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HVAC School - For Techs, By Techs


Aug 18, 2017

Todd Liles of Service Excellence Training joins the podcast. He talks about techs who shouldn't be on commission, how to make the most of your career, and facial hair profiling.

Todd's skillset was mixed; he had some technical knowledge, sales experience, and communication skills. He took those skills into training, and he started his own business based on his skills; his first business didn't pan out, but he founded Service Excellence Training and has grown quite a bit. Todd develops technicians by teaching them best practices, which also boosts sales.

In the past, some technicians have judged Todd because of his sales background; technicians and salespeople may have negative views of each other due to bad experiences with them. If we want technicians and salespeople to improve their lives, we need to be able to listen to each other and set aside our biases.

Some technicians may resent performance-based pay and argue that it gives sales techs a motive to take advantage of others. The truth is that most of us are simply hardworking people who want to do the right thing for customers. Working for performance-based pay doesn't suddenly make them unethical. In any case, techs can maximize their value by doing best practices and benchmarking the system; collecting data will make a technician more effective and more invested in the client's system and overall best interest.

When it comes to sales, facial hair profiling is very common. The clean-shaven look is a staple of sales technicians, but the training is much more important for sales success.

Todd and Bryan also discuss:

  • Service Excellence Training core truths of service
  • Having a rough childhood and making good vs. bad choices
  • Flat-rate vs. performance-based pay
  • Disorganized technicians and where they might shine
  • Dealing with paperwork
  • Uneducated technicians vs. shysters 
  • Facial hair policies

 

Learn more about Todd's work at servextra.com.

If you have an iPhone, subscribe to the podcast HERE, and if you have an Android phone, subscribe HERE.