This week I had a local heating and air conditioning company come to my house to help straighten out the zoning system. The technician was polite, clean and courteous, and he put on his floor savers when he stepped into the house. We talked about the issues and went to the basement to look at the system. When we got to the basement where the floor was dirty he kept his floor savers on. We looked over the system and went back upstairs to look at the location of the thermostat. All the while he kept the floor savers on bringing all the dirt from the basement up into the house, leaving dusty footprints along the way.

He also did not know that he was the one who installed the zoning system with the new air conditioner just a few years ago. I thought the dispatcher would have informed him that not only had he been here before, but that the zoning system we were having issues with he installed.

All I could think about was the fact that he was making my house dirty. Didn’t he have another pair of floor savers? Did he even care about or respect my home? The real question is, do your clients feel that your technicians care about and respect their homes?

I have had a lot of home services performed this year and I have to say that most of the technicians who have visited have not worn floor savers at all. Where did respect for clients go? Is it because it is summer and everyone is busy and care and respect take a backseat to getting to the next client? I believe we need to slow down and perform our jobs the same as when we are slow and need the work.

Wearing floor savers is the just the beginning of showing your clients that you appreciate and respect their home. First, put your floor savers on inside the home. Putting them on outside brings in the dirt from their porch. Many people will say “you don’t need to do that,” but they really like that you respect their home. So, instead of just not wearing them, say something like “I am in a lot of yards, you never know where my feet have been. I’d feel more comfortable wearing these just to make sure I don’t leave something on your floor.” Put them on! They will appreciate it.

When you get to a cement floor like the basement, garage, etc. take them off. If you go outside take them off. And, put them back on when you are back on their carpet or hardwood floor. Show them you respect their home.

There are many ways you can show respect for your clients. Whatever contracting business you are in when you are in a client’s home you should protect their belongings. Using tarps if you are moving dirty equipment keeps debris from getting on the floor. Using gloves when installing thermostats, fixtures or mini split wall units not only shows you care but keeps walls and counters clean. Homeowners only see your actions, not what you actually do in their home. Show respect by being the best you can be and it will result in lifelong clients. And when they talk about you to their friends and family, they will say how clean you were.

Many homeowners today call the first company they can find on the internet. Building lifelong relationships is hard work. Your clients need their system to work when you leave and they don’t see what you did, they see how you did what you did. Try cleaning the outside of the air conditioner and spraying on a wax that just takes a few minutes to apply. That shining air conditioner will remind them what a great job you did. Protect their home, leave it cleaner that when you arrived and that is what they will remember.

Growing up, we all dreamed of becoming superheroes. We pinned towels around our necks and pretended they were capes. We pretended we could fly or had super strength. But most of all, we dreamed of saving the day.

But that dream doesn't have to go away just because we've grown up. Everyone, including your CSRs, can be superheroes in everyday life.

How? Think about your favorite superheroes. What do they have in common? They care about people, they solve people's problems, and they go above and beyond the call of duty. These are principles you can put to work in your home service business, starting with your CSRs. Your clients call you with problems, and your CSRs can solve them. That makes them heroes.

When a CSR saves the day for your customers, it creates a powerful connection with your business — feelings of respect, loyalty and trust that can't be replicated in a simple monetary transaction. And the real magic lies in the fact that your CSRs already have the power to achieve superhero status. Here's how to get there.

Care About People

As the first contact with your customers, your CSRs have an important role to play. People need to feel heard and cared about, so your CSRs must listen and react with caring and empathy.

Sit in on their calls. CSRs should sound happy and smile while speaking with customers. Are they treating people like people, or are they treating people like dollar signs? If it's the latter, it's time to shift your focus as a company away from profit-driven tasks and towards the mission of caring about and serving people.

Your CSRs should express empathy and compassion in every interaction. Their genuine concern will create an emotional connection with your customers, turning your team into their own, personal superheroes.

Solve the Problem

Every CSR has a superpower — it's called problem-solving. Elevate your CSRs to a higher status. They're not just order-takers. They're superheroes who can save the day for your customers by solving their problems.

It can be easy to lose focus as a CSR. Once you've fielded so many calls for malfunctioning HVAC systems, the work can start to feel ordinary or boring. But remember, for your customers, an HVAC system that isn't working right is a tragedy. When they call for service it's likely they're having a rough day. They're worried about their family's comfort on a hot or cold day. If a CSR treats every call every day with attention, urgency and compassion, they'll create WOW moments and win customers for life.

Go Above and Beyond

Superheroes don't just fly in, hit the bad guys, and go home. They follow through and make sure the problem they solve stays solved. Your CSRs should show the same amount of follow-through. Extra attention and follow-up calls show the customer how much your company cares about them.

This is another area where a CSR's empathy shines through. Going above and beyond takes the service call to a higher plane. It lifts the customer relationship out of the realm of dollars and cents and into a powerful, emotional connection. Make follow-through a priority, and you'll create even more WOW moments.

Genuine caring and compassion is a trait your CSRs — and you — can cultivate every day. With the right mindset and focus, they will swoop in, save the day, create WOW moments and be the superheroes your clients need.

It's important to remember that in sales, no one thing will work 100 percent of the time. Succeeding in sales is all about doing the very best you can on every call. An important key to this is understanding your homeowners' concerns and minimizing risk for them, without giving away price discounts.

One third of your customers is the Value Third. A member of the Value Third expects high service and quality, and she is willing to pay for it. Yet even the Value Third will most likely ask for a price concession at some point, but here is the thing: The Value Third will still buy from you even if you don't drop the price IF you are able to show them reasons, like your service guarantees, quality materials, highly-trained technicians, etc.

The Cheap Third: These consumers base purchases on PRICE ALONE. The customer in this group cares about one thing and one thing only: price. They don't care about quality. They don't care about service. They don't care about anything except getting a cheap price. And the Not Sure Third are just indecisive. But all three groups will ask for a discount.

You never know initially if a price objection is a real price objection or is just being raised out of habit, or on a lark, or, in some cases, as a joke. If you automatically drop the price to get the deal, you will give away precious margins to Value Third customers when it isn't necessary. And it won't help the Not Sure Third make a decision.

