The First Minute Is Critical – Do It Right

By Tom Grandy 

First impressions are more important than most technicians realize.  It is so critical that their greeting should be scripted and taped to their clipboard as a reminder.

Below are some steps:

1.      Ring doorbell once – Listen closely to make sure the bell is working.  If you can hear the doorbell OUTSIDE your customer can usually hear it INSIDE!  Don’t irritate the customer by ringing the bell again and again as they are desperately running for the front door!

2.      Step back three feet –  Don’t crowd the door.  Security is a huge issue especially for women.  Step back so the customer feels comfortable opening the door.

3.      Your helper should be visible – If you have helper with you, be sure they are at the front door as well.  The helper should be one step behind the lead tech or one step down if there are steps.

4.      Look your customer in the eye and SMILE! – I’ll bet you get a warm fuzzy feeling when someone smiles at you.  Your customer does too.

5.      Introduce yourself – “Hello, Mrs. _______. I’m (your full name) with (company name). Hand the customer your personal company business card. This is (co-worker’s full name) and he (or she) will be helping me today.”

6.      Helper says – “Hello, Mrs. _________.”

7.      Hand the customer a company brochure and/or a copy of your maintenance agreement –Tell the customer the company brochure will provide an overview of the company and a listing of their other services you may not be aware of.  The maintenance agreement will provide details on how you can save money on today’s call.

If you follow this simple process on every call you will be amazed at how it puts the customer at ease.