First Jump Different, Then Jump Higher
By Nexstar Training Manager Keith Mercurio
In this week’s video blog, Nexstar Sales Training Manager Keith Mercurio talks about the power of thinking and doing outside of the box to achieve better results. Be an innovator! Click on the photo to play the video. To learn more about Nexstar’s results-driven training: http://www.nexstarnetwork.com/Pages/SureFireSystems.aspx.
Simple But Not Easy
By Jack Tester, Nexstar® Network President & CEO
In 2008, I was sitting next to a very successful contractor in a Nexstar manager training class discussing how to increase conversion rate and average sale. The material in the class was spot on. The business system for how to achieve success was laid out, clear as could be. The impact available from consistent technician training, business coaching and accountability was clearly evident. All the class attendees were nodding their heads in agreement. Everyone was planning to go home and implement what they were learning into their own strategic plan.
Toward the end of the training segment, this successful contractor leaned over and said that it was his training routine, company-wide accountability and personal involvement in this area that was, in his mind, the secret to their success.
He claimed his primary responsibility was to make sure important sales management activities were properly executed every day in his company. In his next breath, he closed by saying that sales management success (increasing conversion rate and average sale) was “simple but not easy” – a profound statement and one that has stuck with me.
“Simple but not easy… Simple but not easy…”
What are those activities in your business that are simple but not easy for you to execute every day? Are you giving them the business systems and the training they need to perform those tasks? Does everyone in your business know what is expected from them every day and why they need to do it?
If your answer isn’t “yes” to all three of these then you have some work to do. It is simple work, but not easy work. Nexstar members work with their dedicated business coaches to establish their “recipe” for success. Once that is created, then it’s easier to just follow the recipe. To learn more visit www.nexstarnetwork.com or call 1-888-240-STAR (7827).
Bundling: The Art of Increasing Tickets & Close Rates
By Keith Mercurio, Nexstar® Network Training Manager
I work with so many contractors in the PHCE industries that work incredibly hard and put in excruciating hours to complete as many calls as they can in a day. These contractors have been “trained” by customers to only present the least expensive, lowest value option, which means that the only way to increase sales and profits is to fit as many calls into a single day as they can. As we all know, this is exhausting.
What I try to teach instead in my HVAC, Plumbing and electrical service technician training is that we first need to listen to our customers and then present a number of options at different values that each meet our customers’ needs. This technique is called bundling. Bundling is one of my favorite topics to talk about because it’s a genuine “art”. To learn how to present bundles requires a lot of training, time, AND faith because the shift in your thinking will be significant.
Bundling is critical to increase your close rates and your average tickets. It’s a complicated concept, but I feel it is so important that I have condensed it into three easy points to help introduce the process.
1. Reduce the Number of Value Decisions Needed by Customers
2. Create the Emotional Ownership for Customers
3. Make Your Medium Option Bigger
When you are ready to embrace the bundling concept, be assured it will take some creativity and some coaching from a peer or industry organization, such as Nexstar. You’ll have to decide how you can best bundle multiple tasks and assign one value to them based on your business plans and your market. But if you are looking for increased close rates and tickets – bundling is the business system you need to learn and implement now.
Learn more about my three steps to effective bundling in the April issue of HVACR Business. To learn more about training your technicians on the art of bundling and the right way to call on customers, visit www.nexstarnetwork.com or call 1-888-240-STAR (7827).
About the Author:
Keith Mercurio is the training manager for Nexstar® Network, training members on sales, customer service and motivation in the field. Before joining Nexstar, he worked within a Nexstar member company, first as a plumber, then developing an HVAC sales division that produced 3.7 million within the first two years, while incorporating many of the same techniques he teaches today.
N’Ts Are For Losers
By Nexstar Training Manager Keith Mercurio
In this week’s video blog, Nexstar Training Manager Keith Mercurio talks about the power of what we do inside our minds and how that translates to the outside world. He shows you how to find what you are looking for by changing your thinking and vocabulary. Stop using the N’Ts: CaN’T, WoN’T, DoN’T, ShouldN’T, etc. Click on the photo to play the video. To learn more about Nexstar’s results-driven training: http://www.nexstarnetwork.com/Pages/SureFireSystems.aspx.
“Translate The Jargon”
By Nexstar Master Trainer Dave Boduch
Nexstar Master Trainer Dave Boduch discusses technical jargon and how using words that your customers will understand will help you build trust and better relate to your customers. Click on the photo to play the video. To learn more about Nexstar’s results-driven training: http://www.nexstarnetwork.com/Pages/SureFireSystems.aspx.
Are you Leading or Managing?
