Previous articles in this series have illustrated how important it is to show every aspect of the technician''s full contribution to the company, and so to be fair to the technician the system must take all circumstances into account. When there''s something outside the technician''s control that stops or blocks their contribution, adjustments must be automatically made so that the contribution isn''t minimized, or even eclipsed, but fully shown.

Adjusting the technician''s daily goals to the opportunities they actually had is critical for tech buy-in. That means reducing their goal when they are transferred to another department and/or required to attend meetings. It means taking into consideration enhanced service calls so if the diagnostic goes longer than it should, but the technician gets a sales lead or sells or renews a maintenance agreement, then that call shows an enhanced service call and the technician is given credit for it. If their maintenance call goes long because they were replacing a part or installing an accessory, they need to be given credit for their extra effort.

These kinds of things need to be considered in order to ensure full technician buy-in. However, even with full technician buy-in there is still another basic element absolutely necessary for service success and that is motivation and peer recognition.

The problem has been that once a company gets a real taste of how important ProfitSmart performance is and how well things run when ProfitSmart performance is being driven, then companies try to keep the technicians'' ProfitSmart performance pumped up through special contests and programs.

Although there''s nothing wrong with contests and programs, the problem appears when there''s a "new contest" every month. The technicians eventually begin to overload so you increase the dollar amount per unit, or the size of the prize, and soon enough even that stops working. Contests stop being motivational because:

• Not everyone is motivated by money;
• The same one or two technicians win every contest;
• Technicians get tired of being pushed month after month;
• Program results aren''t always perceived to be accurate, consistent or timely so you have a hard time keeping the technicians'' attention and interest;
• A good contest or program isn''t easy to track and administer. They take a good deal of time to think through and write.

Also, a poorly thought out contest will start strong with good enthusiasm and buy-in, only to backfire when the wheels fall off halfway through, giving the company the opposite result-disengaged, hostile technicians who are leery to be involved with "the next great contest."

Not only has it been impossible to create a program which plays to the strengths of all your technicians, but the longest practical duration a contest or program should run is between two and three months. After that, the technicians need at least a one-month break. Two months between contests is even better if you want them to re-engage with full enthusiasm.

But what about the time between programs, the three-to-six months per year when ProfitSmart performance isn''t being emphasized. The company can''t stand a hiatus from ProfitSmart service-driven cash flow that long.

One possible plan is to create a NASCAR-like program. The concept is based on a points system similar to NASCAR in that the champion doesn''t win every race. The techs earn "championship points" very month based on their performance. They will earn extra points in those categories in which they excel. And since all key performance is converted to a point value, you basically have a universal currency that can be used for motivation, peer recognition and rewards.

The key performance should be measured and converted to points in several categories, all of which have solid industry defaults. You can change any or all of them to best fit your company goals, business plan and marketing structure. Here are a few ideas:

• What percentage of their goal did they achieve?;
• Overall sales leads generated;
• Sales leads generated on old equipment;
• The number of maintenance agreements sold;
• Completion Ratio-how often was the job completed on the initial visit?;
• Maintenance Performance-did the tech perform within the maintenance time allotted by the plan?;
• Or even the number of hours billed based on budget.

The company may even wish to add a section for "attaboys" to reward techs for outstanding service to the customer that is significantly above what might be expected. And finally, just like NASCAR, there are year-to-date point standings for each technician so you can have a strong finish to your year''s races.

Each month, the top three technicians should be listed in "Victory Lane" along with their points earned by category, year-to-date cup standings and ranking. Companies use points in many different ways:

• Maintaining a certain point level determines next years pay increase;
• Points earned determine bonus multipliers;
• Sport catalogs and brown goods catalogs have items available based on points instead of dollars;
• Formal training;
• Who gets the next new truck;
• Jackets, hats, patches, shirts earned at different point levels.

Another important aspect of this type of program is that so often the technicians'' key performance indicators have been set and measured in dollars, such as billable revenue per hour, average invoice amount, revenue per month, or revenue per overall hour worked. If the technicians are properly lead, managed and supported by the manager and support team then the technicians'' correct revenues and profits will always be there. If, however, the technicians'' labor is leveraged poorly leaving them with low billing opportunity hours then their revenue will fall short and they will fail.

There is a two-fold problem with dollars being the measurement for the technician. First, many technicians don''t understand what it takes to run a business. They''re not businesspeople-they''re technicians. They see that you pay them $20 per hour but you charge them out at $150 per hour or that their average invoice is $200 or that they have an average monthly revenue of $15,000 or $20,000. For them, all of these measurements can only mean one thing: They''re making someone else rich. And so, without meaning to, many contractors have created their next competitor, year after year.

Secondly, by not having the financial understanding of what it takes to run a business, the technician thinks the company is overcharging and taking advantage of the customer. This thinking leads to under billing and fighting any price increase. Remember when we set our hourly rate? For every $1 per hour pay raise your technician gets, your street rate needs go up between $5 and $6 per hour. The answer is to measure and drive the technician on points, not dollars.

There are three very important key performances that are often rewarded with spiff dollars. They are maintenance agreements renewed, maintenance agreements sold and sales leads.

If you haven''t implemented an effective spiff program it''s time you did, even though there will be a huge investment of overhead to administer properly. A properly designed incentive program will increase ProfitSmart performance.

Although all this information is of significant value when it comes to motivation and recognition of technician performance, it is very difficult to track. Some of the items that were discussed could be tracked on a spreadsheet, but it could be time consuming and difficult to collect accurate information. Accounting programs can''t measure this kind of information either. There is an answer, however. It is a program called ProfitMaxx which is part of an overall program called Service Manager''s University. Give us a call to get more information or go to our Web site and signup for a FREE Webinar on the program.

Does your company need to learn, or review, the basics of what it takes to run a profitable company? If so give some serious thought to attending Grandy & Associates three-day "Basic Business Boot Camp" being held at the Stanton, Calif. headquarters of the PHCC of Orange Riverside and San Bernardino Counties Jan. 9-11. This is the only program we currently have scheduled on the west coast over the next year. Sign up today while space is still available. Call us at (800) 432-7932 for more details and/or check out our web site at www.GrandyAssociates.com for more details. You can even register on line is you wish! I hope to see many of your in the class.