Your Technicians are Stealing!

Technicians probably don’t even know they are stealing. Some may know but don’t care. I’m going to share with you how a dirty service vehicle steals from your techs, clients, and the business.  Related:  6 Ways to Prevent Side Jobs

When I was working with a client of mine we uncovered something. I looked into the service van and saw clutter everywhere. I posed this simple question to him.

“Did you know that your dirty and unorganized service vehicles are a big thief of time and ultimately money?”

As a service business owner the two biggest expenses we control on a daily basis are:

• Technicians Labor
• Materials

Related: Is the owner getting rich

For this example I’ll be using a plumbing company.

But this is absolutely applicable to any service based business. This plumbing company:

• Has 4 technicians
• Running an average of 4 calls a day
• With an average ticket of $500.00

When I ask technicians how much time they spend on calls looking for parts or tools in the vehicle they usually say about 10 minutes.

This means:

• The inside of the service vehicle is typically a mess
• With an average of 10 minutes a call wasted
• Running 4 calls a day
• They waste 40 minutes a day
• 5 day work week is 200 minutes or 3 hours and 20 minutes

Let’s say we pay them $20 an hour. That’s over $60 a week per tech. Now the company still has 4 techs.

That’s over $240.00 a week, or $12,480.00 a year for the company in wasted/overpaid labor dollars.

So without standards you are allowing them to steal from you.  Actually, it could be argued that you are encouraging them to steal.

Now in my experience most contractors don’t have a standards for the inside of the vehicle.  The outside of the vehicle might be immaculate, the inside typically looks like El Nino ran through it.

If the technicians had clean vehicles let’s see what would happen.

• They would have an extra 3 plus hours a week to run 2 more calls.
• If they kept the same avg ticket that’s an additional $1000.00 a week
• With 4 technicians that’s $4,000.00 a week for the company

In a 52 week year that’s $208,000.00 in extra sales for the company.

Now it depends on how you compensate your technicians with performance, but as a technician they should have the opportunity with a clean vehicle to make a substantial amount more.

So ultimately the technicians are robbing themselves blind!!!!

• They are also stealing time and convenience from their customers
• Stealing possible extra income from their own families

3 easy ways to stop the problem:

1. Create a standard for the inside of your service vehicles
2. Create a parts inventory and stocking system
3. Routinely and consistently inspect what you expect

Who pays to clean the trucks?

This is a company choice.

• You can either chose to set the standard that they keep it clean on their own time.
• Or, you can give them 30 minutes a week on the clock to clean, this still gives them almost 3 hours back of time to be productive.

I know companies that do it both ways.

One of my favorite models is the cleaning “trade off.”   It works like this,

• The company has the outside of the truck cleaned for the technician.  This is done by a 3rd party crew that cleans the trucks while your guys are in your standard training session.
• In return, the tech is 100% responsible for the interior of his truck and the proper placement of stock in the vehicle.

Related:  How to use the Key Results Area and Accountability Form in your business

By implementing these 3 small things with standards you can move the needle significantly. With a concerted focus these types of results are achievable. We would consider this the “Preparation” in The PRESS PLAY Training System at Service Excellence Training.

At Service Excellence Training we offer frontline training for every person in your service-based business. We also offer ongoing training as well as consulting and business coaching. Give us a call and we can share with you how to build a better business.

Question:  How much money could you be losing to poorly organized and stocked trucks?  Share your answer on Facebook, or LinkedIn.