A vast majority of professional individuals and organizations are in business to do right by their customers. By doing so, they stay in business. After all, not many customers will have a bad experience or read a large amount of poor reviews about a company and think, “Yeah, let’s use them!”
In the residential HVAC industry, the fear of coming off “Too Salesy” or “Too Pushy” seems a common concern when presenting products or services. This is not entirely a bad thing. We do not want to fear our customers into buying products or services they may not need. Ideally, we want our customers to make educated decisions that will leave a positive and successful feeling, a feeling that as a homeowner, they have made good judgement calls and addressed an issue properly, ultimately “winning the fight”. We are here as Tech’s, Installers, Salespeople, CSR’s and Admin staff, to be part of the customers winning team, insuring we have done everything in our power to provide them with the knowledge, understanding, options, assistance and advice needed to come out on top.
We want our customers to make educated decisions that will leave a positive and successful feeling, a feeling that as a homeowner, they have made good judgement calls and addressed an issue properly, ultimately "winning the fight”.
This is where it gets tricky. Allowing the “Honest Tech’s Fear” to keep you on a straightened arrow in your sales is a great thing, but allowing the fear to keep you from presenting options to their fullest, making recommendations, sharing knowledge and information, etc. can be extremely counterproductive, and hurtful to the overall goal of “winning the fight.”
The Three Bears
1. Imagine, you’re at home one morning and there is a knock at your door by one of those old school door-to-door vacuum salesmen that are all but extinct. Out of courtesy, you allow them to go ahead with their speech:
“Hello sir/ma’am” they start, “Do you have a few spare moments so that I can discuss the benefits and features of our wonderful world saving vacuum cleaner?” Before you can even think to formulate a response, they continue into their speech “Your home is full of unwanted contaminants, making it harder for you to breath, effecting your overall quality of life. Our product will fix that, and it will make you dinner too. By the way, if you don’t buy it today, you will never be able to get it again!”
Obviously, most of us more than likely are going to get the “snake oil salesman” feeling from this interaction, and completely shut down our receptiveness to the information being presented. Appearing this way is is the “Honest Tech’s Fear”. THIS PORRIDGE is TO HOT
2. Imagine the same situation now, but the interaction and conversation proceeds as follows: “Hello sir/ma’am, I have these vacuum cleaners with me today, they do a really good job, if you need a new one I can sell it to you today at our discounted rate or leave some information regarding the item.”
This approach is very mild. It does not provide enough information about the proposed product to know if “a new one is needed” or even desired over their current vacuum. It also does not give the feeling that you believe in the product you are representing or at very least do not have a good understanding of it. Such approach can portray a feeling of dissatisfaction with your day or job as well. THIS PORRIDGE is TOO COLD
3. One more time: You answer the door….”Hello sir/ma’am, I am in the area today to promote our new vacuum cleaner that has been EPA approved and is designed for maximum filtration providing cleaner indoor environments. If you have any pets in the home, children, a lot of foot traffic in and out, breathing issues, or are just interested in replacing your old vacuum and providing a better cleaning regiment to your home, this may be something to look into. Do you have a few spare moments that would allow me to provide you with a presentation of the item to better explain and demonstrate its features and benefits?” (Gives customer time to answer)
“If you are not available or interested at this moment, I do have some literature that you are welcome to. It reviews our product, provides information on indoor air quality, and how to find further 3rd party study’s and materials on subjects such as Indoor Air Quality, indoor health, home maintenance, and upkeep. With this literature will also be my contact information where you can reach me directly with any questions or concerns you may have.”
While still coming off salesy (hard not to when you are a door to door SALESMAN), this presentation falls more in the middle. The product has been presented honestly, basic feature and benefit was presented, but no promises as to its effectiveness in their application where made and fear of not having the item was not presented. Also spoke of was researching 3rd party information (not just citing a biased source) and contact information was provided in a no pressure way. The PORRIDGE IS JUST RIGHT!
Overcoming “The Honest Tech’s Fear” can be challenging. Interpersonal and soft skills are very helpful, but alone cannot create the whole picture. Soft skills are what snake oil salesmen and con men rely on (Con man is short for CONFIDANCE man). They rely on the psychology of trust and fear to peddle their wares. For the honest salesperson however, honest interpersonal skills only make up one half of the whole. The other half is knowledge, understanding, and the ability to convey it in a comprehensible manner.
