How to Get Staff to Fight for Customers

An HVAC Contractor in New Hampshire asked:

“My CSRs are too passive on the phone. How do I get them to fight for customers to book appointments?”

Professional customer service trainer Erica Leonor started by explaining that as a baseline skill, CSRs need to be able to navigate the first objection on their own.

When a CSR first tries to book a customer for an appointment, customers often will tell a CSR that they are going to ‘call around’ or something similar, and the CSR will hang up and wait for a call back.

“We shouldn’t ever let the customer hang up the phone like that,” said Leonor. “If it gets to that point … first thing we should do is ask them, ‘what’s preventing you from moving forward with an appointment for today?'”

Leonor explained that it is important that CSRs get customers talking specific issues they feel are important, instead of giving a vague excuse. Then, a CSR can address those concerns and attempt to move forward with booking once again.

“If we never ask what their expectation is, then we are never going to meet it,” said Leonor.

Erica Leonor is a national speaker, trainer, and success coach in the Home Services Industry. She enjoys traveling the country to help business owners and their teams thrive through her classes and workshops. Leonor currently serves on the Board of Directors of Women in HVACR and is also the Director of Business Development at GoodLeap.

Our faculty members have also answered questions on other topics related to system sales, including Training Service Techs in Customer Service and What Should Technicians Do Before Leaving a Service Call?.

Hear more from our “Ask The Experts” faculty members on “Cracking The Code,” our weekly web series.

Contractor University members can click here to log in to their member dashboard and submit a question through the Ask the Expert portal.