Boosting Sales Through Service: Should Technicians Be Salespeople?

How companies can remain stable yet flexible in times of VUCA

By coining the acronym VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity), the world of business has found a handy way to describe a world in a constant state of change. But finding solutions to cope with this upheaval is more difficult, as companies in every sector need to identify ways of staying agile, flexible, and resilient even in times of crisis.

At the management level, ambidexterity represents a promising approach for dealing with challenges. This term refers to the ability to use both right and left hands equally. In the context of a company’s management, ambidexterity means:

• Achieving stability by optimizing existing processes (exploitation)
• Simultaneously driving innovation (exploration)

The principle of pairing exploitation with exploration can also be transferred over to other areas - such as aftersales service in the machine manufacturing sector.

Can service teams support sales?

Many machine and plant manufacturers are currently working on the exploitation side of things by digitalizing service processes and building on their aftersales as a source of revenue. But what opportunities do they have in terms of exploration?

A technician’s work involves plenty of opportunity to explore, as digitalization has led to ongoing changes in their job description for years now. But one thing many companies don’t have on their radar is that, in addition to improving their IT skills with the aim of driving digitalization in their field, service professionals can also make a key contribution to the success of their company’s sales.

Can service teams function as a second sales team?

A quantitative study carried out in partnership with a German-Japanese machine manufacturer looked at whether support from a company’s service technicians could boost sales. Both service and sales employees interact and communicate with the customer. However, unlike their sales colleagues, technicians often have an even better insight into the technical and commercial aspects that make their customers unique.

And because technicians also have technical expertise as well as years of practical experience, they can give operators good advice on their service callouts and tell them exactly which service or product is the best solution for their current challenges.

Nonetheless, these valuable cross and upselling opportunities often get missed in practice. That’s because many service technicians don’t see it as their job to talk sales with customers, or they’re worried about losing their trust.

Study shows that sales prospects are often greater than expected

The machine manufacturer whose sales activities were analyzed in the study uses a CRM as their central sales system. With customers’ permission, the company’s technicians use the CRM to highlight potential sales opportunities to their sales colleagues in the office, such as service products and add-ons like maintenance kits. If the lead is converted into an order, the technician who sent in the tip gets a bonus - and the customer is happy to have reduced the risk of machine downtime.

Quick overview: relevant study results for aftersales

The following three key results of the study are especially relevant for machine manufacturers:

• The research project looked at how technicians see themselves and their job. The results showed that good service is always their top focus, even if certain callouts are primarily geared towards sales.
• The authors analyzed around 130,000 service callouts and found that customers were particularly likely to accept a sales offer in cases where their issue was not successfully resolved. Because machine downtimes are a critical cost factor - and dealing with them is an operator’s top priority. If a callout is successful, on the other hand, customers often don’t see any need for an upgrade or other services.
• That being said, many technicians don’t trust themselves to make a sales pitch, particularly if the job hasn’t been completed. But the study showed that those who nonetheless recommended products or services were often successful - particularly at large companies.

What do service technicians need in order to support sales?

Organizations that are looking to create closer links between aftersales and service should think about the following:

• Aligning service and sales teams: Technicians and sales professionals need a seamless flow of information between their teams, so no sales lead goes untapped.
• Single source of truth for information: According to the study, service technicians can support sales particularly effectively when they have an in-depth understanding of the customer as well as a good overview of the company’s products and services.
• Focus on sales: Technicians can learn important selling skills by taking part in sales training, but the study’s authors say that “learning by doing” is the better way. By taking this approach, technicians working in the field can gradually get a feel for when a sales pitch makes sense and when not.

The study’s results show that many service experts make incorrect assumptions about whether customers are open to a sale. Help them overcome their doubts and encourage them to explore. The practical insights gained in the study show that this can pay off - particularly when the offered products and services are a good answer to the customer’s problems.

In order to offer operators added value, your service team therefore needs not just their wealth of experience but also an overview of various data such as:

• Warranty agreements
• Previous service callouts
• Machine and spare parts information

An aftersales platform provides all the information your team needs to offer the right products and services for customers’ current challenges.

Technical sales support

Aftersales ambidexterity isn’t about retraining service teams so they can act as sales reps. The focus here is building on existing strengths while also being able to pursue new approaches.

The goal is to bring together a service team that can identify and seize sales opportunities at the right time and always has the right information to hand so they can find the best solution for the customer.

And you’ll find the software solutions you need to do this at Quanos: Tell us about your aftersales challenges, and we’ll tell you how you can get on top of them. Get in touch with us now!