Indispensable Advice for Service Technicians

I had some great mentors when I was learning how to service accounts. They had tremendous experience, and they shared it generously.

An indispensable piece of advice was that “you need to close the loop on all action items!” An action item is where you inform the customer that something needs to be done based on observations during a service visit. This could be a task that either you or your customer needs to perform.

Recording a needed course of action on the service report is easy, but to make your service effective, it’s best to report on the next visit whether or not the task was completed. Giving the customer feedback on action items gives credit to the customer/account (or you, if you did the work) and improves the chances of follow-through on future requests. Chalk this all up to human nature! Bottom line: Provide positive reinforcement and things can happen!

Experience has taught me that keeping a customer informed and involved actually increases the chances things will get done. “Close the loop” and communicate the appreciation (or take the credit). I think you will find tasks will get done more quickly―and you might keep more accounts and increase your revenue! Positive feedback is powerful!