Increase Sales Opportunities by Shifting the Technician Mindset

It’s the busy season, and your employees have plenty to do. You know they’re working hard, but the question is whether they are working smart?

You’re probably wondering about the difference between the two. Being busy for the sake of being busy means that someone isn’t working to their full potential. They may be going through the motions to accomplish just enough to get through the day. But what if all it took was a shift in mindset to move from surviving to thriving when it comes to sales for your pest control business?

In his presentation in a PCT Business Booster Webinar, Mark Stewart, key account executive at PestRoutes, provides insights into how to utilize technology and the power of a mindset shift in technicians to produce sales for your pest control business. When we think of sales as sharing and helping, it turns out that we’re all salespeople. This is particularly true for your pest control technicians. Empowering your technicians to adapt an educator’s mindset is the key to selling without a traditional sales team. That may sound like a challenge, but with some strategic coaching and specific steps to implement, your business can make sales and grow—even when sales is the last thing that people want to take responsibility for. Sometimes the opportunity for growth that we need intersects with what we’re doing our best to avoid.

Job vs. Opportunity

“That’s not my job!” is a phrase all too often heard and thought in the business world. Perhaps you’ve even heard, “I’m just a technician—I didn’t come to make sales.” Employees often feel the desire to stay comfortably within the bounds that their title lends itself to. A pest control technician takes care of pests, so what else could they possibly have to offer? The answer to that is “plenty!” When people are asked to talk about the difference between a job and a career, one of the things that often distinguishes the two is the opportunity for growth.

This is where you, as a leader and a coach, come into play. There is an opportunity for growth, and with that opportunity comes responsibility and the need for a new mindset—the growth mindset of an educator. A growth mindset is one that is always open to learning, expansion, and building its capacity to do and be greater. Empower your technicians to learn and understand that they’re actually much more than just technicians—they’re educators. As educators, there is ample opportunity to teach and share.

Unique Opportunities Equal Unique Services

It is important to recognize that each of your technicians is unique. They all have unique gifts, talents, and capabilities. Some may have specialized knowledge or skills over others, and each one has been working in the industry for a different amount of time. As a result, it makes sense that because they bring unique things to the table, while they all may be technicians, they all shouldn’t necessarily be doing the exact same thing. This is a technique we’ll call differentiated opportunity. Each technician has the opportunity to share, but the opportunities look different. So, if a technician is just starting out, you can provide him with the opportunity to share a simple, set amount of services. Then, as he learns and experiences more, you can gradually release him to offer a greater selection of services.

Good Software Fosters Opportunity

Educators educate. Not only is that their job, but it’s their mission and obligation. They learn new techniques and implement the latest tools to share the information that will move their students forward and get the results. Your pest control technicians can and should be doing the same. However, like many things in your business, learning and using innovative tools and techniques is something that starts with you as a leader. Yes, it may require an investment in time and money, but a mobile technology platform that offers optimization, reporting, and so much more is a smart investment that pays off, and this is one that will help your business’s bottom line.

Look for the Opportunity

When a technician finishes completing a service, that is his opportunity to then share with the neighbors. Who else in the neighborhood needs that technician’s knowledge and expertise? To answer that question, one of the first things you need to know is who your current customers are in the area. Technically, your technician could walk door-to-door to figure this out, but that would be inefficient, and it could make your business look unprofessional. A business should know who and where its customers are after all, right?

The right software can help make this happen. Once the technicians know who the current customers are, this will guide how they proceed in the near and distant future. A large part of sharing and educating is building good relationships made up of trust and follow-up. An effective software will show who the technician has visited previously, who to visit again, and who has never been approached, thereby creating the opportunity for a brand new customer. When you as a leader make it easy for your employees to make sales through educating, they’re much more likely to do it because it feels natural and goes along with what they are already doing.

Share the Opportunity

Your technicians are in the business of doing, but if you want to increase sales, you have to help them to reframe their minds to be in the business of educating. It begins in the mind with the words they say to themselves. This will empower them to boldly and confidently step into their role of providing a top-tier service that helps others to live healthy lives, and in turn, positively affecting their daily behaviors and customer interactions. Sharing the services that your company offers and the expertise they have, along with answering the questions and solving the problems that your customers may not even have known that they had, is what will separate your pest control business from the many others that are around you.

When technicians share the knowledge and the services they have to offer, it becomes more than just eliminating pests. It’s about providing the opportunity for customers to live better, healthier lives, and that is something that the average person is not going to be able to turn down.