Manage your technicians like a basketball team.
Even superstars spend time on the bench during a basketball game. By giving them rest, they will be more effective later. The same holds for your technicians. During a long hot summer, you need to give your people some rest. They will perform better when you put them back in the game and you will make more money.
Dispatch for dollars.
When homeowners call for service, ask for an approximate age of the air conditioner. Bump a 12-year old system that’s not cooling ahead of a two year old warranty call. Send the technician most likely to convert the call into a lead, if not a replacement. Send Mr. I-Fix-Everything to the warranty call.
Modulate your marketing.
If the phone is ringing off the wall and calls are backing up, back off your Internet advertising and direct marketing. Don’t spend money on marketing when you’ve exceeded your capacity. However, be ready to ramp it back up the second things start to slack off.
Slow down.
It’s hard to slow down when you’re trying to take care of your customers. Yet, fast diagnostics lead to missed problems, call backs, and a bigger bind down the road. Dispatch one call at a time.
Increase your public relations.
When it’s hot, people are more open to hearing messages about ways to keep cool and cut utilities. Send out public information pieces through the local media (i.e., use PRWeb.com or similar services) and social media.
Create a database of potential future work.
Note every recommended repair that wasn’t accepted. Log this for later, when temperatures even out and business cools off. Then, you can call the customers and offer them an off-season rate.
Get your technicians to take pictures of every equipment nameplate. Feed this into a database for future marketing.
Manage your work load.
Hotels charge more during periods of peak demand. You should too. When the call board starts filling up, raise your response charge (i.e., your trip, truck, service, or diagnostic charge) or add a premium charge for same day service. People may not like it, but many will gladly pay more to move to the front of the line. Tag these customers. They will pay more for better service.
Don’t forget to sell service agreements.
Try to convert every call into a service agreement customer. Make sure your service agreement pricing and presentation strategies make it a no-brainer to enroll in your service agreement program.
Offer add-ons.
Offer a system enhancements (i.e., accessory) on every call. Sell one every now and then and you will boost your average invoice and drop all of the extra gross profit straight to the bottom line.
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For the industry’s largest collection of business building resources, visit the Service Roundtable or call 877.262.3341 and tell a Success Consultant you want to make more money this summer.