It's Your New Technician's First Service Call

How worried should you be?

By Bob Mathews

It's Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. and you are sending your new technician out for his first service call since he joined the company. When you hired him, you were excited because you think you remember something about his previous employer and aren't they supposed to be really good in service? He also showed you two certifications for two of your major equipment lines and that just never happens. You haven't really had the time to fully check him out or his certifications, but he sounded like he knew what he was talking about and he's just such a nice guy.

You usually would have him ride with another technician and check him out a little bit more, but you have been short a technician for several months and have another guy out sick and one on vacation. He should be okay on this call because it's a long-term customer, and the call is just for a breakaway that needs to be replaced.

Goodbye, Good Luck
You are thinking as he goes out the door with parts in one hand and a map in the other—because he just moved to town—how much you wish that the two new trucks you ordered for your top technicians had arrived so he had something better to drive than the old yard truck that's passed around and should have been retired last year. But it is not far to the site and it's all you have.

As quickly as you see his taillights go out of sight, you are onto the next emergency of the day. You quickly forget about your new technician and your long-term customer's breakaway problem. The morning jackhammers from one fire to the next as you deal with all the issues that a Monday always brings.

Suddenly it is 10:30 a.m. and like a lightning bolt you realize you have not heard from your prized qualified new technician. You quickly calculate in your mind that, at best, it's a 45-minute round trip to the site, and the repair, if you are generous, should only take 30 minutes. You give him a little extra time because he might have gotten lost. Because of the hurry to get him into the field, he does not have a phone or radio. You have friends in the industry who use those GPS devices so they can always see where their trucks are, but you feel they are so expensive and not needed because you have such a great group of technicians. Maybe they occasionally do run an errand on company time, but other than the guy you caught doing side jobs because a customer called, you trust them. You think about calling the site but are embarrassed to call and ask if he is there.

Panic Is a Four Letter Word
As the clock moves toward 11:00 a.m., panic slowly starts to set in. You put your embarrassment aside and call the site. For some reason, they are not answering the phone. You start to think how stupid you feel for sending someone out without first checking him out completely. You search your desk for his file to see if you still have a list of references that in your haste to get the “qualified” new technician started, you never checked. You find the file and the two certifications are there. You start to feel better as you see the recognized manufacturer logos and the word “certification” on top. In a sudden panic you check the dates. Well, they are expired but not by that much.

Suddenly you think the old yard truck must have broken down. Oh, you wish you had done a little better planning on truck replacements and maintenance. But they do not give those trucks away. While you can get what you need for most calls for $25,000, you know your competitor adds things like a crane, lift gate and more storage space—things that can drive the price up over $35,000 each. Toss in $15,000 to $20,000 for inventory and $1,500 to $2,000 for a laptop and you grimace as your stomach starts to turn.

You suddenly flash back and remember your qualified new technician. What if he got in an accident? You think back and remember your insurance guy telling you that you needed a driver training program. He told you your insurer would be happy to give you one and help with the training. You remember that your auto insurance really went up last year after that rash of rear ending accidents you had. You never got around to setting that training up with your insurance carrier. They wanted you to take your guys out of the field for three hours! You think of the yard truck again and try to remember if it had an emergency kit with flares, spare tire and jack.

You start to calm down. You figure if the truck had broken down, he would have found a way to call. And if it had been in an accident, it has your company name on the side; surely someone would have called by now. You decide he must have made it to the site.

The Lowdown on Training
You look down and notice you are still holding his manufacturer certifications. You start to wonder if he has ever had any basic site safety training. Forget lockout/tagout, does he even know what an emergency shut off is? Does he know how to park his truck to screen himself from other cars, and if he does, will he? You look over at your shelf where you have that nice safety manual. It looks so good with your company logo and safety plan so prominently displayed. You remember sitting on the PEI Safety Committee and helping put that together. How many years ago was that? You had all those great plans for training and safety meetings.

You suddenly start thinking about that breakaway. Why did it need to be replaced? Was it a drive off? Is it possible that it was far worse than a breakaway? What if they had a leak? This guy is certified on the dispenser but what does he know about tank monitors, leak detectors and electrical? Does he have any clue as to how many gallons of released product is reportable? The last thing you need is another hit to your pollution insurance like you had with that dumb leak detector two years ago. You remember your customer and know he's a sharp operator. You hate relying on him for something this important, but you do.

You look back down at those two certifications and a sense of pride comes over you as you think you have done a good job of getting your guys certified on manufacturers' equipment. Then you think of the cost of those classes and the cost of being out of the field. You figure weeks worth of training costs you between $10,000 and $12,000 depending on how good the technician is at billing his time, costs associated with the class, and where on the planet they hold the training. You notice again the dates on the certificates in your hand and start to wonder where your technicians stand on recertification. With the sense of pride gone, you think about how empty you feel when a technician returns from training, knowing there is so much more training that should be done on the basics like safety, hydraulics, regulations and customer service, to name a few.

Don't Forget the Customer
Oh customer service, everyone talks about it, but nobody ever tells you how to do it. You suddenly flash back to the problem at hand. Your new qualified technician could be at one of your best customer's sites. This customer is not a huge buyer but is a steady buyer and very loyal to you ever since your competitor's technician got into it with him. You start thinking about your new qualified technician and get a little nervous because this customer can be a bit prickly if you don't know how to take him. You remember the qualified new technician reading your company mission statement, but you really had not had a chance to tell him about your company values, history and strategy. What if he got into it with my customer? What is the price of losing that long-time customer?

You toss his certificates back into the file and look at the piles of billing on your desk. You suddenly realize if your qualified new guy ever does return, you are going to have to take some time to train him on your paperwork process and some of your procedures, like returns. You start to wonder what kind of a paperwork guy you have. Is he one of those electronic geniuses who can fix anything and reprogram the space shuttle if needed, all your salespeople go to him and your customers love him, but he can't seem to figure out how to turn in his billing to save his life? Of course you can't get rid of him because he is just “too valuable.”

There but for the Grace of God. . .
Obviously there is no “qualified new technician.” Take a minute and go back and insert one by one each of your technician's names in the place of the qualified new technician. Is it possible you have some work to do? If you are one of the few who feels comfortable that you are where you should be with all of the above items a technician needs to perform on his job, congratulations.

Let me ask one more question. Are your labor rates at the level they should be to provide your customer this qualified technician they are demanding?

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The PEI Journal • First Quarter 2007 • Volume 1, No. 1 • Contents are Copyright © Data Key Communications, Inc.
All rights reserved. • Nothing may be reproduced in whole or part without written permission of the publisher.