Knowing is Half the Battle (G.I. Joe, Go Joe!)
Some of us may have watched G.I. Joe when we were young. There was a saying at the end of each episode, “Knowing is half of the battle”. This short but powerful statement holds true in many aspects of life. Today it is being applied to our “Honest Tech’s Fear” discussion.
Communication and interpersonal skills are how we transfer knowledge, but we must first possess knowledge! An honest tech is less likely to promote an item or service that they are not fully understanding of, and/or don’t believe in themselves (a lot of times due to their own misunderstanding of the service or item). A solid understanding and belief in presented items help to build personal confidence. Personal confidence makes interpersonal communication much easier and more fluid.
If you’re having trouble presenting information, or getting your employees to do so, maybe a greater understanding of the subject or item is needed in order to build confidence in recognizing and diagnosing the issue, while making accurate recommendations for remediation.
If you’re having trouble presenting information, or getting your employees to do so, maybe a greater understanding of the subject or item is needed in order to build confidence in recognizing and diagnosing the issue, while making accurate recommendations for remediation. Be careful however; over confidence can nurture arrogance. Once an understanding and belief in a product or service is nurtured, you must grow the strength in knowledge in order to accurately relate the information to something understandable for the average consumer, such as a car or the human body.
The Importance of Interpersonal Skills
Once a solid understanding is built of the items to be presented, and confidence in that knowledge is confirmed, it’s time for your “bedside manners” and interpersonal skills do their work. I will not delve deeply into building strong interpersonal skills as there are a countless number of articles and works that have been penned on this subject. Some of the key indicators include: a firm handshake; good posture; looking people in the eye; smiling; good personal hygiene; listening. expressing empathy, true caring.
But . . . But . . . But Why?
Why do we take the time to recommend products and services? Ultimately, it’s because that’s why we are being consulted. We’re the professionals for a reason. When your family physician advises that your measured blood pressure is elevated, they recommend better diet, a medication, and provide you literature and information on maintaining the issue, they are doing what you HIRED them to do: CHECKING AND RECOMMENDING.
It is not up to us to decide whether a customer can afford an item, whether they will be interested in it, or how important it is or will be to them.
Imagine you’re at a home for a basic maintenance visit, and you notice 1/16th-in. buildup on the blower wheel. There are pets in the home, a C-pap machine in the living room, and a customer on oxygen. You do the maintenance mechanical checks, change the simple pleated filter with one the customer provided, and report all is well before closing out and moving on to the next. Has the customer received the PROFESSIONAL SERVICE that they paid for?
It is not up to us to decide whether a customer can afford an item, whether they will be interested in it, or how important it is or will be to them.
It is not up to us to decide whether a customer can afford an item, whether they will be interested in it, or how important it is or will be to them. It IS our responsibility to thoroughly inspect the system, noting any items that may shorten the life of the equipment, cause it to run in an un-desirable manner, and cause discomfort, or harm to the home or its occupants. It is also our responsibility to educate customers, while HONESTLY and TO THE BEST OF OUR ABILITY presenting options for remedying an identified issue or possible concern.
Change, it’s the LAW
Don’t be afraid of change. Change is not always the easiest of tasks to undertake but as John F.Kennedy once said: “Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future”.
It is our responsibility to educate customers, while HONESTLY and TO THE BEST OF OUR ABILITY presenting options for remedying an identified issue or possible concern.
We are creatures of habit, and it is ingrained as deep as our subconscious survival traits. We are constantly looking for processes we can create or follow in order to make our daily lives better. This can be good and bad. Because of our constant reassessment and search for better process’s we are able to consistently grow, however our tendency to resist change in favor of complacency often overrides our recognition of better or more effective task handling procedures. It’s EASY to do, just EASIER not to do.
Caring, Confidence, Communication, Change
Conquering the 4 Cs, you now have tools to help overcome the “Honest Tech’s Fear." —
• We CARE: this is obvious otherwise we would not have the fear to begin with.
• We have the CONFIDENCE through improved training and product familiarization.
• Our COMMUNICATION skills have been sharpened, and we have applied these CHANGES to our process.
Hoist the anchor and set sail to a brighter tomorrow!
