The
Quality Standards Of Our Organization
| The best of us set the standard for
all of us. |
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An
introduction for new New National
Service Partners.
By Mike Ochoa |
Dear New Partners:
Our company has grown tremendously in
the last year. And I have seen a unique
cycle play out with a select few of our
new partners.
The cycle goes something like this....
Stage 1
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The partner
convinces us
during their recruitment they
are a high caliber cleaner. "Who
never gets redo's" |
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Stage 2 |
The partner starts operating
with us and almost immediately
starts getting redo's they are
not used to. Or loses demos. |
Stage 3
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The partner try to convince
me that "Its the customers"
"their being unreasonable"
or "difficult" |
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Stage 4 |
At this point, we explain to
the partner exactly why we felt
they got the redo. Or lost the
demo. And try to coach them to
increase their skill level. And
more importantly we try to
explained to them that
they could not be more wrong in
their views of the customer!! |
At this point the partnership goes one
of two ways...........
Either the partner gets it and agrees to
let us show him how to elevate his
skills. And agrees to be "coachable" or
we have to cancel the partnership.
Although we try very hard to screen new
partners. The truth is we can not know
their actual skill level until we get
them in a customers house. This is why
we are so admit about the initial "1
month trial period".
At this time, I am authoring this
page to help new partners try to avoid
this situation. and this cycle...
So, I am going to begin by stating a few
hard facts that you must understand to
be a part of our organization.
Fact # 1
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We are charging customers more
then what they are usually used
to being charged. They are
agreeing to these prices
because they believe they are
going to get the best service of
their life. Your job is to
deliver this... A mediocre tech
will not be able to deliver this
day in and day out. A master
tech will.
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Fact
# 2 |
Because the customer has agreed
to try this "higher level" of
service. They automatically have
higher expectations. And they
are going to scrutinize your
workmanship on a different level
then what you are probably used
to.
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Fact
# 3 |
Unless you have worked for a
major chain like Coit, Stanley
Steamer, Or Zero Rez. Or us. You
probably have not gotten the
highest level of training
possible in this industry.
I am not saying you don't know
cleaning and your not
knowledgeable. I am saying that
their is what I call "tribal
knowledge" in these
organizations that you just cant
get any where else. And that
knowledge is tremendous in
controlling the customer
experience. And not getting
redo's. This kind of knowledge
does not come from years of
experience it only comes from
decades of successful business
experience. And being highly
focused on "Thinking like a
customer". As much as we
may resent the major chains, the
truth is:
The
public has selected them to be
successful. In my opinion they
are the best at controlling the
customer experience. And the
public has selected them to be
the biggest!!
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Fact # 4 |
Their is a rule in business.
Regardless of what
industry you are in, you
will deal with 3 types of the
customers:
O-Easy to
please.........O-Somewhat easy
to please
O-And difficult to please.
The best companies gear all of
their efforts towards the 3rd
customer......The difficult to
please. Why?
because if you can win that
customer, you automatically get
the other 2 groups. The
best companies designee their
service to hold up to the
scrutiny of a pickiest customer.
And guess what the best
companies also know....Picky
customers are the most loyal
customers ever, if you win em
over.
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Fact
# 5 |
We are not interested in a 1
time customer. One of the
hardest things to achieve in
this competitive industrey is to
build a "fiercly loyal customer
base". That is why our business
model is so strong. I believe
that as an owner operator, you
have a real love for your work.
This is not common with the
other 95% of the men and women
who do your work. Your passion
is a great foundation for what
we want to achieve. I truly
believe a fiercly loyal customer
must be created by a superior
tech and by a superior
salesperson working in
combination. |
Now, what a new National Service Partner
must understand, is that he will be held
to the standards of our best National
Partners. The National Service Partners
who have already proven that they can
deliver this level of service day in and
day out. I call this group the
Masters.
Here is what
the Master Techs in our
organization have proven to be an
achievable standard:
O-They keep their "failure percentage"
under 3%. A failure is a
redo or lost demo. That means they
will have less then 3 failures for every
100 jobs they do.
This is the caliber of Partners we want
to build are organization with.
Anything less then this standard is an
indication that more training or
coaching is necessary with a National
Partner. And we are not opposed to
coaching you. But, you must be a willing
and enthusiastic student. And you
must put your ego aside and realize that
you have an opportunity to get some
incredible "tribal knowledge" that can help you
in all areas of your business.
Thinking that "the customer is being
difficult" or "unreasonable" is
not an acceptable excuse in our
organization. We accept there are going
to be difficult customers. Stanley
steamer, Coit, and Zero Rez deal with
the same customers as well.
But if our Sales team was good enough to
sell them, Our master partners can
certainly win them over with our
service.
Difficult
customers are the ultimate test of our
skill level....
Think of your
favorite restaurant. Your favorite
department store. Your favorite
grocery store. Now ask yourself ...How
far do those organizations go to please
their customers. And accommodate even
the most difficult customers. How far do
they go to control the experience you
have, when you enter their building. They
have it down to a science. Our
entire business culture in the united
States is now geared towards franchises
and major chains. Why?....Because they
deliver a better experience to the
customer and the public has 'selected'
them to survive.