When someone asks you for a price concession, hold your ground, probe a little bit, and find out if it's really necessary to close the deal. What the prospect is really trying to evaluate is the amount of risk she might incur by making the wrong purchasing decision.

Lowering risk for your prospects makes it easier for them to buy from you. Perceived high risk makes people start worrying: I want to think about it. I want a cheaper price. I want more bids/proposals.

THREE SIMPLE WAYS TO MINIMIZE PERCEIVED RISK

1. Use your company's guarantees and/or warranties.
2. Use signature stories as the foundation of your sales process.
3. Build a high level of trust.

Develop a company guarantee if you don't have one. You know you can always fix it to industry standards. And if you can't, you would refund their money anyway. So, if you would do it on the back end in a worst-case scenario, why not promote it on the front end in your sales presentation to minimize risk and close a ton more business at higher margins?

The Signature Story is a vital component to separate your company from the competition and their guarantees. Signature Stories define the character of your company and provide a way to "prove" how your company responds when the chips are down.

Early in my first HVAC business, I did two things which later formed the basis of our guarantee and provided our signature stories. When my techs could not repair a new system to work properly, I said to yank the first one out and install a higher-priced system at no additional cost. Another customer, an elderly lady, could not express exactly why she was not happy with her system, but wanted it removed and her money refunded. Though we had done nothing wrong, I obliged her and refunded every penny. It turned out she just needed the money rather desperately. In both cases, I asked the customers to write a letter when they thanked me, and we used those letters in our sales presentations.

I viewed each of them as opportunities to prove that my company was willing to do what my competition would never do.

How many millions of dollars' worth of systems do you suppose we sold by sharing those letters with future prospects? I can tell you. It was exactly $20,000,000, because those Signature Stories became the foundation of our entire sales process.

So, I strongly urge you to consider the amazing things your company has done for customers and get those stories in writing. All too often I see companies do great things for customers but they fail to ask for the proof that comes from a simple letter.

Other times, companies get the letters but keep them in a file cabinet collecting dust. It's crucial for you to get the letters out into the field and integrate them systematically into your sales process.

Building trust is the third vital component to minimizing risk and making it easier for your prospects to say yes. Being an honest person is not enough to succeed in sales. You must also have the skills to deliver results and do the job right.

Earning trust is not random. You can earn it by presenting a confident and consistent sales process. And the more skilled you become at earning it, the more income you will earn. Period.

"Will You Trust Me?"

Everything you ever needed to know about sales and creating financial prosperity is contained within those four simple words. Yet many sales professionals seek to convince, cajole, and connive prospects into becoming customers in a way that resembles conflict rather than harmony.

I found that previous salespeople had not even measured the home for an HVAC system; instead they merely asked the homeowners the square footage. Previous sales people had not even looked at the home, its rooms, attics, basements, and crawl spaces. The fact that I did these things built immediate trust with the homeowners.

After all, you can't walk into a sales call, hastily offer solutions to problems you have not thoroughly diagnosed, offer your prospect a cheap price, and comfortably ask, "Will you trust me with these recommendations?" It wouldn't make sense. It wouldn't feel natural. You would look and sound like a pushy moron. On the other hand, if you go on a sales call and gradually and systematically build a relationship with your homeowner, take the time to identify their problems and the appropriate solutions, and demonstrate your integrity and competence, you will have earned the right to ask that simple question: "Will you trust me with these recommendations?"

For a company to get and keep more customers in a service-based business, it must deliver an experience customers desire, will pay a premium for, want to use repeatedly, and which they refer to others. Doing so makes a company look and feel trustworthy, dependable, reliable, and devoted and for all of this, customers will feel an allegiance and faithfulness to patronage. This is loyalty.

Customer satisfaction is worthless. Customer loyalty is priceless!

If you want your service agreement program to take flight and soar to new heights, stop thinking of it as something that locks your customers to your company for tune-ups in the shoulder seasons. A good service agreement program is the single most important part of your overall marketing platform to create customer happiness, loyalty and referrals. In other words, the service agreement is a relationship marketing model.

Typically, the most successful and profitable companies have the greatest number of service agreements. Service agreement sales stem from delivering an exceptional service experience and outstanding customer care that yields the highest customer happiness scores, reviews, referrals, and repeat business. Repeat customers lead to engaged loyal customers that cement their relationship in a company’s loyalty programs.

Companies with popular loyalty programs get 50% of their leads from technicians who generate opportunities from existing customers. These contractors get 25% from referrals by existing customers or by proximity to existing customers. The remaining 25% comes from advertising and marketing efforts.

Countless studies reveal that loyal customers and their referrals yield a greater impact on a business’s top line revenue and net profit than do new customers.

Think about this: Your existing customer base will buy 67% more than a new customer opportunity from your marketing. Estimates show that landing a new customer costs 5 to 20 times more than selling into an existing relationship.

Loyal Customers Are Golden!

Loyal customers buy 54% more quickly than non-loyal customers. A customer who buys twice is two times more likely to keep buying than one who buys once. Loyal customers cost much less to reach and sell -- It costs approximately $40 to reach, visit, and close a customer versus $325 and up for non-customers.

Loyal customers convert at a much higher rate -- 80%+ for loyal customers versus 35% or less for non-customers. The lifetime value of a loyal customer is 20 times their annual volume. A 5% increase in customer loyalty can mean up to an 85% increase in profits, according to Harvard Business Review.

Referrals Lead to Riches

Referrals are the best form of advertising and one of the greatest sources of high margin business. Loyal customers are the best way to generate referrals. They refer 107% more than non-loyal ones. Word-of-mouth advertising is 50 times more effective than any other form of advertising. Consumers are six times more likely to rely on a recommendation than on advertising and yield closing ratios of 78% versus 32% for cold acquisition.

Plus, referrals are 1/8th the cost of broad market advertising acquisition. Some more facts:

• Customer referrals spend 200% more than the average customer.
• Referred customers bring you a 25% higher profit margin.
• A referred customer is 18% more loyal than a customer acquired by other means.
• Referred customers are four times more likely to refer more customers to you or your company since they like to pay-forward their being referred and share a great idea.
• Customers referred by other customers have a 37% higher customer retention rate.

