduction:

• Give your name and confirm their name. No anonymous service.
• Confirm the reason you are there by stating why they called you out.
• Thank the customer for the opportunity.
• Make sure your truck is parked in a good place that isn’t blocking anyone.
• Ask if you can enter the home. Don’t assume.
• Ask if you can put on your floor savers. This calls attention to them.

A great introduction has two goals: to show respect to the customer and to allow them to give you affirmative answers. You should frame the steps above into questions like, “Hi. I’m Chris from ABC Plumbing. Are you Maggie Smith?” and “Maggie, I understand I’m here because your master bathroom toilet is running all the time. Is that right?”. By doing so, you get the customer to give you affirmative responses. This makes them feel better about you. Also, by doing these steps, you show respect to the customer and their property.

Building a relationship begins early but continues throughout the entire service or sales call. Master the skills above to begin building a great relationship.

On this week’s podcast, Chris & Chris continue to go through “PRESS before you PLAY”. They discuss how to be prepared with M.A.G.I.E.

Mindset

You must start your day with a positive mindset or attitude. Always remember that if you think you will have a bad day, you probably will. If you think that it will be a good day, with good opportunities, it probably will be. Your customer can read your mindset. Make it positive.

Appearance

Even though you’re not supposed to “judge a book by its cover”’, most people will judge you by your appearance. You should never leave for work without being clean, we’ll-groomed, and properly dressed. Throughout the day, every customer should get the clean, well-groomed, and properly dressed you. Take care with your appearance. The customer will judge your technical ability and decide whether or not to trust you based on how you look.

Goals

There are three parties that have goals for this call - you, the customer, and the company. The customer wants their problem fixed properly for a reasonable price. The company wants the problem fixed properly for a reasonable price. You want the problem fixed properly for a reasonable price. Although these goals seem to be aligned, there is most likely a difference of opinion on how to achieve this common goal. The customer probably wants to spend money only on what it takes to fix it. You and the company, as the experts, want the customer to do everything that will make the system last longer, work better, be safer, and be more reliable. That should mean taking care of issues that aren’t broken but might break, that might cause other things to break, or might make the system unsafe. Because the way to achieve the goal of “fixed properly for a reasonable price” might not be aligned, the potential for a real or perceived issue with integrity could arise.

Integrity

The PRESS PLAY Way demands that we must act with absolute integrity. This means we never lie or manipulate a customer to get them to buy something from us. This means we never offer something to a customer that they do not need. Anyone that does this does not belong on the team.

Explore

Another way we act with absolute integrity is by doing the whole job every time. We never cut corners and we always make sure we explore every part of the customer's HVAC system. Our customers count on us to be their HVAC experts.

The Holiday Season places additional stress on your customers, your team members, and on your business. This week Todd Liles, Brandon Cockrell, James Walker, and Brandy Loudermilk host a special episode of The Service Contractor Radio Show.

In this episode the team discusses the following holiday stressors that they see in their clients. 

1. Homeowner Stress
2. Team Member Stress 
3. Holiday Mental Health
4. Giving Back 

We also have a special announcement for our ongoing clients! This year Service Excellence Training wants to sponsor a family in need.

We will be donating $500 worth of gifts as well as a $500 cash card to a family in need this season.

Here is what we need from you! 

If you are one of our ongoing monthly clients, please look for an email next week to let you know how you can nominate a team member!

On this podcast, Chris and Chris discuss why you must “PRESS” before you “PLAY”. This means you have to earn the right to ask the customer to buy. Earning the right to ask for more means doing the things that show you are an expert that the customer can trust. To do this you have to settle their anxieties that come with having a stranger in their home. You must establish a relationship and do a thorough diagnosis. These are the main items in our PRESS PLAY process. Below are the steps for how you PRESS:

Prepare - M.A.G.I.E. In this step, you will learn to be prepared for the call with the right mindset, a professional appearance, knowing the goals of the call, acting with integrity, and exploring every opportunity.

Relationship Building - In this step you will learn to find common ground with FORM and DISC. You will learn to identify the customer’s personality profile, which indicates how you should communicate with them. This will help you build a relationship with the customer.

Evaluate with Questions - Asking smart questions will help build value and trust. In this step, you will learn the right questions to ask and when to ask them.

Settle Anxieties - In this step, you will learn to answer the customer’s unspoken questions about you, your company, your process, and your pricing.

System Diagnostic - You will learn to discover the customer’s needs through the color-coded Inspection Checklist.

Over the next several weeks, we’ll unpack more on each step and give tips for how you can implement this process in your daily routine.

On this podcast, Chris Elmore and Chris Loudermilk talk about how to overcome your fears of selling. Most of us sell something in our daily lives. Even when we were babies, we had to sell someone on feeding us when we were hungry, holding us when we were fussy, and changing our diapers when we needed it. As we’ve gotten older, it’s gotten harder to sell. We have to learn to sell differently. As techs or salespeople, you are selling all day long, every day. For some, it can be a very anxious and fear-filled experience.

