Is It Too Late to Coach a Technician After the Service Call Is Over?
Is It Too Late to Coach a Technician After the Service Call Is Over?
By Joe Crisara, Author of What Should We Do? and Co-Founder of Service MVP
If your goal is to improve the technician’s next call, coaching after the service call can absolutely help. But if you want to change the outcome of the call they’re on right now, waiting until afterward is too late. That’s the idea behind call-by-call management: identify where a technician needs help while the opportunity is still alive, coach them through the next step, and give them a chance to create a better outcome for the customer before they leave the home.
A scorecard tells you what happened. Call-by-call management gives you a chance to change what’s happening.
Most Technician Coaching Happens Too Late
Think about how technician performance is traditionally managed in a home service company.
The technician runs calls all day.
At the end of the day, week or month, somebody looks at the numbers.
Average ticket.
Close rate.
Options presented.
Memberships sold.
Callbacks.
Revenue.
Maybe the manager notices that one technician's numbers are down and schedules a coaching conversation.
There is nothing wrong with reviewing results. You should.
But by the time you see the result, the opportunity that created it is usually gone.
The homeowner already made a decision.
The technician already left.
The call is over.
You can coach the technician so they handle the next call differently.
But what if you could have helped them while they were still on this one?
That's where call-by-call management changes the conversation.
What Is Call-by-Call Management?
Call-by-call management is exactly what it sounds like.
Instead of waiting until the end of the week to coach from a report, you're paying attention to the individual opportunities your technicians are working through and helping them improve while those opportunities are still active.
That doesn't mean a manager tells the technician what to sell.
It doesn't mean taking over the call.
And it certainly doesn't mean pressuring a homeowner into making a decision.
The goal is to help the technician follow the process you've already trained them to follow.
Did they discover what matters to the homeowner?
Did they diagnose the entire situation?
Did they communicate what they found clearly?
Did they create meaningful choices?
Did the homeowner understand the differences between those choices?
Did the technician uncover a concern or objection?
Is there a clear future for what happens next?
Sometimes a technician knows exactly what to do but simply misses a step.
Sometimes they get nervous.
Sometimes they hear an objection and don't know what the homeowner is really telling them.
And sometimes they're so close to the call that they can't see what the manager can see from the outside.
That's when coaching can matter most.
Don't Wait Until the Game Is Over to Coach the Player
Imagine a football coach who wasn't allowed to talk to the players until after the game.
The coach watches the first quarter.
Sees a problem.
Doesn't say anything.
Watches the same problem happen in the second quarter.
Still doesn't say anything.
The team loses.
Then Monday morning, everybody watches the film.
“Here's what you should have done.”
That might help next Sunday.
But it can't change the game they just lost.
We wouldn't coach athletes that way.
Yet that's essentially how a lot of home service companies coach technicians.
We look at the film after the game is over.
Call-by-Call Coaching Isn't About Fixing the Technician
This distinction matters.
When a technician needs help during a call, the manager's job isn't necessarily to give them the answer.
The better question is often:
What does the technician need to see that they aren't seeing right now?
Maybe they presented options and the homeowner said:
“I need to think about it.”
The easy response from a manager would be:
“Here's what you need to say.”
But good coaching goes deeper.
What happened before the objection?
Did we really understand what the homeowner wanted?
Did we create options around those priorities?
Did we communicate enough value?
Did the homeowner feel comfortable telling us no?
Did we understand what they actually needed to think about?
That's why we teach technicians to get curious instead of combative when a customer has a concern.
An objection isn't necessarily something you have to defeat.
Sometimes it's information.
And if we can help the technician understand that information while they're still with the homeowner, we may be able to help both of them reach greater clarity.
The Best Objection Is the One You Prevent
Years ago, I created something called the Object-O-Matic to help service professionals understand what was actually happening when customers raised common objections.
One of the principles behind it was simple:
The best way to overcome an objection is to prevent it from happening in the first place.
That's still true.
If technicians continually hear:
“Your price is too high.”
“I need to think about it.”
“I need to get other estimates.”
“I need to talk to my spouse.”
...we shouldn't only teach clever responses for what to say afterward.
We should look backward through the call.
Where did we lose clarity?
What question didn't we ask?
What expectation didn't we establish?
What value didn't we communicate?
What choice didn't we give?
That's the difference between objection handling and call coaching.
One gives you something to say.
The other helps you understand why you had to say it in the first place.
A Manager Can't Ride Along With Every Technician
This has always been the challenge.
The concept of call-by-call management isn't complicated.
The logistics are.