Loyalty and referrals don’t come from simply satisfying customers and offering what someone can get through another outlet for less. You must offer something people cannot get anywhere else. Make customers so happy that they feel compelled to tell others so that the relationships you develop are PRICELESS.

Turn suspects into prospects; prospects into customers; customers into continuing clients/partners; partners into promoters/raving fans; raving fans into emissaries/evangelists/brand ambassadors; which is the highest level of loyalty, as their loyalty shifts from your products, services, and brand to themselves and what they believe in the soul.

Once a prospect becomes your loyal customer, you can escalate the relationship to a place where they choose to raise their level of loyalty and/or can buy other products and services you offer in other channels (e.g. plumbing, electrical, generators, smart home). Loyalty yields repeat business and referrals.

BOTTOM LINE: Deliver a differentiated customer experience that makes a life impact, is memorable, ensures loyalty, generates repeat business, and is worth telling others about. Don’t fit in. Stand out. Be REMARKABLE! The result will be a steady stream of happy repeat customers, stellar reviews, quality referrals, and put your company on the path to build a loyal customer base. It’s time to optimize for loyalty.

As a business owner, your employees are at the heart of everything you do. How they feel about you, and how they perceive the company, can directly affect how they interact with your customers. That means the consistency of your customer service experience depends on how you lead your business, not just your individual employees. If your business is struggling to make sales or bring customers back later on, it could be time to think about how you personally are building the trust your employees have in you as their leader.

Trust is Earned, Not Given

First things first: consistent performance is critical to building customer trust and winning moments with your team. In order to really start moving a business forward, preventing mistakes and keeping goals on track each month, you need trust. Between customers and employees, trust is crucial, because it provides the foundation that your entire working relationship is built upon. But how well your employees develop these connections, depends on how much faith they have placed in you as a business owner.

In my second book, Patterned After Excellence: Pursuing Truth in Work and Life, I said that business owners need to learn to be “servant leaders” — they need to provide the support and guidance that their employees need but give them room to reach their true potential. To develop the kind of consistent performance that your long-term customer relationships need to thrive, you need to serve the people that work for you.

Human tendency can work against building this trust, and we may find ourselves prioritizing our own good — our own selfishness and greed — over that of our team. Learning to overcome negative tendencies and live a life driven by universal truth can provide the example your team needs to win moments and build trust with each customer.

Breaking Commitments Breaks Trust

The biggest obstacle that stands in the way of trust is a business owner who doesn’t seem to want to support or care for their employees or who doesn’t uphold their own commitments to the business. Such actions would make one an inconsistent leader. Without good examples of consistent quality in the workplace, employees can become indifferent to the responsibilities of their job as well as those they are serving. They can start to slack off, become distant from their coworkers and create negative customer experiences with homeowners.

An indifferent employee is an employee who is more likely to break commitments, and become inconsistent and untrustworthy. When customers find that your employees are willing to break commitments, they’ll lose faith in your company, and may even stop doing business with you. The worst part? It’s entirely based on how the company is being led. Nothing else creates a culture of indifference like leadership driven by negative tendencies.

Customers Require Attention and Support

When customers first approach your company, they can be a little afraid and unpredictable. But that’s only because they might see your business as unpredictable at first. In order to break down these presumptions, you need to take time building strong, consistent relationships with every customer that walks through your door, not just your best ones.

Your Business is About People

The people in your office and in the field are the ones taking care of customers. But as a leader, your employees are your customers, and you need to take care of them the same way you would want them to take care of each homeowner at the point of contact. Building trust with your employees through servant leadership is the key to building customer trust outside the company. That’s the missing link!

Ultimately, if your employees don’t feel like they can trust you, they can neglect to build that trust with the homeowner, too.

Customers Prioritize Experience

Customers don’t always choose a brand or company because they sell a great product or charge the lowest prices. Creating a truly consistent customer experience is the best way to reliably keep customers coming back time and time again independent of price or brand.

Just like your customers, your employees need to be supported and cared for, too. By providing them the opportunity to grow in the business, you can help them become more trusting in your leadership, and ultimately, more engaged in winning moments for the homeowner.

Trust Your Team

The other half of supporting your team requires trusting them. You’ve chosen these employees based on the skills and abilities they can provide, and the unique needs that they can fulfill in your company. To really make that relationship work, you need to trust that they can do the work you’ve set out for them, and always push them to strive for excellence every day. You might need to step back and free yourself from the emotional and physical labor of closely managing your team, and take time to work on your own responsibilities.

As I wrote in Patterned After Excellence:

"Putting (team members) in a position with a set of responsibilities based on their strengths will enable you to emotionally let go and become free to work on the business. Make sure you have the right talent in the right seats, and treat your people the way you want your customers to be treated. That’s how you minimize the spread of workplace apathy and grow your business with people who care."

Great Leadership Creates Great Customer Experiences

The best leaders in this business hire for attitude, train for talent and ask for excellence. They find the right person for the job and help them grow into it over time, and that’s how they win moments with each member on their team as well as the homeowner. Making sure that your employees feel confident in their positions, and trusting them to get the job done right, is key to delivering great customer experiences every time.

As a business owner, your employees are at the heart of everything you do. How they feel about you, and how they perceive the company, can directly affect how they interact with your customers. That means the consistency of your customer service experience depends on how you lead your business, not just your individual employees. If your business is struggling to make sales or bring customers back later on, it could be time to think about how you personally are building the trust your employees have in you as their leader.

Trust is Earned, Not Given

First things first: consistent performance is critical to building customer trust and winning moments with your team. In order to really start moving a business forward, preventing mistakes and keeping goals on track each month, you need trust. Between customers and employees, trust is crucial, because it provides the foundation that your entire working relationship is built upon. But how well your employees develop these connections, depends on how much faith they have placed in you as a business owner.

In my second book, Patterned After Excellence: Pursuing Truth in Work and Life, I said that business owners need to learn to be “servant leaders” — they need to provide the support and guidance that their employees need but give them room to reach their true potential. To develop the kind of consistent performance that your long-term customer relationships need to thrive, you need to serve the people that work for you.

