The Daily Special

Is there a diner, or local family restaurant in your town or neighborhood that you frequent? When you walk in the door, they typically have a chalk board with the daily specials listed. Sometimes it is a new dish the cook (or chef in fancier places) is trying out. If it is received well, they will determine if it should be added to the menu to give you another reason to visit them more frequently.

Many times it is something already on the menu. It has been there for years, and nothing is different including the price! Well, who said a “special” had to be priced differently? Many people hear the word “special” and think the price has been lowered or it is on “sale”. Well, it is always on sale. Somehow the advertisers have made us think that if it is on “sale” that the price has been reduced. It could be the restaurant had too much chicken and they needed to sell it or lose it.

Typically, people who go to the same restaurant, order the same thing and specials will direct them to another part of the menu, so they will try something different. Well, the whole purpose of bringing this up is, what is your daily special?

You have gone into the customers home; taken them through the how great your company is; diagnosed the problem; quoted them a price; sold the basic repair job; and can’t seem to add anything else to that ticket. And the boss is all over your case about increasing your ticket average. Well, maybe sales skills is something we are going to have to work on, but anyone can have a special. What is your daily special?

I always loved being in the customer’s home doing the inspection phase. It really did not matter what I found (and I always found something), I always had a “special” on one of the items they needed done. “Mrs. Smith, it just so happens we have that on special this month….”

If all we are going to do is show up at our customer’s home, and repair only what the customer thinks is broken, we really have not done our job very well for our customer or our employer. I say this because more times than not, our technicians walk by all kinds of additional work and it could be theirs, if they would only ask. At the end of the job, you think you have made a great sacrifice by asking, “Do you know of anything else I can do for you?” Generally, the customer just wants you finished so they can continue with their day. Ninety nice percent of the time, they are going to say NO.

We are supposed to be professionals. We should anticipate, based on our knowledge, what may need attention. It is also fruitless to tell them your specials the minute you walk in the front door. We are not a restaurant. Remember, in the customer’s mind, if it isn’t broke – don’t fix it. However, did you take the time to tell the customer about our membership program and everything it can do for them? How the annual inspection? A little preventative maintenance could save them a lot of inconvenience and potential damage to their home? We should always be talking about our memberships and those benefits to our customers.

Being in the plumbing trade, one of my specials was always stainless steel braided washing machine hoses. Everybody needs them to protect their home. There is one for your trade also.

Practice with the other technicians at your shop. Review your price guide, do the inspections, and always have a “daily special”. Now, what’s yours?

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