Case Study: Plumbing Service

This project involved improving the customer service skills, interpersonal skills, and sales closing ratios of the plumbers.

The employees were paid minimum wage but received a commission on sales that resulted in the top 5 of the 20 plumbers making over $100,000 per year, 10 plumbers earning between $50,000 and $70,000 per year, and 5 plumbers earned significantly below $50,000 per year.

Having extensively analyzed the sales tactics of the top 5 plumbers, we were able to isolate the best practices of their closing techniques and incorporate those techniques into a training program.

Before the training program, the top plumbers closed about 7 out of 10 clients, while the middle group closed about 4 out of 10, and the bottom group closed an average of 2 out of 10 clients.

After the program, there was relatively no change in the closing ratios of the top plumbers, as was expected.

In fact, we used the top plumbers as “instructors” during the program to provide evidence that the material presented was not just theory.

However, the B-level plumbers began closing an average of 6 out of 10 customers and the C-level producers, who were still closing around 2 out of 10 clients, were targeted for termination.

We subsequently worked for a few months with the Sales Manager to provide regular weekly phone coaching of the B-level plumbers to reinforce the skills from the training and to ensure that they didn’t slip back into their old “sales comfort zones.”