How to Boost Service Calls

Strategies to optimize not only each ticket but improve overall profitability, customer service, and employee satisfaction.

When service company owners or managers ask how to increase average service calls, they’re often looking for a quick solution to deliver immediate results.

While optimizing tickets is a crucial way service companies can drive revenue and growth, there’s no magic bullet for getting it done. 

The good news is there are strategies to increase service calls that contractors can learn and pass on to their teams. And ultimately, by consistently implementing these plans, many aspects of the business will improve, from profitability and efficiency to customer and employee satisfaction. 

Maximizing service call resources

Optimizing service calls starts with getting the most out of your current resources. Maximizing the performance and results of your existing team sets the company on a trajectory for the smooth, successful growth most owners aspire to.

More trucks or more techs won’t help companies struggling with inefficiency. Even with sufficient revenue to hire or expand service, inefficiencies will grow right alongside. Techs will still feel tired and burned out. And the pile of money you’re leaving on the table every week, month, and year will just get bigger.

When team members aren’t properly trained, negative effects compound. Repairs take longer. There are more callbacks. Opportunities for added revenue are lost.

A properly trained team will generate the opposite ripple effects. Each call will result in additional repairs, accessory purchases, or a new service agreement. The time between calls will drop, leading to technicians completing more calls while feeling less stress and burnout.

Marketing and other costs driving more business go down, and profit – not just revenue – goes up.

Team effort

Maximizing your resources means training the whole team to get more out of every call:

Don’t just ask techs to sell accessories and service agreements. Instead, help them to become experts who can truly educate customers and guide them to a positive result.

Weekly training sessions help techs break sales down into smaller steps that can be easier to manage. Rehearsing educational communication practices and reviewing the technical specifications and customer benefits of accessories help technicians feel confident and empowered.

Help team members support and assist each other. Work with dispatchers to prepare scripts to set techs up to succeed. (“When our technician arrives, he’ll also share some solutions to help you save on your monthly utility bill.”)

Train techs and other team members to succeed, and you have what you need to optimize tickets.

Strategy and next steps

There are a few helpful steps for owners and managers who want to drive a meaningful increase in efficiency to reach greater profitability:

Start by setting specific, measurable goals to track daily. Identify your revenue goals, consider seasonality and sales trends, and calculate how many calls per day, accessories sold, and new service agreements booked it will take to get there. And stay on top of the data.

Train your team to succeed. Simply demanding techs “sell” more leads to burnout and turnover. Training them to serve and educate customers and equipping them with the tools and equipment to drive efficiency will streamline operations and help you meet your goals.

Create and implement an effective accessory program. Accessory sales are not just a source of additional revenue. Accessories offer customers enhanced results that they’ll live with. They help techs establish credibility and build long-term relationships.

Create and implement an effective service agreement program. Service agreements offer consistency for customers, reliable year-round income for contractors, and an opportunity to earn lasting trust.

Thoughtfully and consistently executing sales ticket strategies can have a dramatic impact not only on revenue and growth but also on the culture of a company. Enhanced profitability means more money to invest back into the business by upgrading equipment and trucks, increasing compensation, adding effective training opportunities, and adopting new technology. And when you maximize your resources to the fullest, you are supporting the organic growth that lasting service industry success is built on.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tammy Vasquez is a Senior Head Coach for Business Development Resources (BDR), the premier business training and coaching provider to the home service industry. She has built a highly successful two-decade career in the HVAC industry, spanning sales, marketing, management, operations-process development, and business management consulting. By applying concepts and techniques learned from training and through the practical education and experience gained by working in the HVAC industry, she has established a long-term track record of success and implementation follow-through. Learn more about BDR at www.bdrco.com.

You can read the article from BDR Senior Head Coach Tammy Vasquez,

originally published in PHCP Pros!