Human tendency can work against building this trust, and we may find ourselves prioritizing our own good — our own selfishness and greed — over that of our team. Learning to overcome negative tendencies and live a life driven by universal truth can provide the example your team needs to win moments and build trust with each customer.

Breaking Commitments Breaks Trust

The biggest obstacle that stands in the way of trust is a business owner who doesn’t seem to want to support or care for their employees or who doesn’t uphold their own commitments to the business. Such actions would make one an inconsistent leader. Without good examples of consistent quality in the workplace, employees can become indifferent to the responsibilities of their job as well as those they are serving. They can start to slack off, become distant from their coworkers and create negative customer experiences with homeowners.

An indifferent employee is an employee who is more likely to break commitments, and become inconsistent and untrustworthy. When customers find that your employees are willing to break commitments, they’ll lose faith in your company, and may even stop doing business with you. The worst part? It’s entirely based on how the company is being led. Nothing else creates a culture of indifference like leadership driven by negative tendencies.

Customers Require Attention and Support

When customers first approach your company, they can be a little afraid and unpredictable. But that’s only because they might see your business as unpredictable at first. In order to break down these presumptions, you need to take time building strong, consistent relationships with every customer that walks through your door, not just your best ones.

Your Business is About People

The people in your office and in the field are the ones taking care of customers. But as a leader, your employees are your customers, and you need to take care of them the same way you would want them to take care of each homeowner at the point of contact. Building trust with your employees through servant leadership is the key to building customer trust outside the company. That’s the missing link!

Ultimately, if your employees don’t feel like they can trust you, they can neglect to build that trust with the homeowner, too.

Customers Prioritize Experience

Customers don’t always choose a brand or company because they sell a great product or charge the lowest prices. Creating a truly consistent customer experience is the best way to reliably keep customers coming back time and time again independent of price or brand.

Just like your customers, your employees need to be supported and cared for, too. By providing them the opportunity to grow in the business, you can help them become more trusting in your leadership, and ultimately, more engaged in winning moments for the homeowner.

Trust Your Team

The other half of supporting your team requires trusting them. You’ve chosen these employees based on the skills and abilities they can provide, and the unique needs that they can fulfill in your company. To really make that relationship work, you need to trust that they can do the work you’ve set out for them, and always push them to strive for excellence every day. You might need to step back and free yourself from the emotional and physical labor of closely managing your team, and take time to work on your own responsibilities.

As I wrote in Patterned After Excellence:

"Putting (team members) in a position with a set of responsibilities based on their strengths will enable you to emotionally let go and become free to work on the business. Make sure you have the right talent in the right seats, and treat your people the way you want your customers to be treated. That’s how you minimize the spread of workplace apathy and grow your business with people who care."

Great Leadership Creates Great Customer Experiences

The best leaders in this business hire for attitude, train for talent and ask for excellence. They find the right person for the job and help them grow into it over time, and that’s how they win moments with each member on their team as well as the homeowner. Making sure that your employees feel confident in their positions, and trusting them to get the job done right, is key to delivering great customer experiences every time.

In a service-based business model, to get the results you want for your business, you must deliver the results, outcomes and experiences customers want for their lives. The better the delivered outcome or experience, the more people will pay, and the better the company will perform.

Consider a differentiated approach in order to yield better results and get people choosing to buy more to get a higher level of service for more money.

Time to Elevate Your Game

Aspire to a greater calling - the calling of truly serving customers beyond what other companies think is practical or will dare consider.

Go beyond the things you offer and become the boutique for the discerning homeowner and solve real problems. Become a whole house, system and home performance, smart, access, control, security and customer care service provider for the distinguishing customer with distinctive tastes who wants to be catered to with unique custom solutions and pampered with extraordinary service and a caring and impactful life experience. In other words, shatter the expectations any customer would have for a home services provider.

Once a technician is dispatched, it is all about communication and the customer experience. The customer should feel good about the process and the information shared. The customer should understand the things they HAVE TO DO, what they should CONSIDER DOING, and which things they DON'T HAVE TO DO BUT WOULD ENHANCE THE SYSTEM PERFORMANCE AND LIFE EXPERIENCE. The customer should be able to make smart decisions to be better caretakers of their home. They should understand what to spend based on the information the technician shares.

Differentiate

To differentiate yourself, begin with trying to learn and understand who your customer is and what's important to them.

Change the mission on a service call from selling repairs to finding out what has happened, how the customer feels about it, how the customer feels about their current comfort, health, safety, and energy-use situation, and if they had a magic wand what would they desire a better situation to be. Seek to listen, hear, and understand the customer's truth. When you seek the truth about what the customer really wants, you'll find the customer will be more open and honest.

Happiness is all about expectations. Let the customer know you're not there to sell them anything they don't want, need, can't afford or doesn't make sense for them. Explain you don't want to earn their business today only to lose them as a customer tomorrow when the course of action they choose doesn't meet their expectations. This level of honesty, trust and respect is paramount and more important than any level of rapport, technical expertise or sales skills.

Balance Emotion and Logic

A customer care process that focuses on emotion will get a customer enthusiastic and may result in a customer purchase that yields a sale but then cancels the next day when the customer has a chance to think about it and realize there are no logical reasons to justify the investment.

A customer care process that focuses on logic and lacks an emotional hook for the customer rarely results in a customer making a purchase or much more than the bare minimum. The customer most certainly will not purchase a service agreement.

The key to achieving a balance of emotion and logic during a service call starts by discovering an emotional hook, then provides an adequate amount of logic to justify the investment.

Options Not Ultimatums

"A choice of one is a choice of none." Technicians need to offer customers options not ultimatums -- defined as a final proposition, especially one whose rejection will end negotiations and cause a resort to force or other direct action, often in the opposite desired direction, typically ending relations.

The questions a tech asks should yield the emotional hooks and allow customers to state what they want and why they want it. A technician's job then is to share the appropriate information with the customer as to why they may want to consider making a Band-aid repair, bundled-repair renovation, system rejuvenation, system replacement, life experience enhancement. This allows the customer to discover for themselves the reasons to make specific choices.

