Elite Mechanical: Celebrating a Commitment to Customer Service
We have been blessed to work with thoughtful, smart companies that want to build better businesses through exceptional customer service. Elite Mechanical is one of those companies. Elite Mechanical reached out to us in 2017 with a passion to grow their business through improved customer service.
The Issue:
Elite Mechanical had a reputation for being knowledgeable, skilled and responsive. But, the Elite Mechanical leadership team wanted to be even better. Elite believed they could take their business to the next level through delivering one of a kind, personal, and consistent service.
The Customer Service Solution:
Elite Mechanical worked to create a service culture. This culture was developed through a 4-step process:
- Assess the service environment.
- Develop key service standards.
- Train staff on how to adapt their communication approach to each customers’ need.
- Measure, celebrate, and fix things based on the findings.
Let’s look at each one in more detail …
1. Assess the Current Customer Service Environment
Many people want to start with training, but before you do that it is best to dig deep and analyze your a current approach to service.
Elite mechanical assessed their current level of service and looked for ways they could add more personal touches to their service. What would make them special and unique? How were they currently doing? What did their customers think and want? How were they capturing this data?
They concluded that they needed better tracking tools and systems to track service levels. At the same time, they realized that their customers wanted a more personalized approach to service.
2. Develop and Live by Your Service Standards
Eventually, Elite realized that they were missing concrete service standards that everyone could live by. They learned that service standards would help employees to deliver more consistent service. And, better service would improve their company brand.
So, they went to it.
They met regularly in a series of meetings until they tackled the standards challenge. Technicians, administrative staff, and the leadership team worked hard to develop the standards that they believed would make Elite Mechanical elite.
They came up with Eight Technician Service Standards to implement in their organization:
- Call customer when you are on your way to their location, with approximate arrival time.
- Upon arrival, check in with customer or point of contact and offer a friendly greeting.
- Confirm the work or service requested.
- Complete the work requested in a timely and quality manner.
- Inform customer when work is completed and if any follow up is required.
- Thank the customer for their business before leaving the location and offer friendly closure.
- Transmit service paperwork, via tablet, to Service department by close of the business day or next morning.
- Check in with Service department office, by text or call, before leaving the location.
Using these as a benchmark they were able to increase the standards of excellence in their services.
3. Adapt Your Customer Service Approach To Each Customer, While Maintaining Your Standards
In training, technicians and office staff learned how to communicate even more effectively using Everything DiSC Sales.
This class helped the technicians grasp their natural style of delivering service. Technicians learned about the emotional needs that drive people’s expectations in service.
For example, the customer who is driven by accuracy will want service delivered differently than the customer who is driven by getting quick results. The technicians used the DiSC model to “people-read” their customers’ needs within a flash of a minute.
Then, they practiced strategies to adapt their service to the customer’s DiSC style. With a little practice, people-reading and adapting with DiSC became easier and proved effective!
4. Track, Measure and Adjust Your Service Delivery
Once Elite successfully implemented their standards, what was next?
The Elite technicians and office staff started a self-check process. They wanted to do a better job at integrating the standards into their daily practice.
Immediately, Elite made a conscientious effort to engage their clients through a customer service survey. They regularly checked-in with their customers to receive feedback in order to improve their service. They realized that it’s a simple solution, but it just takes time.
But then, Elite continued their quest for outstanding customer service, but this time focusing on their internal customers, their employees. The Elite leadership team launched a second survey — an employee opinion survey to measure internal satisfaction from all departments.
Elite was becoming data rich!
With new feedback channels, Elite Mechanical reports that they are now using a scorecard to measure their key initiatives over time. Consistently, they can identify areas of success and improvement.
Way to go with the measurements!
The Results:
We checked in with Tom Nishi, Secretary/Treasurer at Elite Mechanical, to see how they were doing. Proudly, he reports on 3 wins Elite has already experienced in just 6 short months.
Win #1: Elite Mechanical created Eight Technician Service Standards. The standards mirror our promise to our customers. They clearly define what it is we do and how we shape the customer experience. The standards created consistency and focus for our technician service team. Ultimately, it set the foundation for every single customer interaction.
Win #2: The training inspired us to take a look at how we presented ourselves to customers. We’ve taken the initial steps to reinvent our brand. Elite Mechanical launched a new company logo, updated the company website, and produced a new marketing brochure. At the end of the day, these elements complement the overall approach to our customer experience.
Win #3: We also implemented new support tools, processes, and standard practices to become more proactive with our customers. Now, there’s a trace file system to contact customers ahead of their scheduled service dates and to monitor vendor delivery of orders. For the first time, a continuity binder documents standard operating procedures. Lastly, weekly staff “huddles” have become an important part of communication to the field team.
Client Final Thoughts:
“At the end of the day, this customer service initiative has reinvigorated our people to reinvent the HVAC industry. Now, we are on our way to take the customer experience to a whole new level never before seen in Hawaii. Today, this approach solidifies relationships with existing customers, helps build new customer relationships, generates new business, and strengthens the culture of Elite Mechanical.”