Respected Partners I am telling you,
that the same thing is happening in this
industry that happened in the car
repair industry. Their used to be
owner operator , ma and pa garages on
every corner back in the day, that would
fix your car. Now who is left?
Mineki, Pepboys, Sears, Jiffy Lube all chains who
can deliver an equivalent service as the
dealers.
Well in our case the "dealers' are the
major chains...Coit, Stanley steamer,
and Zero rez. And they are gobbling up
market share every day. With Boss
Optima you have a chance to compete head
to head with them. But you have to be
open to a new way of operating. You have
to be willing to operate on their level.
I compare it to this analogy...you have
been playing in the minor leagues, now
your in the majors. The players are
better at this level and there all about
"Controlling the experience of the
customer". That is the game you are
playing now. Its not enough to clean
well. Its about the "experience"
you can deliver.
Take a look at your community. What
percentages of the business you visit
each week are franchises or chains?
We live in a franchise world. The public
has been conditioned to believe that
franchises and chains do it better!
Because they have gotton better
experiences .
On this page I am going to give you some
immediate Boss Optima tribal
knowledge.........
You have to
understand that at this level, high
quality has 4 components.........
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Component 1 |
Strategy And
Technique
You have to know your cleaning
mechanics, products and
applications. Our company
has strong support for you in
this area. It is critical that
you always call headquarters if
you are not getting satisfactory
results and let us coach you "In
the moment". And more
importantly, have a can do
attitude about trying what we
recommend. There are many
examples of National Service
Partners who I think would claim
that their skills have improved
dramatically because of the mentoring they
have recieved through our
organization. Do not look at
this as a discount of your
skills. Look at it as you have a
team behind you that you did not
have before. We have a vested
interest in making you a Master
Tech.
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Component 2 |
Obviously Expressed Customer
Care And Concern.
A customer must feel extremely
well cared for by you. You
would be amazed at how much this
affects the customers perception
of your service. The rule
of thumb is...Display more
obvious care and concern then
the customer actually has for
their service. To effectively do
this....
the
customer must be involved in
your service as you perform it.
The care
and concern creates the
necessary trust you need to get
complete resolution
on the areas that you are not
successful in remedying.
Care and concern can not be
faked. If you truly
do not care enough, you will
continue to get redo's.
Why? Because your customers are
human. And if they don't
perceive that you care, then
everything you do is suspect.
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Component
3 |
Customer Stage Involvement
This refers to the fact that all
customers want to know that your
tried everything you could
possibly think of to help them.
A Master Tech makes sure the
customer is notified, involved
and really a co-pilot as
he goes through his techniques
and strategies to clean an area.
By doing this the customer
"goes on the journey with the
tech" and
feels the disappointment of the
Master Tech if a technique
fails. I can not
tell you how many times I have
talked to thrilled customers who
made comments like
this...............I loved the
technician!!! He was
not able to get my pet stains
out but he tried so hard!! and
he kept trying different
techniques, he just seemed
so determined... I only want him
in the future!!!!!!!
There basically telling
us they were wowed and impressed
with the way we
failed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you think like a customer,
it makes perfect sense.......The
customer realizes their are
limitations in everything. They
just want to know you went to
extra ordinary lengths to try
for them. You can actually wow a
customer with the way you fail.
Can you now see why its so
horrible to ever tell a customer
something is not going to come
out before you even
try?Customers hate that!!!!
And they remember that.
Because there was no "try".
A Master tech is always
optimistic even when he knows
the odds are against him.
Because he know its his effort
and determination that will be
remembered! Not the result.
So many Redo's are created by
the Tech not bringing the
customer along on the journey.
Ask yourself how many mistakes
are you making by
"thinking like a tech".
Instead of thinking like a
customer.
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Component 4 |
Resolution . This
is huge. Resolution is the act
of convincing the customer
during the service
of the
following.
O-You really care more then even
they do.
And you have
blatantly demonstrate this.
O-You are much more professional
and skilled then a regular tech.
(can you see
why your shirt untucked would
work against you in this area?)
I cant tell
you how many redo's are
connected to the customer
thinking "she got a rookie tech"
because he didn't look or act as
professional as the guy on
the website. And he doesn't seem
as professional as what the
sales person said he would be.
YOU HAVE TO LOOK AND ACT THE
PART OF A MASTER TECH. If you
give any indication of being
"small time" this will lead to
redo's!!!
O-You tried everything humanly
possible.
And she was
right there on the journey with
you to witness it. If the
customer is not on the journey
with you. You leave room for
doubt!
O-There is nothing left to try.
And the
customers believes you because
she views you as a Master Tech
who has shown more care and
concern then anybody she has
ever had in her house! And she
was on the journey with you.
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When you
achieve these 4 things. Customers
simply
do not call for redo's. And here is some
extra tribal knowledge......You achieve
those 4 things above and watch how easy
it is to offer additional services to
the customer......The major chains
realized a long time ago. "Wowing" the
customer equals easy in home sales!!!
It all ties together....
Mike Ochoa
President
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