Episode Overview
Several factors might be holding back a commercial services department. Business Development Resources Senior Service Coach Jennifer Shooshanian believes the most important and fixable component is your team.
“You can’t make change or progress [in an organization] if you don't have people coming along with you on that journey,” she says.
Shooshanian believes that process begins with opening up the conversations with employees and taking the time to really listen to issues, concerns and complaints.
“Sometimes building relationships calls for a reset,” she says. “For that, leadership needs to be positive and consistent.”
Once the right team is in place, Shooshanian says employees have to know that the company is in business to make a profit every day.
The bottom line: “A commercial maintenance salesperson needs to be a hunter,” she says. “They have to be proactively seeking out those relationships,” Shooshanian says. “Not somebody who sits back and waits for the work to come to them.”
Along the way, if a company is in transition, or if they just make a mistake, Shooshanian says customers are okay with that.
“It’s how you recover that really matters,” she says.
Similarly, business doesn’t always materialize on a salesperson’s first attempt.
So if 80% of sales are made on the fifth to the 12th contact, what needs to be in place, Shooshanian asks?
“Make sure you have a good follow-up on any recommendations that are not being done,” she says.
Jennifer Shooshanian recently joined ServiceTitan’s Jackie Aubel on the “Toolbox for the Trades” podcast, which included Shooshanian’s thoughts on:
[2:48] Why documenting your organization’s processes is crucial
[16:01] How to build a strong commercial service department
[20:14] Fix sales first: Why pricing comes before everything else
[29:29] The power of commercial maintenance agreements
[44:28] If you make a mistake, fix it and be transparent
Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:
To hear more stories from the trades, subscribe to “Toolbox for the Trades” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, or anywhere you get podcasts.
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