I think our field guys could help us with leads, but I’m not sure how to go about getting them involved. They see clients all day long, and I’m sure there are opportunities for us to make proposals. Any suggestions?
Field staff, the eyes and ears on the ground for most companies. It’s crucial that they have good connections with clients, and that clients see them as helpful. Figuring out how to track the leads, recognize, and reward results can be challenging. It’s important to make sure that the rules are clear as to what’s appropriate, and where to draw the line. Set a goal to add to this year’s top and bottom line by increasing the depth of what your company offers to your existing clients.
Often we focus on having field people be expert at what they do. It’s worth it to spend time building observation and communication skills as well. Field staff are more involved with meeting customer needs than probably anyone else in your company. They can provide valuable information, and form bonds with customers.
Spend time observing how well people in the field communicate. Are they clear and fact based? Do they take notes? Do they have a good follow up routine? Are they polite, respectful, positive?
On the job it’s easy to get caught up in the task of the moment. Fix this, repair that. It’s important to remember why someone is out on a service call – because a human being had a problem / request that they wanted addressed. Solving that need means more than just doing what needs to be done. Communicate effectively – what was done, why the need arose, what else to consider.
Train your field staff to reach beyond the task. Locate the key contact for the job, inform that person of when the team arrived, what’s been accomplished, any follow up actions that are needed, when they’re leaving. Keep this up, and you’re well on your way to creating lasting relationships with the people who request your services and pay your bills.
Provide a daily tracking log for your people to fill out and send back to the office. Keep a record of who’s sending in what kinds of requests. Be sure that the log gets referred to the proper person to follow up for additional sales opportunity.
Identify who are your best players in the game of identifying additional needs. Talk in staff meetings about what they’re doing. Talk as a group about what everyone else can do to model their behaviors.
One question that may come up is, “If I’m identifying leads, will I get paid for them?”. There are a couple ways to go with this question. The first answer is that by identifying leads, field crews are doing what they can to insure there’s future work for them to do. Staying employed and busy is a key concern in today’s economy, and it’s everyone’s job to pitch in to make that happen.
If you want to go further, consider a reward and recognition program. You can track leads, have an award for the leader of the month. You can assign points based on the quality and quantity of work produced, and give people rewards in relation to the point system.
Make sure everyone understands what kinds of work leads are appropriate, and what to avoid. Steer clear of the mentality that any work is good work. Train your people to look for quality over quantity in order to best serve your customers’ needs.
Make it clear that you’re not looking for your field personnel to become sales people. If someone in the field is especially interested in moving into sales, that’s an entirely different conversation to be had. In the meantime, point out that bringing in leads is only the door opener to additional business opportunities.
Building a program around improving what a company does to serve a customer can result in top and bottom line revenue for your company. Add up the number of current customers you have, and how much revenue you get from them in a typical year. Set a goal to increase that by being more proactive in the field. Challenge yourself and your employees to hit that goal.