Here are the 5 most common fears we hear:

“I’m afraid I will overwhelm the customer.” This happens because we don’t set the expectations for the customer. We have to make sure they understand that we will be checking the entire system. You owe it to the customer to set the expectations and then do exactly that – check the whole system. This will show the customer that you are thorough and really have their best interest at heart.

 “I’m afraid I’ll be too salesy.” This comes from your fear of looking like the stereotypical negative, slick salesperson that manipulates the customer. But you already are a “salesman”. You just think it’s bad to be one. This comes from all the actual negative, slick, manipulative salespeople that have ruined the reputation. It also comes from your lack of practice and mastery of your process. You overcome this fear by mastering your sales or service process through practicing until you can’t get it wrong.

“I’m afraid I’ll offend the customer if I ask them to buy.” Some techs and salespeople believe their job is to just lay out the issues or solutions and let the customer choose. But the customer isn’t qualified to choose. They don’t have your knowledge and experience. They have the right to choose. It’s your job to make a great recommendation that helps it last longer, be safer, work better, and last longer. You owe it to the customer to make a recommendation and ask them to buy it.

“I’m afraid I’ll miss a step.” and “I’m afraid I’ll get it wrong.” You’re really just worried about being embarrassed. If you think this, you’re probably right. This is another fear that can be overcome by practicing and mastering your sales and service process. Once you master it, you will have internalized it. When this happens, it’s almost impossible for you to miss something or get it wrong.

You’ll notice that in all of the fears above, mastering and using your sales and service process will help you overcome these fears. This is exactly what the PRESS PLAY process is designed to do for you AND your customers. No matter which process you use, you have to practice it, master it, and use it to overcome your fears of selling.

In this episode of the Service Contractor Radio Show, Chris Elmore and Brandon Cockrell discuss the importance of offering your repairs or replacement solutions in a cumulative options format. For years, in the plumbing, electrical, and HVAC trades we’ve been offering options in one form or other. Chris and Brandon give their insights after seeing most forms of options used in the field by many companies in many different markets. Here’s what they know about presenting with options:

• Customers want options – Customers have told us this, many times, by the questions they ask. Questions such as, “What would you do?”, “What do I have to do?”, and “What can I do to keep it from happening?”

• It’s normal to buy with options. Many businesses in many industries present with options. A car dealer may offer the typical good-better-best options even for a car.

• Options make it easier for the customer to make a better decision. By grouping your solutions in options packages, the customer knows better what to do.

Your goal should always be to help the customer make the best decision. This isn’t your decision to make for them so you must present your solutions in a way they want, in a way they are used to, and in a way that helps them make the best decision. Presenting with cumulative options is the best way to do these things.

On this week’s podcast, Chris Elmore and James Walker talk about why you should be using a diagnostic checklist in your business. The diagnostic checklist should be used as a part of any visit you have with a customer. Whether it’s a maintenance visit, the diagnostic visit, or a visit to install a component, you should complete a diagnostic checklist. This checklist should be color-coded with red, yellow, and green. This will engage the customer in the process and help you raise ticket averages. But this week, the guys focus on three main benefits for the customer when using a color-coded diagnostic check list.

• A checklist is easier for the customer to understand. By using a printed checklist, especially one with the colors red, yellow, and green, you help the customer understand what you will be doing while in their home. It bridges the technical gap, so the customer can understand the status of their system. When the customer understands better, they are more engaged.

• A checklist shows the whole picture to the customer. By having the checklist on one page, the customer can get a quick view of the whole picture. They can gauge the amount of each color. This gives them a feel for how good or bad things are without a long technical explanation. It will also show them not only the items that are broken, but those that also might need to be taken care of before they become a problem. This is the whole picture.

• A checklist helps the customer decide to do more. When the customer understands more and understands the whole picture, they make a better decision for their system and home. They learn more so they know more. When they know more and understand how it all fits together, they do more.

No matter the reason for your visit, you should always use a diagnostic checklist to help the customer more easily understand what you’re doing, show the customer the whole picture, and make it easier for them to do more.

On this week’s podcast, Chris and Chris discuss the Power of Questions. Questions can be one of the best tools for you in the home. Questions allow you to uncover more information than just what you’re asking.

Here are four things the Power of Questions can do for you:

Asking the “What’s going on?” question will make the customer tell you a story and relate information to you about the problem. Depending on how they answer, the words they use, and the pace of their conversation, you can identify their profile. Identifying their profile is a critical step in communicating effectively with the client.

