If you’ve ever trained for a triathlon, you know a triathlon contains three separate sports: swimming, biking, and running. And while most triathlon athletes naturally excel in one sport over another, they still have to perform strongly during each leg of the race to win.

That’s a lot like leading a business in the trades — when you’re racing towards success, your marketing, call center, and field teams are like the three sports in a triathlon. They all have to perform strongly in order for your business to thrive.

The First Leg of Your Trades Triathlon – Marketing

Marketing is the strategy and tactics you use to get your customers to know you, like you, and trust you enough to do repeat business and refer you.

To win at marketing, you need a balanced annual plan. You want to be proactive vs. reactive. A balanced annual marketing plan allows you to navigate any new conditions thrown your way, whether call volume suddenly drops, an ice storm hits, or peak season is the busiest it’s ever been. A plan communicates who you are, what sets you apart from your competition, and why customers should choose you.

• Digital marketing is used to acquire new customers. It’s cost-effective, customizable, trackable, and efficient. But, if you rely too heavily on digital marketing, you lose opportunities with certain consumers and with your current customers.
• Retention is profitable and important. Your current customers, on average, spend 33% more with you than new customers. According to Bain & Company, a 5% increase in customer retention will result in between a 25% and 95% increase in profits. Yet too much focus here puts you at risk of not bringing in new customers.
• Branding increases brand recognition, improves customer loyalty, generates positive word-of-mouth marketing, and helps lower price sensitivity. However, focusing too much on branding will limit messaging that drives a call to action.

When you layer all these tactics, however, you develop a well-rounded marketing plan.

All of marketing’s efforts funnel down to a goal and a role. Marketing’s goal is to lead the consumer to a set of beliefs and expectations about your company. Marketing’s role is to get the phone to ring – to bring in the leads.

Performing well during the marketing leg of your trades triathlon puts you in a position to win.

The Next Leg – The Call Center

The call center is the voice of your company. Call center employees need to meet the expectations marketing has set and deliver exceptional service. Using top-of-the-line scripting while remaining personable, pleasurable, and professional allows call center employees to lead the customer through a five-star experience.

Just like for a triathlon, consistent training and coaching is necessary for all employees in the call center. Your team’s pride for their company shines through when they use value statements and ensure the customer will make the right choice by choosing you. Your call center’s mission is to stay steady on the course, remain positive, and say “yes” to customers whenever they can.

Once the call center has done its job, dispatch picks up the responsibility of caring for customers with consistent update calls. It’s vital to prove to customers that their time and business are valuable to your company. As they shift gears to best juggle multiple customers and multiple field teams, dispatch employees must play a delicate game of prioritizing urgent services and aligning them with the field member equipped to meet the customer’s need. Dispatching should be tracked and coached throughout the day to ensure the right decisions are being made for the customers and the business.

If everything’s been handled correctly, the customer will feel good about choosing your company, and you’ll be ready for the final leg of your trades triathlon.

Last Leg – The Field Team

The service technician is the person who brings all the work your marketing and call center teams have done into the home stretch. Service techs have direct, face-to-face interaction with homeowners, and it’s essential that they’re properly educated, trained, and well-practiced in both soft skills and technical skills. Field team members start with an intentional warm-up – they mentally prepare for their day, ensuring they don't pre-qualify, judge, or limit their mindset when they come into a customer’s house.

Instead, their job is to work on the set appointment, look for opportunities beyond the set appointment, and increase and build value within the customer's experience. How service techs show up is key. A highly developed service tech will demonstrate empathy and expertise, as well as set clear expectations. When customers know what’s going to happen, they become much more involved and participatory during the appointment. The goal of a service tech should be to go at a customer’s pace, helping them explore the entirety of their home through a professional lens, seeing what a homeowner may have accepted as “how it’s always been” and converting that to possibilities. Asking the right questions increases confidence for customers and eliminates the idea that service techs are simply looking for selling opportunities.

From there, techs can present options that provide clarity for the homeowner and address those identified (or potential) concerns or needs. Clarity and relevance are the goal at this point. Field team members are making sure the customer knows that they have the right tech for the job, the right company, and the right solution at the right time.

The execution of the job should offer a “white-glove” experience – clean, proper, and thorough. The last step is walking a customer through the new and final product your field team has delivered. As your company crosses the finish line of the trades triathlon, you know that no team is fully responsible for the win – it took everyone to win the race.

This piece was co-authored by a Nexstar Network team — Melanie Tauring, marketing coach manager, Shannon Rocha, customer experience coach, and Mark Wall, business coach.