Part 3: Take your Service Company Beyond Good- Meeting Needs and Informing

Average service has become the norm in our modern-day world but when service is outstanding and over-the-top it is something to be talked about—and people do. Communication spreads far and wide at lightening speeds so it is vital for independent contracting companies to work to be excellent in order to reap the benefits of this free visibility.  “Going the extra mile” requires several teachable skills including these two important skills: meeting client’s needs and properly informing clients.

–Meeting Needs– The ability to meet client needs comes in two different capacities and each is important to taking service excellence above and beyond:

1. Meeting Direct Needs– Meeting direct needs comes with thoroughly listening to customers’ vocalized needs as well as making a point to focus attention on the original reasons they called your service company.  It is also important to meet direct needs that speak for themselves; such as replacing thermostat batteries, replacing a light bulb or offering to change a flapper on a toilet.  Before great rapport can be built with a customer they must first know that your company wants to meet their direct and obvious needs.
2. Meeting Indirect Needs– It also takes great listening and questioning skills to discover a customer’s indirect needs.  These are needs that the customer may have but they don’t fully know they have but through a thorough diagnostic and informing presentation these needs may arise.  When trying to meet indirect needs, a technician must insure that he has built trust with the client and that the products he is offering are of value to the client.  The client must believe they have a need before they will find value in an add-on item or upgrade that meets an indirect need. Being able to meet clients’ indirect needs can make them feel that your company takes excellent care of them and provides spectacular service.

-Informing– It is important for a service company to inform customers of all issues, potential problems, resolutions, effects of the problems and effects of the resolutions.  When a customer feels thoroughly informed then they can make the best decision based on the information.  This can occur when a technician:

1. Provides complete and thorough information– Providing a thorough diagnostic and presenting everything found is vital to building great service excellence.  When a customer knows they will be informed of every potential issues and the services your company provides that can resolve the issue; then they can make an educated decision that will allow them to feel in control and comfortable about doing business (and continually doing business) with your service company.
2. Presents information in a manner that the customer understands– Most clients want to understand the problem in a more general manner but they don’t want to feel that a tech thinks they don’t know anything about the topic.  Customers want to be educated on the issues at hand but it is vital for technicians to inform in a humble and respectful manner. In many instances this means providing technical information about the issues as an analogy in order for the client to get a better visual and mechanical understanding of the problem and the importance of resolving the problem.

When a client’s needs (direct and indirect) are met and they are fully informed of all issues regarding their technical problems, the customer will feel that they are taken care of and that they have received service that goes above and beyond the adequate standard. Here at Service Excellence Training we have great training materials and resources devoted to learning how to meet customer needs and how to thoroughly and respectfully inform clients of the findings in the diagnostic, so give us a call today.  Thank you for following our weekly Service Excellence Training posts.  Here at Service Excellence Training, we turn learning into earning!

-Resource curated by Whitney Stewart of Service Excellence Training.