If you have five technicians in five different homes, how is one manager supposed to know what's happening on every call?
For years, the answer required a lot of communication.
Technician calls the manager.
Manager asks questions.
Technician explains where they are.
Manager coaches.
Technician goes back to the homeowner.
It works.
But it takes time.
And as a company grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to scale.
That's why I'm particularly interested in what's happening with technology right now.
Technology Is Starting to Catch Up With the Coaching
I'm writing this as I head into ServiceTitan Pantheon this week.
One of the developments I'm paying attention to is how artificial intelligence is beginning to move beyond simply reporting what happened after a service call.
For example, ServiceTitan's Field Pro uses customer-conversation recordings and job information to surface insights managers can use for technician coaching.
That's important.
Not because AI should replace the manager.
Not because technology should replace human communication.
And definitely not because software should decide what a homeowner should buy.
It's important because technology may finally make it possible for a manager to see more of what is happening in the field while there's still time to help.
That's a very different use of AI.
Technology Should Help Managers Coach More, Not Manage Less
There is a temptation whenever new technology arrives to ask:
“How many people can this replace?”
I think there's a better question for home service companies:
“How much better can this make our people?”
Imagine a manager being able to recognize that a technician may have skipped part of discovery.
Or that the homeowner has raised a concern that hasn't been fully explored.
Or that the technician diagnosed a problem but hasn't communicated the consequences clearly.
Or that the call is taking an unexpected direction and the technician could use help.
The technology doesn't need to close the sale.
It needs to help the manager recognize the coaching opportunity.
The manager can do the managing.
Your Technicians Don't All Need the Same Coaching
This is another reason I've always liked call-by-call management.
Monthly averages flatten people.
Let's say two technicians both average $1,500 per call.
On paper, they look identical.
They're probably not.
One may be exceptional at communicating with homeowners who have older equipment.
Another may be great on maintenance calls but struggle when presenting larger repair or replacement choices.
Another may connect wonderfully with highly analytical homeowners but have trouble slowing down with someone who is nervous or overwhelmed.
That's why coaching shouldn't simply be:
“Everybody needs to raise their average ticket.”
The better question is:
Where does this technician perform well, and where do they need help?
Once you understand that, training becomes much more useful.
And sometimes the performance problem isn't entirely the technician. If we're rushing technicians from call to call, we may be creating an environment where they don't have enough time to slow down, communicate thoroughly and serve the customer properly.
Train Before the Call. Coach During the Call. Review After the Call.
I don't think this is an either/or decision.
You need all three.
Before the call, train.
Teach technicians how to discover, diagnose, communicate, build choices and create a clear future.
Practice those skills until they become comfortable.
During the call, coach.
When a technician gets stuck, help them see the next step without taking ownership of the customer's decision away from them.
After the call, review.
What worked?
What didn't?
What can we learn?
What should we practice before the next opportunity?
Training builds the skill.
Call-by-call coaching helps apply it.
Review creates improvement.
That's a much stronger system than looking at a report Friday afternoon and asking why someone's numbers are down.
Call-by-Call Management Is Still About the Customer
This is the part I never want us to lose.
Call-by-call management is not about turning technicians into salespeople who are constantly being pushed to sell more.
It's about helping them deliver better service.
If the technician missed an important question, help them ask it.
If they haven't completely diagnosed the situation, help them slow down.
If they haven't created enough choices, help them think through what the homeowner might need.
If the customer doesn't understand something, help the technician communicate it more clearly.
And if the homeowner decides to do nothing?
That's their choice.
Our job is not to make the decision for them.
Our job is to make sure they have enough information to make a decision they feel comfortable with.
That's Pure Motive Service.
Technology doesn't change that.
It should help us do it better.
Don't Wait Until the Opportunity Is Gone
There will always be value in reviewing yesterday's calls.
There will always be value in scorecards.
There will always be value in weekly coaching meetings.
But don't confuse reviewing performance with managing performance.
If something is happening on a call right now, that's when your coaching has the greatest opportunity to affect the outcome.
Not Friday.
Not at the monthly meeting.
Not when the report comes out.
While there's still a customer in the home and an opportunity to serve them better.
A scorecard tells you what happened.
Call-by-call management gives you a chance to change what happens next.
Want to Build Call-by-Call Management Into Your Company?
At Service MVP, we help home service companies turn training into something their technicians can actually use in the field.
That means developing the communication skills, management systems and coaching habits that help technicians deliver better service call by call - not just talking about the numbers after the month is over.
If you'd like help building that kind of coaching system in your company, learn more about Service MVP Coaching.
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