The technician should not be tied to a specific result, but rather be committed to the process of providing good information so the customer can make a good decision. If a technician executes the customer care process flawlessly, then they should be happy with whatever choice the customer makes, even if that means doing nothing -- or doing something with another company -- because that is the "best possible outcome" in the customer's mind at that time based on the information provided. The tech and company should be happy if the customer makes a choice with which they are happy.

When technicians and companies fall in love with the process of serving people rather than making sales, more people choose to spend more money to get a higher level of service for more money.

Many of today’s business books talk about the importance of establishing core values in your company. In fact, many business consultants and authors strongly believe that establishing core values is one of the first steps in starting and managing a business. I am certainly one of those people. I believe that your company’s purpose statement and core values are the foundation that everything else is built on.

Core values may be defined as a person’s or company’s fundamental beliefs. They are the foundation on which we conduct ourselves. We use core values to hire, manage, and fire employees. We use core values to guide how we handle people. You can think of them as your non-negotiable, do not cross boundaries of behavior.

Core Values are Deeply Personal

It is the job of the founder or president to establish core values. Core values should not be created by consensus. It could take a person an entire month or more to create a short list of core values. Typically, you will want create four or five values. Core values are generally one to five words but there is no firm rule. The important thing about core values is this: they are deeply personal to you. They should reflect your own personal beliefs about what is important regarding personal and corporate behavior. It is never too late to implement core values in your company. Once implemented, core values should rarely, if ever, change.

Test Your Core Values

When you build your core values, test them against these points:

1. A good set of core values is not industry specific. They could be transferred to any business you own.
2. Your core values should be just as valid in twenty-five years as they are today.
3. If you woke up tomorrow super wealthy, your core values should still apply.
4. You would not hire or keep an employee if they did not adhere to each core value.
5. Your core values should reflect those of your best employees and best friends. They should be dissimilar to those people who you would not be close friends with and have previously fired.

As an example, here are the core values of one of my companies. They also happen to be my personal core values as well.

Aptora’s Core Values

They influence who we hire, who we promote, and who we fire.

1. Don’t lie, cheat, or steal
2. Make commitments and keep them
3. Be passionate, determined, and hardworking
4. Be polite, forthright, and totally candid
5. Seek continuous improvement

Different than Guiding Principles

Guiding principles are sometimes made synonymous with core values. As far as I am concerned, they are different. Guiding principles are more operational than personal. Guiding principles are more related to how you work and how you make decisions. Core values are more related to how you conduct yourself and deal with other people. "Recognize and reward employees based on their output" is a guiding principle. "Be polite, forthright, and totally candid" is a core value.

When you do not follow a company’s guiding principles, you don’t get promoted. If you don’t follow the company’s core values, you will be fired.

Introducing Your Core Values

Have a company meeting where you introduce your core values. This meeting should be upbeat and positive. Let everyone know how you came up with your core values. Let them know what they mean to you personally and why they are important to your company. Be sure to emphasize the fact that your core values are mandatory and that breaking them can get you fired. I recommend that you post your core values on the wall where everyone will see them throughout the day.

Using Your Core Values

If your core values are deeply personal, this part will be easy and intuitive. Be sure to reference them often so that your staff knows they are not just a fad. The idea is to demonstrate how you use your core values to make decisions on a regular basis.

Reference your core values when you are interviewing people. See if their core values line up with yours. Reference your core values when reprimanding people. By contrast, reference your guiding principles when coaching and mentoring people.

A Double-Edged Sword

The ‘problem’ with core values is that you must also abide by them to the very best of your ability. Your employees will be watching you and they will notice when you don’t. You cannot value honesty and cheat on your taxes. You cannot value commitment and break a promise. You cannot preach kindness and not be polite to everyone.

That’s the hard part for core values, you must follow them. You might have a top performing employee who does not adhere to a core value. After a suitable warning, you must fire that employee because it is obviously not a core value. You will need to remove that core value from your list and consider adding it to your list of guiding principles.

I have been in the ‘double-edged sword’ quandary. I have had to fire long term employees, even friends, over a core value violation. That was very hard but having great core values, and not following them, is much worse than having no core values at all.

Have you ever wondered what it looks like to go above and beyond in your business? This phrase “above and beyond” is something that pretty much EVERY training company tells you to do. Yet the majority of the time, they don’t give you actionable ways to do it, they just talk about how important it is.

So we are going to share with you what it looks like to go the extra mile. To do something for another person just because it is the right thing to do, not blowing it off because it isn’t in your job responsibilities.

Sherrie, a CSR and operations manager living in Missouri, demonstrates exactly what it means to go above and beyond. You remember the last couple of weeks where temperatures hit record lows in many states? Well, one of Sherrie’s customers was the recipient of some electrical problems due to these record low temps and was suffering from no power.

After the service professionals installed a new electrical panel, the utility was supposed to reconnect the power. Sadly, the utility company fought back and refused to reconnect anything until after hearing from the inspector. And even more sadly, the inspector only works one day per week and wasn’t due to drive back out to this small town for some days.

Sherrie and her team of CSRs and service professionals kept pushing through, working to contact this inspector to PLEASE go back to the customer’s home and verify that everything was okay so the utility company could reconnect their power. Sherrie even offered to pay the inspector for his drive back to the customer’s home if he could just help take care of them in a timely manner. Yet all of their efforts seemed in vain as the inspector and utility company refused to help and verbally dumped some choice words on them, sent them on a wild goose chase, and refused to answer the phone, thus sending them to voicemail.

In the middle of the conversation between the utility company, inspector, and Sherrie was the customer. This customer was left in the cold, caring for a husband with dementia, and of course, getting agitated about the entire situation that was out of their control. Imagine being stuck in record low temps with no power!

But persistence, good hearts, teamwork, and purpose kept this team going. Eventually Sherrie and her team were taken seriously, and the inspector and utility company took responsibility for their part in taking care of this customer, apologizing to Sherrie, and even complimenting her on doing good work.

Sherrie and her team made a world of difference to this customer. It wasn’t her job to chase down the inspector and call the utility company. But it was the RIGHT THING TO DO for her customer in these dire circumstances. And her efforts created a client for life.

