Successful HVAC Companies Require More Than Technical Skills
Soft skills are the key that opens the doors of opportunity
What is the first day like for a newly hired technician in your company? Does the technician start working in the field on day one? Will the technician receive any technical training prior to working? At Jon Wayne, we take a different approach to onboarding our technicians. Regardless of their skill level, newly hired technicians will spend their first week or two learning about Jon Wayne culture and practicing pivotal skills required to be successful, such as soft skills.
Soft skills are personal attributes that enable someone to interact efficiently and harmoniously with other people. At Jon Wayne, we know our company’s success is dependent upon our technicians’ ability to teach and interact with our customers. Each interaction a Jon Wayne employee has with a customer is an opportunity to improve a customer’s perception and reinforce the brand equity of our company. By deploying technicians with strong soft skills, we are maximizing the customer experience and increasing the likelihood of maintaining them as a loyal customer. We strive to ensure that every interaction a customer has with our company is as consistent as possible.
Developing a technician’s soft skills is simple, but it takes time. Ultimately, a technician will be reliant upon the employer to teach them how to interact with the customers. At Jon Wayne, we emphasize two major principles to help technicians develop their soft skills.
1. Take an interest in your customer.
2. Always tell the truth.
Taking an interest in your customer is simple but powerful. We stress to our technicians the importance of being engaged and genuine when interacting with customers. This starts with a proper attitude, putting the customer’s needs before our own, and building a relationship through genuine conversations. Customers can tell when a technician is asking leading questions to generate a sale rather than taking a sincere interest in them. By being engaged and taking a real interest in your customer, you are providing exceptional service that will help differentiate your company and technicians from the others in your market.
Always tell the truth is our second motto because customers deserve to hear both good and bad news. We rely on our technicians to properly convey issues and solutions to the customer. If a technician has to relay bad news, we expect him or her to communicate the concern to the homeowner effectively, offer a remedy to fix the problem, and then proceed to fix the issue. Companies run into trouble when their technicians are already thinking about the next call, are eager to remove themselves from the situation, or are not being transparent with the customer. In other words, they are thinking about themselves first and not others. Our technicians’ ability to communicate clearly to our customers is what has turned us into the largest residential HVAC company in San Antonio.
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An exceptional technician will have great technical skills and soft skills. A person can have all of the technical knowledge and ability in the world, but if they cannot sell themselves, it doesn’t really help anybody. As a business owner or manager, it is up to you to make sure you hire technicians who are able to communicate efficiently and can take an interest in your customers by putting them first. Ultimately, customers will not remember what the technician told them. The customer will remember how that individual or that company made them feel. Make sure your technicians are making homeowners feel respected and that their concerns are genuinely being considered. It all starts with a firm handshake, solid eye contact, and taking the time to learn what the customer wants accomplished.
Publication date: 6/10/2019
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