The bulk of a company’s reputation is in the hands of the service technicians. The receptionist may have the latest training in phone etiquette right down to smiling through the greeting, and the scheduling may be spot on, but the technicians will make or break the customer’s experience.
Don’t believe me? Think about it for a minute. The technician has the most “face time” with the customer of anyone in the company. If he doesn’t there are problems, because the only reason anyone else in the company would have more time in front of the customer is if the customer isn’t happy.
Companies spend tens of thousands of dollars on business cards, custom printed invoices, truck lettering, and uniforms, then hope the guy in front of the customer doesn’t drop the ball and ruin it all. I’m not just talking about the easy stuff like having a clean uniform and truck, or keeping the shirt tails tucked in. If this is your idea of a breakthrough in customer service, pull up a chair because we need to talk.
Here are some rules every service tech should live by:
- Show courtesy and respect — after all, the customer is paying your paycheck.
- Never comment on their home, good or bad, you don’t know how that will be taken.
- Have technical knowledge of the equipment; if you can’t repair it, why are you there? Remember, wasting their money is a sign of disrespect.
- Work quickly and intelligently — smarter, not harder.
- Communicate in layman terms– Save the techno jargon for other techies. If you want to impress the customer, speak in terms they can understand.
- Keep idle chit-chat to a minimum.
- Always ask permission, just because they called you doesn’t give you free run of their home. This applies to everything: using the bathroom, what door to use, accessing the thermostat, right down to where you should park you truck.
- Always explain what you have done before you leave, don’t just hand them a chicken scratch service ticket to sign and run.
- Never lie. Period. If you don’t know something, admit it. Then make an effort to find out. Lying is disrespectful to them and you.
Bottom line: treat them like you would like to be treated.
Agree with most of the list.
However we encourage techs to give sincere compliments on any thing the may see while on a call. Plus idle chit chat,started by the customer should be responded to.