If you are in a position to grow your own workforce and hire for character and train for skill, you need to think beyond technical training. You’ll want to make sure you’re balancing task-based skills with the practical application of customer service best practices. In residential service, the soft skills are equally important to technical mastery. Here are five things you can incorporate with NexTech Academy’s online technical training to make sure your vocation training program attracts high-caliber apprentices.
Practice The Nexstar Service System
Nexstar Network has fine-tuned our customer service training into the six steps of the Nexstar Service System. Why have a system? Because it makes the attributes of amazing customer service easy to remember, and therefore, easy to implement.
Focus On Soft Skills Early
Make sure that you’re not treating customer service training as an after-thought. Often, residential home service technicians focus on their soft skills after they’ve mastered technical skills. The NexTech Academy curriculum approaches this differently, having apprentices learn their customer service skills as they progress through their technical training. The goal is that the student is more in tune with why they are performing tasks: to protect the safety and comfort of homeowners in their community.
Shadow Senior Technicians
Spending time with senior technicians in the field will help students get the flavor of what a day in the job is really like. It also provides a way for them to feel more connected to your business, build relationships with their coworkers, observe customer service and witness how technicians problem solve while on the job.
Role Play Customer Interactions
Practice can eliminate a lot of jitters and make technicians confident before they go on their first service call. NexTech Academy has built many role-play scenarios within the online technical training curriculum, so students can practice on their own. You might want to take this a step further in your business and have apprentices role play with senior technicians.
Create A Safe Space To Provide Feedback
Beyond role-playing, you will want to make sure that you’ve created an environment where the apprentice feels that they can try, make mistakes and get constructive criticism to get better. Make sure you aren’t expecting perfection on the first try! The NexTech Academy curriculum has created reflection assignments that make it easier for training leaders and apprentices to navigate these types of conversations.
