"There has to be a balance," says John Conway on training technicians

John Conway is the COO of Redwood Services, the Memphis-based home services platform with 16 contractor partners nationwide.

He’s calm, collected, and a straight shooter — and was generous enough to give us a few minutes on a topic he’s very passionate about.

Why train technicians on both hard and soft skills?

• I can teach someone how to fix an air conditioner all day long, but if they can’t hold a conversation with a customer, it’s never gonna work; these businesses aren’t non-profits.

• It’s critical for service companies to train both. If you’re constantly training soft skills, technicians can get irritated. But if you continually grow them technically, they appreciate it and know you’re investing in them. There has to be a balance. 

• [One of our partners] has technical training with their HVAC service techs, led by their technical trainer, every Tuesday morning, and soft skills training — on how to speak to customers, for example — every Thursday morning.

What should a contractor consider when thinking about soft skills training?

• I’d encourage them not to reinvent the wheel. There’s [already] so much in that area; there are best practice groups with plug-and-play training for you.

• [And success] has a lot to do with the trainer’s credibility. If someone’s never turned a wrench or made a payroll, techs can see through that pretty quickly. The other thing I’d say is you have to keep these trainings pretty short and [focused on] a specific topic.

What are good topics for soft skill training?

• How to treat customers. Remember, you’re a guest in a place where homeowners don’t normally invite people other than friends and family.

• Some can be as simple as, “Where do I park my truck? How do I knock on the door? What’s the first thing I say when a customer opens the door?” 

• There’s a certain amount of anxiety customers have about a service company coming into their home, and there are things technicians can do to either inflate or deflate that anxiety — we call it the “anxiety balloon.”

• What deflates the balloon is really just having a process. For example, letting them know you won’t do any work before giving them options or that your goal is to deliver a five-star experience. 

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