By Jack Tester, Nexstar® Network President & CEO
What a week! Nexstar® members in the PHCE industries just completed our annual Owners’ Spotlight Series meeting focused on leadership. This two day, hands-on workshop featured inspiring speakers, leadership tools like Q4 assessments and the DiSC profile, group training and worksheets. Our goal was for owners to walk away from the meeting with a clear vision for their companies and a good understanding of the guiding principles that impact their companies’ culture and strategic plan, including their own roles as leaders.
Part of understanding a leadership role is to determine how leadership is different than management. At a high level:
Let’s go through subtle differences of each.
Management is about: Being efficient and doing things right
Leadership is about: Being effective and doing the right things
Your objective is to move slowly but deliberately from being a manager to being a leader. There are many steps along this leadership journey. Over the next few weeks, members of the Nexstar business coaching and training staff will be sharing leadership tips and strategies outlined at our Owners’ Spotlight Series here for you on www.rapidresults4business.com.
To learn more about Nexstar or how to join, please visit www.nexstarnetwork.com, email us at membership@nexstarnetwork.com, or call 1-888-240-7827.
The Importance of Training & Ride-Alongs
By Nexstar Sales Trainer Keith Mercurio
In this week’s video blog, Nexstar Sales Trainer Keith Mercurio shares a recent experience involving Service System training and a follow up ride-along. Click on the photo to play the video. To learn more about Nexstar’s results-driven training: http://www.nexstarnetwork.com/Pages/SureFireSystems.aspx.
Online Reviews Attract Customers to PHCE Contractors
By Bryan Martin, Business Enhancement Specialist
Online reviews continue to increase in importance with consumers. The recent Nielsen Global Survey reports that 70 percent of consumers trust online consumer reviews, an increase of 15 percent in four years. And, according to the Local Consumer Review Survey 2012, 52 percent of consumers say that positive online reviews make them more likely to use that local business.
Today’s residential plumbing, HVAC and electrical service customer wants a simple way to research a potential service provider and they are increasingly turning to review sites to do so. So, what does this mean to you? How do you manage your company’s online reputation?
First, it’s important to remember, like with any review function, if you are providing the best customer service, you should see this reflected in your reviews, even online reviews. If you have invested in technician training, call center training, and you have implemented business systems that allow your business to operate effectively, like our Nexstar® members, then that’s a good thing. However, if for one reason or another, you miss on a customer service opportunity, and a negative review appears online, how do you manage that?
I’m sure you know that responding to the review and attempting to follow up with the customer to amend any issues is your first step. Then you need to look at an online reputation management tool that will help you generate new reviews and on the right review sites. The goal is for your satisfied customers to post their positive reviews on popular review sites, such as Google Places, Yelp and Facebook to offset the occasional negative review.
This does not mean you should create or buy unauthentic positive online reviews. Since online reviews can play a positive role in your company’s search engine ranking, the social media giants are cracking down on fake reviews and “review impersonation.” According to Google, this practice is sufficient cause for getting your company banned from their listings, thereby losing access to 60% of the online search market. Think about managing your online reputation as you are creating your marketing plan. Making a mistake in managing your online reputation or SEO could be extremely costly for your service business.
As online reviews become even more critical, our Nexstar members have come to us asking for guidance. So, we partnered with a company called ReviewBuzz™ to create StarBuzz™, an exclusive program combining our Nexstar Customer Satisfaction Survey with ReviewBuzz’s public online customer review generator and technician recognition program.
With StarBuzz, you know what percentage of your customers is influencing other potential customers, and where you need to train and improve. It capitalizes on the one-on-one relationships your staff builds directly with your customers, resulting in positive reviews on influential websites, so you out shine the competition, authentically and ethically. In addition, StarBuzz increases staff engagement by rewarding your “Customer Service Heroes” for sharing their glowing reviews to build trust and close more sales.
Take the time to think about your online reputation. As a service business, your success depends on providing the best customer service then for potential customers to find you. Ask potential online reputation providers a lot of questions about how they generate reviews and ask them about their commitment to authenticity. I would be happy to help you get started. Call me at 888.240.STAR (7827).
“World of the Call Center-Insight for Technicians ”
By Nexstar Master Trainer Dave Boduch
Nexstar Master Trainer Dave Boduch gives technicians insight into understanding how a well-oiled call center works and how to use that to a technician’s advantage. Click on the photo to play the video. To learn more about Nexstar’s results-driven training: http://www.nexstarnetwork.com/Pages/SureFireSystems.aspx.
“What’s Your And?”
By Nexstar Sales Trainer Keith Mercurio
In this week’s video blog, Nexstar Sales Trainer Keith Mercurio invites you to create a new standard. What’s next? Stop looking back at what has been and start imagining what could be. Click on the photo to play the video. To learn more about Nexstar’s results-driven training: http://www.nexstarnetwork.com/Pages/SureFireSystems.aspx.
