Company: $7.8M residential and commercial HVAC service provider.

Problem: Market integrity reputation was impacted by the quality and type of work performed by technicians.

Mistake:

• The company had installed an incentive program for the technicians as a way to reduce employee turnover.
• This strategy included a low entry level pay rate with an incentive to sell more to the customer even when they didn’t need it.
• Also the incentive rate for product sales by the technician paid as much as three times their normal pay rate.

What was done:

• The incentive program for the technicians created a culture that rewarded the technicians to sell items to the customer that they did not need.
• It also rewarded the technician not to perform the services thus resulting in the company selling the customer a new unit prior to when it needed to be replaced.

Results:

• Introduced a new pay structure and incentive plan for the technicians.
• Identified the market pay rate that would allow the company to hire and retain a higher quality technician.
• Pay structure included several different levels of expertise with an appropriate rate based on qualifications, testing and experience.
• Incentivized the technicians to provide exceptional service and customer relations.
• Market reputation turned around reducing customer turnover rate.
• Quality of service dramatically improved resulting in securing new business from referrals. 

Value Driver: By reducing customer turnover, improving employee retention and increasing customer retention rate, marketing, sales and hiring expenses were significantly reduced, the value of the company experienced a sizable increase and a much improved reputation, directly increasing value.