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Training: An investment or cost?

Aug. 17, 2016
We want to ensure that our customers receive a consistent, professional experience My goal when training is to always keep in the back of my mind, how will this (fill in the blank) make my customer feel?  Our team trains daily on every subject imaginable  

People unfamiliar with my company ask why we invest so much time, energy and money in training. When trying to formulate an easy answer — because the answers are myriad — it all boils down to this. We want to ensure that our customers receive a consistent, professional experience that will make them want to use us the next time they need a service we provide. Whether that customer is talking to us on the phone or in person, we want them to always get the same experience. We want them to tell their friends how good it felt to do business with us.

A wise person told me years ago that it is not the broken pipes or broken air conditioners that pay our bills, it is the customer.

As humans, we are creatures led by our emotions. Whether we want to admit it or not, ultimately how we feel about something will dictate what we will do and how we will react in any given situation. Knowing that, my goal when training is to always keep in the back of my mind, how will this (fill in the blank) make my customer feel? 

Our team trains daily on every subject imaginable: product knowledge, how to use the software on our iPads, how to complete paperwork, how to process warranty claims, safety, communication skills, the importance of cleanliness in the vehicles, our personal appearance, and especially the work that we perform for our customers, and so on. If we do it, we are going to train on how to do it consistently.

Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Why do we invest so much time, energy and money in training? To develop habits that will cause us to perform consistently, making our customers call us over and over.

Larry Thornton is the president of N & L Investment Corp, and owns and operates One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating® and Benjamin Franklin Plumbing® franchises in Arizona and Nevada. With multiple territories covering a large geographical area, and five physical offices, Larry and his team have learned how to train and be trained by conducting daily video conferences.

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