Recently I’ve seen quite a bit of discussion on whether service companies should outsource their service techs using a “Rent-A-Tech” Model as a cost savings measure or a “wait and see” policy as they determine which way the economy is moving. The argument for utilizing temporary services technicians to augment your service crew seems fraught with challenges and in my opinion a short term solution in what should be a strategic opportunity for service companies to grow.

Short Term Perspective

One might argue that bringing on a “rent-a-tech” provides a quick affordable way to bring seasoned service tech experience to your team. However, just because they are experienced doesn’t mean you don’t invest in bringing them up to speed on your products, services and customer service approach.  True their years of service experience well expedite the process but what happens when they leave?  Your investment walks out the door – forcing you to start the hiring/training process over again.

Even in the temporary case where you might need to augment your staff what extra processes do you have to have in place to ensure knowledge of a customer situation is transferred from your “rent-a-tech” to your team.  This can be particularly challenging especially if the “rent-a-tech” takes the lead role on a service project.

Doesn’t it make more sense to build a solid permanent team that understands and believes in your vision, philosophy and corporate culture? Yes, there is a cost to having a good service team. And yes you run the risk of having them leave to your competition. But as one retired service company owner told me, “I invested in my guys. I paid for training. I paid higher wages than the market. In the end, I earned a loyal team. I only lost three guys in 18 years. That helped me weather the bad times and benefit in the good times”.

Cost Center or Profit Generator

I think there is huge fallacy in viewing your service team as a cost center. Yes, there is a cost associated with having them on your team. But their cost should be generating revenue.

Perhaps it’s time to look inward. What are you doing as a business owner to ensure higher gross margins on services. Are you working to improve one-time fix rates? What processes are in place to reduce wind-shield time? Does your team have the parts and equipment on hand eliminating additional time and fuel costs to make trips to the warehouse or parts store?  These are few keys areas where costs begin to cannibalize margins quickly.

Customer Facing = Sales Role

In our shop, we have a saying, “Everyone is a sales guy”. That’s right as a service tech you are a sales man.  While service techs don’t always have the direct responsibility for generating new sales, they are the face of your company. How they treat the customer, how they present themselves, whether they are on-time and how they explain service requirements to the customer ALL are determining factors of earning a long-term or a “one-and-done” customer. Properly trained services techs both in service expertise and customer care can and should be one of your most powerful profit generating machines.

Building Trust with You

While the “Rent-A-Tech” may provide great service to your customer. Ask yourself,  ”Who is building trust with my customer?”  Is it the “Rent-A-Tech” who could be with a competitor next time the customer needs service or is it a member of your team who knows the customer and has serviced their equipment before?  ”Customer memory” is a huge asset to your service company. Recently I called a service tech for an HVAC problem. How much confidence do you think I had in his recommendations when he opened the door to the HVAC room and said, “Oh I remember we discussed this as a design flaw due to your basement configuration. You wanted to hold off on changing this before. Do you want to tackle that now?”

Are you fostering an environment that keeps the brain trust of your customers and their uniques situations in your company?

These “intangibles” are key to building trust and creating long term customers.

What are your goals?

Admittedly there are scenarios that may require you to augment service crews – seasonal workers, landing a big job, etc.  But you need to carefully weigh the impact this temp employees will have on your customers, your service team and business goals.

Jody Sedrick
Follow me on Twitter: @jodysedrick and @zenewareinc and @zenewaremobile
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ZenTouch is a product of Zenware. Zenware is a Boise Idaho based company that specializes In custom mobile software development, custom iOS development, custom Android development, ipad software development, iphone software development, custom web development, web hosting and Saas based work order management software.