Your HVAC company can’t thrive without well-trained HVAC technicians.
America is home to over 200,000 HVAC technicians. If your company is going to stand out among the many other local HVAC companies, it’s important to give your customer the best service.
Part of this is ensuring that your employees come from reputable technician schools. The better they are at installing and repairing HVAC equipment, the more reputable your company will be.
If your company is going to thrive and grow, however, you need your technicians to sell your products and services. In this post, we’re going to give you 4 important tips on training your employees to sell.
Cross-selling or “upselling” is an essential part of business growth, so keep reading and teach your employees how it’s done.
1. Incentivizing Sales
The easiest way to get your technicians to buy into a sales role is to incentivize it. Provide a commission or financial reward to the technicians that are able to make sales on the fly.
Individual rewards should entice some of your more outgoing technicians to make sales, but you don’t want to alienate the ones who don’t perform as well. You can also offer team incentives when sales are made or new clients are brought in. This can help boost cohesion and morale.
2. Training Technicians on Building Rapport
Train your technicians on how to build a rapport with the customer. If your techs are going to make sales, they need the customer to trust that what they’re telling them is correct.
Demonstrated expertise will take them most of the way. Being accommodating and friendly will bring them the rest of the way. Instruct your technicians to ask customers lots of questions and have them almost tutor them by explaining in simple terms what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.
3. Pointing Out Future Problems
If your technicians notice any other HVAC issues while on the job, they should always bring it to the customer’s attention. Without being pushy, inform the customer that a future problem could arise that they can either fix now or in the future.
Some customers may want to have the problem dealt with immediately. By leaving it open-ended, however, your tech can establish a quality lead for the future and grow your business with return customers.
4. Handling Objections
An important part of doing sales work is handling objections. When your customers object to services you’re providing or, more commonly, the price of the services, your technicians need to know what to do.
Instilling confidence in your team of technicians is the first step. If the objections are financial in nature, your technician should be able to outline all of the financing options that your company has available.
Your technicians should also be able to espouse your company’s virtues – why you’re better than the next company. This comes naturally when you develop a good culture in your HVAC business.
Creating Technicians Who Sell
Some technicians will no doubt show some resistance to the idea of having to upsell customers. However, if you’re able to train them in these areas and incentivize them to put in the extra effort – sometimes requiring them to leave their comfort zone – it’ll pay huge dividends.
Having technicians who sell will have a positive impact on your business, but you still need to appeal to the right customers in the first place. At Optic Marketing, we can help your HVAC or plumbing business identify and appeal to your niche audience. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your business thrive.