Selling doesn’t begin when a Tech is at the customer’s doorstep. It starts when your Customer Service Representative (aka CSR) answers the phone. All sales momentum either builds from that moment on — or it falls apart.
Dramatic?
Nope! That’s why when teaching my Sales Power selling system I insist on spending time coaching the CSRs and, if I can get to them, the Dispatchers (aka DSRs) as well.
“Wait a minute!” you might be thinking, “The CSRs and DSRs aren’t selling…right?”
Wrong! CSRs and DSRs have the ability to sabotage sales at every turn if they’re not provided with a documented set of operation manuals and trained how to properly do their job . They need to know not just how to clear the dispatch board of calls but also to how to recognize and then maximize every sales opportunity.
To achieve this, never-ending weekly coaching and daily monitoring is more than a good suggestion. It’s a necessity. Why? Because CSRs and DSRs can either make a Tech soar or they can break them.
Don’t believe me? Fair enough.
Weekly coaching and daily monitoring
Scenario #1: A call comes in to a CSR and they don’t explain how you do business such as a flat-rate pricing system, they don’t explain if you have a minimum service fee for the Tech to run the call, and they don’t explain that the Tech gets paid at the time of service. They show no empathy to the caller. The result: the Tech arrives to a hostile environment and has to do what I call “uphill selling.” They now have to stop and explain that there’s a minimum service fee, that the pricing is from a book and the price needs to be quoted and approved before any work can start, and finally they have to explain that they must get paid at the time of service.
Now let’s add some gasoline to this fire. The DSR keeps calling or texting the Tech who is busy doing the steps of the sales system to push them along to the next call. This forces the Tech to shortcut a tried and true process that best serves not just the customer they’re in front of but also the company in the form of more dollars per call.
Scenario #2: The DSR keeps the Tech bouncing from one part of the service area to the other. They don’t call ahead to make sure the decision maker will be home and now the Tech arrives to a place there’s no one home or no one around that the Tech can sit with and go through what they’re going to do so they can build value. This adds to what is called “windshield time” and in today’s lingo wasted billable hours that could be billed by implementing a time-tested dispatching method that maximizes revenue.
Regular Sales Coaching of CSRs and DSRs is not optional. It’s one of the only ways you can ensure repeatable high-quality customer interaction that promotes higher sales and customer satisfaction. There are three ways to make that happen:
- Do phone role-plays that include sending a CSR out of the room to field a “fake” incoming call. See if they follow the written procedures that will make the caller feel welcomed, promote empathy, build momentum for the great Tech who will be coming to their home or business to make everything right again.
- Do recording of phone calls for coaching purposes. We think we know what we say and how we say it but we never do until we hear ourselves.
- Have Mystery Shoppers call you to find out how you’re doing.
Include your CSRs and DSRs in your Sales Coaching program and then watch your sales jump to the next level. You’ll be glad you did.