By asking smart questions and getting the customer to provide answers, you make it easier for the customer to buy from you. For example, if you ask the customer the age of their home, which they already know and you can probably guess, this will establish the age as a common frame of reference. Since everything is affected by age, this could mean that many things on the plumbing or electrical systems are old and in need of repair, maintenance, or replacement. It’s hard to argue that things that are older need attention. If you don’t ask the question to establish the age, the customer may not relate it to what you’re offering.

The question AND the way you ask it can raise awareness. For example, asking a customer, “Have you ever had maintenance on your system?” raises awareness that the system needs maintenance. However, if I ask it a little differently, I raise awareness about more. For example, if I ask, “What was the date of your last annual maintenance and safety inspection?” I raise awareness of maintenance, but also that it needs to be done annually and there is a safety component as well.

Good questions can also create an opportunity for contrast. Contrast, in this context, is the difference between what is and what could be. For example, asking, “On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being awesome and 1 being terrible, how would you rate your water quality?” If the customer answers “3” you can create contrast by explaining that an inline filter could bring that up to an 8 or better. This contrast shows the customer that you can make things better.

Be sure to include good questions that identify the customer’s profile, make it easier to ask for the order, raise awareness and create contrast. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much smarter you look to the customer and how much more informed they will be. This translates into more sales for you and a better system for the customer.

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On this week’s podcast, Chris and Chris talk about how to maximize maintenance inspections. With the weather cooling down, HVAC companies are beginning their heating maintenance inspection cycle. Plumbing and electrical companies are usually doing these at all times of the year. No matter which trade you are in, the methods for maximizing the results on inspections are the same.

• Change your mindset. It’s tempting to look at maintenance inspections as boring and tedious. If you think that they do become boring and tedious, then they will be. Consider each inspection as an opportunity. The customer has paid your company to take themselves off the market. They want you there to help them prevent future issues. Do a thorough job and see every call as an opportunity to serve the customer. Don’t just try to get the call “knocked out”.
• Slow down. Another thing that happens is that we schedule too many inspections in a day. We think we can “knock them out” but we miss the opportunities. We go so fast because we have more calls to do. If you’re an owner or manager, do yourself a favor. Don’t schedule more than 3 inspections per day. You’ll get more because your techs will work slower and pay more attention to the details.
• Involve the customer and ask questions. Just as with the “knock it out” mentality, we have to slow down and get the customer involved. Many customers think that there’s no need for them to be involved because it’s just an inspection. Change their mindset by talking with them and asking them questions just as you would on a diagnostic call. This will give you more insight into possible issues.
• Set expectations upfront. While talking with the customer, set the expectations of what you will be doing. Show them your inspection checklist and tell them what to expect. Tell them what you will be checking. If you do this, when you share the results of your inspection, the customer won’t be as surprised that you found things that need to be done. If they aren’t surprised, they will more willingly have you do the work.
• Offer good options. Maintenance calls can sometimes be treated differently because the customer has the perception that they’ve already paid for it. If you adopt this mindset, you are less likely to present options. Make sure to present multiple options just as you would on a service call.

It’s tempting to treat maintenance inspections as something less than important. You might even try to get them “knocked out”. Remember that they are good opportunities if you change the way you treat them. The customer has trusted your company enough to make it “their company” for plumbing, electrical, or HVAC. Don’t let them down. Do your best on every call and you will maximize every one.

On this week’s podcast, Chris & Chris talk about the little things that may cost you big if you overlook them. Chris Loudermilk tells a recent hunting story and what he learned. Also, he tells a story about a little thing that cost $0.37 that held up hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars of activity.

Sometimes, circumstances make it so you may forget or minimize some of the small things in your process that can make a huge difference. As with the story Chris Loudermilk relates in the podcast, these little things can cost quite a lot of both time and money.

Here are some of the little things that you just can’t afford to miss:

• Mindset – Always keep a positive mindset. You never know what opportunities may come up on a call. In the afternoon of a day of calls or during the “slow” season, it’s easy to want to go through the motions to get finished. Give every call your best attitude.
• Speed – There is a temptation to speed up calls or to get them “knocked out”. The simple, little thing of slowing down a little can pay off in a big way. Give every call your full effort at a good pace.
• Great Questions – Sometimes, we assume we know the answers to the questions we should ask the customer. You might assume that the air quality is good. You might assume that water quality is not that bad. You might assume that this customer isn’t interested in a USB outlet upgrade. But have you asked? Always be sure to ask great questions so you can be as thorough as possible.
• Set Expectations – Never assume that your customer knows what you will be doing. Although it is easy to make this assumption, especially with customers you’ve seen before, you always need to set expectations so there are no surprises.
• Good options – Another assumption it is easy to make is the customer won’t want all those choices. As a professional expert consultant, you need to give options and make recommendations. Set the expectation that you will do this and make sure it happens. Customers need options and recommendations from you to make a great decision.

Remember that the little things can make a big difference. They are easy to overlook or forget, but these little things can cost you big or be the reason you get that big sale or long-term customer.