When you start out in a plumbing company which runs service calls, you are generally given a week to two weeks of ride along, where you learn the basics of how the paperwork is filled out, procedures for interacting with clients, how to work with dispatch, and what is generally expected of you each work day.

While that information is necessary, it doesn't address any of the key selling issues you're going to face when you get your own truck.

Rarely have I seen new technicians come flying out of the gate with large sales numbers, which is to be expected. What's frightening, is that a lot of them stay at the bottom of the pack for a long time.

Overview of Company
Your company offers more than one type of service. You do plumbing, but that encompasses a large array of sub-services. There's drain cleaning, sewer main repair, water main repair, hot water tanks, minor plumbing repairs, etc.

The company may also offer tangible products such as drain enhancers.

Most new technicians are told to "sell more widgets" if they want to see their numbers go up, and it is left at that. So the technician goes out trying to sell more, and struggles to get his numbers up.

Sales Training
After a couple of months of low sales numbers, and feeling frustrated, the technician will go to his sales manager, and ask for advice. The manager will ask if the technician is selling any add-on products, such as the drain enhancer, or service agreements.

Typical responses from the technician include the following:

• "No one's interested."
• "People already have something else."
• "My clients don't want it."

The sales manager then tells the technician to keep at, with no direction or ideas for moving forward.

Key Factors Missed
The techniques for selling are rarely--if ever--touched on during the training process.  If you are a new service technician, and your company does not offer you any sales training, I recommend you start your own regimen.  Start by reading this article on negative words, and work your way out from there.

Changes You Can Make Today
Both new and seasoned technicians can benefit from the advice below.

Blank Invoices
Take a blank invoice and photocopy it a few times.  Practice writing a diagnostic, using phrases which include the discovery of additional tasks.  After repairing kitchen faucet, found that gate valve shutoffs were no longer functioning.  Addressed concern with homeowner, and replaced shutoffs.  The idea is to get you thinking about additional tasks, and how to reflect them on your paperwork.
photocopy one of your invoices, and practice filling it in.  Do 4 or 5 of these and day

Navigate Price Guide
Spend 10 minutes a day going through your pricing guide.  This will help you become more familiar with it, so you spend less time in front of the client searching for information that they want.

Track Your Numbers
You won't know where you're going until you know where you've been.  Are you sure that you performed 12 plumbing checkups last week?  Using a day planner, write down each job, and what you did at that job.  Shorthand which I have found effective is PCU +1 (plumbing checkup), CAP +1 (customer advantage plan/service agreement), AT +x (number of additional tasks).  Not only is this going to help you gauge where you need more work, it gives you an emotional stimulus to want to improve.
As your numbers do start to go up, you can then start challenging yourself to do better each day.

How were you able to bring your own sales numbers up?  Share your stories in the comment section below.