We encourage you to start thinking outside of the box, start thinking about doing something for your customer that might not have ANYTHING to do with the reason they called you in the first place. This is what it means to go above and beyond. This is what it means to not just be another service company. We encourage you to find something you can do today for one of your customers that makes you stand out, that you do something for them just because it is the right thing to do.

Sherrie’s testimonial to us:

Where you come in is that I know that I made it through those conversations earning respect, getting the customer taken care of and holding people accountable because of my training. You, Power Selling Pros, saved my life that day. :) And God backing my little message of Care when it felt like all the players in the scenario were using their energy on Discare and Disconnect (no pun intended).

Let's start with a scenario: You wake up in the morning, ready to start your day with a nice hot shower. You turn your water on, waiting for it to warm up. Five minutes later, it's still cold. You check your water heater. It's leaking. Now you can't have that hot shower, and neither can your spouse or kids. Great way to start off the day.

You're stressed, frustrated, and overwhelmed. This is just one more thing to add to your plate. You get on Google and look up a few plumbing companies and start calling around, hoping— anticipating— that someone can take care of you and your family &helip; today.

Someone answers the phone. S/he is nice and pleasant as they greet you. You ask, "How much is it going to be to fix my water heater? Can you come out today?"

The CSR responds "It's X dollars for us to come out. Then our technician will tell you an upfront price for how much it is going to be to repair. What is your address?"

You sit there, considering if you should call around or just go with it. You didn't really feel cared about. You felt like you were being processed. They just answered the phone to take your money and get your address. You don't feel special or at all like a valued customer. And you don't want to pay X dollars just for someone to come out to your home and tell you what you already know -- it is broken.

This scenario happens all day, every day. This is customer service. Someone answers the phone, responds to all your questions, and asks for your address. It is a Q&A session. It is not a conversation. Sure the CSR can be pleasant and nice, but that isn't enough anymore. Not if you want to stand out from your competition.

Customer service is reactive. It is a title or position. More time is taken telling others about company routine and policy and taking information rather than the giving of time. Customer service reps should be asking questions, showing compassion, getting customers to talk about themselves, their needs, and how they are feeling. That is the difference between providing customer service versus a customer experience.

By developing the skills to be proactive, we will be able to make a deeper, lasting impression on our customers. Take the initiative of being the one to ask questions. Give a little bit of your time and make a connection with them. When they call in and ask, "How much is it going to be to fix my water heater? Can you come out today?" Our proactive response should be:

"Yes! I can certainly help you out with that today. What is your name?"

"When did your water heater stop working? Has this ever happened before? Is it gas or electric? How old is it? Do you have kids or elderly folks in the home?"

"Oh no! That is no fun! I know cold showers can be miserable! I'm so glad you called today. I am going to take care of you. What does your schedule look like? When can we come out?"

It all comes down to how we make people feel. If they feel good, they will do business with us. As we learn to be proactive in our conversations and validate customers in their emotions, we will begin to notice that we get more done in less time because people LIKE us, and our conversations will become easier. Customers have an emotional need to be understood. Talk to them about their needs before you talk to them about their address. If we do this, we will be providing experiences, not just answering phones and taking information.

Look for ways that you can take more initiative, be more observant, and give of your time to your customers. Let's not be just another company that answers a phone. Let's strive to make connections with those we work with in a new and fresh way and provide better experiences.

We hear a lot about the importance of running a sales lead in a professional and systematic manner. Typically, I am one of those people preaching that message, but today I want to talk to you about HOW to properly set a sales lead.

A lead that is set properly can dramatically increase sales productivity for the sales team. After all, when a lead is qualified properly for time and to have both homeowners present, we all know that the probability for success is much higher.

Unfortunately, many companies don't set qualified leads because they simply don't know how it's done. I am going to solve that little dilemma right now.

There are three simple steps to properly setting a lead and giving your sales team the best chance to convert that lead to revenue:

1. Initiate the relationship building process;
2. Gain enough time so the sales team can effectively do their job;
3. Make every effort to get all homeowners present for the sales appointment.

The first step to properly setting a lead is to realize that the phone call is our first opportunity to start building a relationship with the homeowner. Unfortunately, this opportunity is often missed when the lead coordinator focuses only on the mechanical situation and the specific time and place for the appointment.

To initiate the relationship building process, begin by asking questions that have NOTHING to do with heating and air conditioning. Ask the homeowner about their area of town or ask them if they know any of your other customers in their area.

Additionally, lead coordinators should be on alert to ask other questions about the family and pass on that information to the sales professional. If you hear a dog barking, ask the homeowner the dog's name. If you hear a baby crying, ask the baby's name.

You would be amazed by how much information homeowners will share with you if you will only ask! You might learn something very important about their kids or their spouse.

I remember one time our lead coordinator learned that the homeowners husband had just returned from a deployment in the Middle East. This information was passed on to the sales professional and when he greeted the homeowner with, "I heard your husband just returned home. You must be very proud and very relieved!" The deal was sold before they even got to the kitchen table. While other contractors walked in asking about the HVAC equipment, our man was able to ask about something very important to the homeowner.

The second and third steps to properly setting a lead can be accomplished by explaining everything that's involved with the estimate. Letting your homeowner know how thorough and detailed the sales professional will be sets the stage for getting enough time for the sales consultant and getting all homeowners present.

The conversation might sound something like this:

"Mrs. Homeowner, when we come out we are going to perform a comprehensive energy audit at no charge to you. It's recommended by the U.S. Department of Energy and Consumer Reports. We will measure your house and windows, check the type of construction and check out your duct work and attic insulation. All of these things are critical to properly sizing your system. We are required to do it on every job, but don't worry because it's a complimentary service."

"The reason we do that is very simple: Our company wants to make sure the job is sized and installed perfectly. It does take longer to do it right, but I am sure that's the kind of service and quality you expect, correct?"

Once the homeowner begins to understand that this is more than a service tech dropping off a bid, you can get the homeowner to commit to an adequate amount of time for the sales call and give good reason to have all homeowners present.

You can ensure the homeowner understands the 60/90-minute time commitment and make two requests to get all homeowners involved in the DESIGN process (never say "decision-making" process as this will send up a red flag to the homeowner).

"Now depending on how long it takes to measure your home and depending on how many questions you have, that process takes about 60 to 90 minutes. Is that going to be OK?

