Page 13 - The Compass 2017 | Volume 12 | Issue 4

TRAINING
have your owner/manager put that together from the last doing that somewhere else, at a vendor’s location or some-
six months. thing like that. Occasionally, we’ll bring them in-house.
Techs, you should also bring your price guide, and bring
your club-membership sign-up. The biggest thing is try What days to you train?
and have an idea of where you want to be. If I’m at $500 We do it Tuesday and Thursday. Our busiest day of the
now, where do I want to be at an average ticket? Do I want week is Monday. Friday tends to be for stuff we need to
to be at $750? Do I want to double it? What do I want wrap up or a customer we need to get to—that sort of
my conversion rate to be? Then, think about what do I thing. Because of that, I found that Monday and Friday
struggle with the most? Is it with giving people options? aren’t great days for training because, at least for us, the
Club-membership sales? So, when you come to the class, guys tend to be distracted. On Monday, they know they
one of the things that we talk about is what do you want have a lot of stuff to do. You can see them sitting in the
to get out of this? So, if you have an idea, all the facilita- training room and sort of staring at the door like a dog
tors are going to make sure you get that. When we get to in a pen.
that piece of the puzzle, we’ll work with you.
How long do you train?
If a new member or old member who hasn’t Forty-five minutes. I try not to do any more than 45. I feel like
committed to training even inhouse, what would you start losing guys after that. Bite-sized chunks in training
you say to them? Why is training so important are better with in-house training.
and why should you make time for it? I’m guessing you weren’t this evolved when you
If you don’t train your people on how to provide service, started with ESI in 2004. How long did it take
they’re just going to do it whatever way they think it ought you to grow into this model?
to be done, which may not align with what you believe. I I can’t give you a set date. I found that I’ve tweaked it year after
will tell you this, as an owner, you can never take anything year as I’ve gone along. I was always willing to try things. You
for granted. Here’s an example: We just built a new house. find out that certain things don’t work. You ask yourself why,
We’re having our guys come in to do some of the finish-up and you adjust. I will tell you, it’s still a work in progress. What
work. I keep a box of floor savers right by my door where I’m really working on right now—and I really should have done
you come in from the garage. I had a couple of guys over, this years ago—is a set training schedule.
and I reminded them, “Hey, if you don’t mind, when you
come into the house, if you’d put these on, I’d really appre- What’s your new training schedule look like?
ciate it.” They put them on, a half hour later, I go check on It’s the service-call process. I’m breaking it into a 12-
them, and one of the guys is walking around my driveway week program. Here’s how I’m doing it:
with those floor savers on. I went, okay… I wasn’t clear 1. Week 1: Image & Appearance: That’s uniforms,
enough about when they should and shouldn’t be on your trucks, tools, and how you look.
shoes. So, if you have a meeting, and you say, “Guys, wear 2. Week 2: Preparation & Arrival: That’s getting your
your floor savers,” they might be wandering around some- paperwork ready and making sure you have your
one’s yard with them on. It was a reminder to me, we must floor savers, price guide, and that your uniform and
be very straightforward with what we want our guys to hair looks right—and you clear your head and all
do, and we have to educate them through training. that. It also includes where to park your truck, how
Why is it valuable to travel for training? to walk to the door and knock, and what to say when
you get there.
Two things, sending people somewhere to training gets
them out of their daily routine. I know when we do train- 3. Week 3: DiSC–Profile Discussion: We talk about
ing here, our guys are thinking about what they’ll be do- the DiSC program and personality types and how
ing as soon as our training is over. They can get distract- you respond to each.
ed. When you send them somewhere, and they know this 4. Week 4: Body Language: We talk about what you
is their whole day, they tend to be more focused. The other need to be doing with your body language and what
thing guys get a lot out of is they get to be in a room with you need to be looking for with your customer’s body
other techs from all over the country. They really start language.
bouncing ideas off each other, and they get great ideas
from each other. They tend to be more receptive of that, 5. Week 5: Relationship-Building: We talked about
than owner/boss telling them to do it—because it’s com- DiSC, and we talked about body language. So, you
ing from a peer. When your techs get back, customer sat- should be able to start reading your customer.
isfaction will go up, average tickets will go up, conversion 6. Week 6: Communication with the Customer: We
rates will go up, and club-membership sales will go up. If talk about questions, open-ended versus close-ended;
your guys buy into it, these things will happen, and the we explain how you want to use questions with the
training more than pays for itself. customer to open up that call.
How frequently do you train with your team today? 7. Week 7: Value Statements: We discuss personal,
We meet twice a week with all our guys, all trades, be- company, and price guide value statements.
cause most of the training that we’re doing is communica- 8. Week 8: Presenting Value & Options Customers
tion-based, the service-call process—like the Service Es- Understand: We talk about doing complete evalua-
sentials class. We’re talking about where do you park your tions, presenting options, and using analogies and
truck, relationship-building, options, all that stuff. When laymen’s terms.
we get into technical or product training, we typically are

THE COMPASS | Issue 4 | 2017 13