"Also, because we want the system to be perfect for everyone who lives in the home, it's very important that we get all homeowners involved in the design process. The last thing we want to do is design the perfect system for you and have your 'significant other' hate it.

"Buying a new Home Comfort System is like buying a new car – there are a lot of choices. Like everything else these days, the technology is amazing!

"So given those two factors – the time involved and getting all homeowners involved in the design process – when is a good time we could get together? I have a 2PM and 6PM available this afternoon."

Like everything in sales and marketing, there are no guarantees. Sometimes despite your best effort, you won't be able to get both homeowners present. The key is to do the very best you can so your comfort consultants will have both homeowners present and the best chance to be successful as often as possible

Properly setting leads is very important to your company's overall sales and marketing strategy. Building the relationship, getting enough time for your comfort consultants and getting both homeowners together for the sales call just requires a little effort. It's as easy as 1, 2, 3.

Contractors are frequently asking us where they can find good technicians. Sorry to disappoint you but this article is not about how to find great technicians. The general unemployment rate is 4%. We would guess that the unemployment rate among technicians is close to 0%. There is no easy way to acquire skilled technicians.

In addition to this super tight labor market, it may be harder than ever to keep the employees you have. According to a new survey by staffing firm Robert Half, 64 percent of employees favor job-hopping. That’s up 22% from a similar survey four years ago. Not surprisingly, millennial workers felt the most favorably about changing jobs frequently, with 75% of employees under 34 stating that job-hopping could benefit their careers.

You may not be able to readily acquire skilled technicians, but you can do something about keeping the ones you have. The purpose of this article is to help you keep quality employees through improved employee retention techniques.

Give Them a Purpose

As Peter Senge said in his book The Fifth Discipline, people do not comply with a purpose, they enroll in it. Enrollment means that the person actively chooses to align their own vision for their life with the higher organizational purpose.

Long term employees need to know they are working towards a common goal. Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) are especially purpose driven. Your company should have a clear purpose statement and all of your coworkers should understand that purpose statement and where they fit in to making it happen.

Notice we didn't mention a mission statement. The terms are often used interchangeably. A company's purpose is more than a mission statement or a vision. At its core, a company's purpose is a bold affirmation of its reason for being in business. What's your reason for being in business? When we ask our client's employees, their response is "I don't know. To make the boss richer." I can't blame them for feeling that way. If they are not told differently, shouldn't they just assume it’s all about you and the money?

Need a purpose statement? Search the internet for examples and come up with a truly inspiring, yet simple purpose statement. Here are three that we like:

• Walmart: “We save people money, so they can live better.”
• Southwest Airlines: “Connect People to what’s important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel.”
• Zappos.com: “Delivering happiness to customers, employees, and vendors.”

Student Loans

According to a recent study, 86 percent of millennials would commit to a company for five years if they offered student loan assistance. Student debt is one of the largest financial burdens they face.

You could offer your coworkers a program of student loan relief if they offered your company a commitment in return. You might offer the program after a certain “probation period” when you are reasonably certain you want them to stay.

Pay for Performance

For many companies we have studied, highly productive employees are disproportionally compensated compared to low performing employees. That is to say, top performers might produce 40% more than low performers but make just 20% more money. Even though you try to keep your payroll a secret, most of your employees know what each other makes; at least they think they do. Everyone knows who the low producing employees are and they bring the rest of the group down. When low producers are paid nearly as much as the top producers, overall productivity and morale will suffer.

Consider compensating your technicians through a combination of guaranteed income and a set of performance-based incentives (PBI). PBIs should make up at least 35% of their income. PBIs are harder to incorporate with non-billable employees but it is still very much possible. PBIs should make up at least 20% of their overall income.

Employee Recognition

This might be the absolute number one reason people stay or leave. Most contractors I know have a hard time offering genuine heartfelt praise. Be sure to find something to praise them for and offer that praise every day or two.

Negligent Retention

Negligent retention happens when an employer realizes, or should have realized, that an employee should be terminated, and the employer still retains that employee.

Winners tends to want to hang around other winners. The same is true for your employees. If you have employees that don’t pull their weight, there will be resentment among your best employees. Few employees will tell you to your face that they resent someone. You must identify these people and let them go. We realize this is often easier said than done. Remember, when you have a position filled with a toxic and/or low performing employee, you are ruining the opportunity to fill that position with someone much better.

Create a set of guidelines on how to identify bad employees and establish a timeline on when to deal with them. By decreasing negligent retention, you will increase employee satisfaction, reduce turnover, and increase productivity.

Hire Less and Expect More

Considering how difficult it is to find and keep qualified technicians, we have no choice but to get more production out of the staff we already have. Work on fine tuning your company’s operations so that you can squeeze out more billable and productive time than ever before. There are many productivity related key performance indicators related to efficiency. Here are three to watch:

1. Annual Sales per Company Employee: $150,000. $175,000 is best in class.
2. Annual Gross Profit per Residential Service Technician: $157,500. $263,000 is best in class.
3. Unbillable Time (service department): Less than 25%

Please see my article titled "How to Increase Service Technician Revenue" for more information and KPIs.

Conclusion

Since it is not easy to acquire and retain great coworkers, it is more important than ever to keep the ones you have. It is also important to identify and remove employees that are detrimental to your company's purpose statement. Since job hopping is more common, you might have a chance at getting someone really excellent. Until you eliminate bad employees, you will never have the opportunity to replace them with better ones.

Bob had owned his HVAC company for more than 20 years. He started it as a one-man business, doing nearly everything himself, with some help from his wife.

As the company grew, he hired more technicians and trained them on every detail of the equipment that they would be servicing, ensuring that their training was ongoing. This plan cost him a lot of money, but it paid off because he knew that they were the most competent in the business. Over the years, his technician turnover was very low.

Unfortunately, sales did not reflect this competence. The company did grow, he made a decent income, but Bob was convinced that it should be doing better. Spending very little money, but investing his time, Bob called customers and asked them to rate his technicians. All of the technicians were scored very high in competence.

But one of the past customers was a relative, and what she told him was enlightening.

"The technician fixed the air conditioner. But I really wanted to know what he was doing. He just went to work and didn’t hear a word I said. He wasn't listening."

That was a revelation for Bob. He had done a good job of teaching the technicians how to perform the work, how to take care of equipment, but he did not teach them how to take care of the customer. He needed to teach them to listen.

In fact, the air conditioner in this woman’s home was old and could have been replaced. The technician, because he didn't listen, missed an opportunity to make a sale or at least plant the seed that would lead to a sale. Because he wasn't listening.

The exercise of calling these customers taught Bob that by investing some time to listen, he had cultivated a whole new relationship with these people. He needed to share this with his technicians.

Every time a technician goes to a home to provide service, there is an opportunity to make a sale.

The key to making the sale is training the technician to listen. We are all aware that people do business with people they like. So how do we make a technician likeable? Teach technicians to be listeners. Studies show that people who listen are the most likeable.

Listening to customers is the first step in making a sale. Listening creates a connection between the technician and customer. The technician listens to understand the customer and their situation. Once a technician truly understands, they can offer solutions and frequently the solution is a sale.

We teach the listen principle to ensure that everyone -- technicians and CSRs, supervisors and owners -- connect by listening first, and remain present to the expression, tone and intent of others.

At a company we worked with recently, listening on the part of the CSR and the technician was key in taking care of a family that had scheduled an appointment for an air conditioning repair. The CSR shared this experience with us.

The customer mentioned to the CSR that she had a sick husband and because of her tone, it was obvious that she was very concerned about his comfort. The CSR told the customer that even though they were heavily booked that day, the CSR would do everything possible to ensure that a technician was there today. The CSR made good on that promise. The technician returned to the office just as the CSR was clearing up her desk to leave for the day.

The technician told the CSR, "I took care of Mrs. Smith. Her air conditioner is working great now. It's an old system but I fixed it. Did you know that her husband is under hospice care?" The CSR was taken aback. She knew the customer's husband was sick but had no idea he was dying. What if she hadn't listened to the customer: her words and her tone?

Both the CSR and technician had been taught how to truly listen. It paid off in taking care of the customer in ways that will pay dividends for years to come.

Listening is the key to success.

What is your focus when it comes to customer service?

Book the call? Get the sale? Get the money? Or, WOW the customer?

I worry that too many companies in our industry are too focused on pricing and profits and not enough on experience and service. We know that booking the call, getting the sale, and making money are important – without them, you have no business. But, those things come as a byproduct of creating a world-class experience for your customers.

With giants like Amazon and Google creeping into our industry, taking advantage of our margins and changing the way people interact with our companies, we must be focused on creating an experience that customers fall in love with. We must make it about more than just price, brand, and quality of equipment or service.

But How?

So, now, let's dive into HOW. How do you empower your team to create a world-class customer experience repeatedly, ensuring that your CSRs' last phone call of the day sounds as good as the first of the day, or that your technicians' last appointment is as extraordinary as their first?

Principles that Create Autonomy

You need to start by adopting a set of principles for your team to embrace, then train your team to act autonomously in accordance with those principles. In this way, you are not only giving them an end goal (WOW the customer), you are providing parameters within which they can know how to achieve that goal.

Principles guide your team to action, but also provide them with flexibility to determine their actions based on the situation they find themselves in. Here, I will give you eight master principles which we refer to as the Pattern for Excellence. These principles can be applied in all situations and will empower your team to act autonomously to create a WOW experience for your customers. The principles of the Pattern for Excellence are:

1. Be Positive: create powerful, interpersonal energy. Your passion and energy for your work should be electric and contagious. People should feel delighted to engage with you and your team and feel your positive energy. People gravitate toward the positive and away from the negative.
2. Be Confident: be prepared to WOW. You want your team members and your customers to be confident, and that confidence comes with preparation. Preparation comes with practice and constant self-assessment; i.e., listening to your own calls, practicing difficult call scenarios, getting to know your product and industry better.
3. Listen: become present first. Whether your business is B2B, B2C, or B2G, all consumers are people! They have an emotional need to be clearly understood before they are presented with someone else's agenda. Ensure that whenever your team interacts with a customer, they listen first. Ask questions to understand what the customer is going through, and rephrase their plight so that you can show you understand them clearly.
4. Care: respect individual worth. In addition to being understood, customers have an emotional need to be cared about. The goal before every sale is to connect with the customer and gain their trust. We show we care when we express empathy with words and phrases like "oh no!" or "that's terrible!" Or, in cases where the issue at hand is less alarming, simple assurances that we can help show you care as well.
5. Say "Yes": give beyond expectation. It's imperative that you assure your customers that you can help by saying "yes" and that you focus on what you can do to help. Too often, we will hear a CSR say "sorry... there's nothing we can do" to customers who want a price over the phone or want an appointment during a time slot that's already filled. But the moment you say no is the moment they begin their search for another company – another company that will also likely make it about what they are not able to do. Say "YES!"
6. Ask: progress through service. We don't know what the best solution for the customer is unless we ask. We also don't get their business unless we ask. Questions like "when would you like us to come out?" give you an idea of their time expectation, give them some semblance of control, and put you in control of the conversation. Many CSRs are great at answering every question the customer asks, but they never ask their own questions to get the call booked! Questions like "when would you like us to come out?" or "I have an open appointment at two o' clock this afternoon, may I book that appointment for you?"
7. Be Valuable: consciously create value. Sales expert Jeff Gitomer declares that "price only matters in the absence of value." Before you present any sort of fee to the customer, always make sure you create value for them. Let them know why it is a wise choice to go with you, what makes you different from the competition, and walk them through the service you will provide so that they can see clearly how valuable it is. Then, you are in position to present the fee. Go above and beyond to create value for the customer.
8. Be Grateful: honor our stewardship. Always express sincere gratitude to your customers. Let them know what a pleasure it is to serve them and that you are glad they called. People become loyal when they know they matter.

Put Principles to Action

When your team follows a pattern of principles like the Pattern for Excellence in all their interactions, they will WOW your customers. They will become more autonomous, and they will begin to focus more on the experience your customers have than the money your company is making. Make your focus on customer experience – not just booking the call and getting the sale.