Promotion?

[KenB]

Re: Promotion?

Assuming you will be doing some driving (not all field tech's do), treat yourself to a GPS, if you don't already have one. Even if you splurge and spend a bunch on it, you will be happy you did when you need it.

Also, if you travel to areas you're not familiar with, use Google Earth to get a picture of the customer location once you have the address. That can really help with buildings that don't have their address clearly displayed. That trick saved my bacon a few months ago when travelling to a new account in a strange land.

Congrats, and good luck!

[CompyTech]

Re: Promotion?

Thank you everyone for the insight definitely some good info. Hopefully the transition is smooth

Good luck on your transition. I think field is way to go.

[lencombs]

Re: Promotion?

It's a promotion if your pay increases becoming field tech, which sounds like the case in your dealership. Listen to customers on sight, get them to explain in their words what is going on with the gear.

Customers want their equipment to work first and foremost, any number of qualified techs can keep gear running. Build up a relationship with your on site contacts, a minute of small chat before diving into the problem can help build your professional relationship with clients, you are interested in them as a person not just a client. Be honest with them about what the problem with the machine is, and what it will take to fix it. Ask your support chain for help when you are stuck on a problem in the field. Over time you will build up a reputation in the field, your office will hear about it, clients will be glad to see you, and more often than not they will renew with your dealer when contract is due, or buy new equipment. Like all walks of like some people are just ass-hats out there and just have to be as polite and courteous.

[toddanderson]

Re: Promotion?

what is the pay difference, any bonus opportunities ?

Good luck on your transition. I think field is way to go.

[subaro]

Re: Promotion?

This just came to my mind in a zap. Went to a call and parked my car in front of a snow bank. that year we had huge snow fall. was exiting my car and then bang, a guy with a bicycle hit my door and flew of the bike. I thought the guy had died or badly injured. well he got up and asked me if his jacket was dirty, i was flabagasted. well it turned out well, i still reported it though. So before you exit your car, check your mirror or look briefly. [yes, lots of people riding bikes in the winter, mainly downtown, as transportation nowdays is expensive.]
The same goes for parking your car. let your senses prevail and not the rush to get to the call. If you get tickets, the company does not reimburse you, at lease ours don't, unless you can prove you had no alternative.

[copier tech]

Re: Promotion?

Some of the best tech's start out in a workshop environment, (myself included) you get to spend longer familiarising yourself with the equipment, stripping them down further than you would perhaps in the field.

Take your time, don't rush, even when call control is asking "how long are you going to be"

[Iowatech]

Re: Promotion?

When out on the road, you will encounter road construction. It will impede your travel and annoy you. And depending on the area you are traveling in the warning signs may not be that effective.
First and foremost, make sure you always have enough fuel in your car to get through construction. I personally have never run out of gas in a construction area, but I have followed people who have at a distance. Thoughts of good will and brotherhood are not easy to come by then.
Also, relax. Typically construction doesn't last forever, and usually the road you are on will be much better when the construction is completed.
In the fullness of time you too may think fondly of the fragrance of fresh asphalt.

[fixthecopier]

Re: Promotion?

If we are giving advice to newbies...


Take a sharpie with you. Mark old parts. Sitting the old clutch beside the new one and then reinstalling the old one will not make the machine run better.

Take pictures before disassemble. Not all of the plug ins on a board are used. Don't want to waste time looking for a wire that doesn't exist or getting a code you didn't have before because you lost a wire.

Need to call tech support? Want to post to CTN? Play a game of stump the tech first. This is where you try everything you can think of and everything the manual says to do so that when you call or post a question, the other techs don't know what to tell you. It will not get you fixed on the issue you are posting, but you will fix a lot of issues getting to that point.

When interacting with customers, use the rule of, don't speak unless you are spoken to. If people are working and don't really care you are there, you will be annoying trying to engage them. If they are talking to you, be friendly and chat with them. Customers that like you will be more understanding when you have difficult issues.

Never talk bad about your competition or other techs. It's unprofessional and you never know, they may have really liked the other company or tech, and now you look like an ass.

best of luck to you.

[allan]

Re: Promotion?

Take a sharpie with you.

I use my spring hook to scribe on the part somewhere. i got confused with a couple of circuit boards before.

[subaro]

Re: Promotion?

I use my spring hook to scribe on the part somewhere. i got confused with a couple of circuit boards before.

Never talk bad about your competition or other techs. It's unprofessional and you never know, they may have really liked the other company or tech, and now you look like an


One more, and i am done. Never give the customer your cell number or you'll regret it. If they ask, give them the office number or ask them to call the number on the machine sticker or label. maybe some here will have exceptions.

[fixthecopier]

Re: Promotion?

Never talk bad about your competition or other techs. It's unprofessional and you never know, they may have really liked the other company or tech, and now you look like an


One more, and i am done. Never give the customer your cell number or you'll regret it. If they ask, give them the office number or ask them to call the number on the machine sticker or label. maybe some here will have exceptions.

I have always given out my cell number to most. It has never been abused. Gives the customer a feeling of confidence in you when you are not afraid to take their call.

[subaro]

Re: Promotion?

I have always given out my cell number to most. It has never been abused. Gives the customer a feeling of confidence in you when you are not afraid to take their call.

Well that may work well for a small company or independent. With a larger dealer, where you have a dispatch, it causes conflicts and you don't want to give promises that you can't keep. customers, on the other hand, not meaning to abuse, will call the number that they can get through faster and really you don't want the phone ringing in the middle of a hectic call or repair. just my take anyway.

[allan]

Re: Promotion?

Well that may work well for a small company or independent. With a larger dealer, where you have a dispatch, it causes conflicts and you don't want to give promises that you can't keep. customers, on the other hand, not meaning to abuse, will call the number that they can get through faster and really you don't want the phone ringing in the middle of a hectic call or repair. just my take anyway.

I agree, if you are not in control of an area it's a bad idea. I am now one of 3 techs at our company and the service controller constantly gives out my number. We also use IM so we always know what's up with each other.

[NeoMatrix]

Re: Promotion?

Never talk bad about your competition or other techs. It's unprofessional and you never know, they may have really liked the other company or tech, and now you look like an


One more, and i am done. Never give the customer your cell number or you'll regret it. If they ask, give them the office number or ask them to call the number on the machine sticker or label. maybe some here will have exceptions.

Working for an Employer you right on both accounts above.

Never rubbish your future work mates ie. "the competition" because they make awkward future bed buddies an the fleas bite given out are a hard itch to scratch.

You should probably never give out your "own personal phone number" as the boss wants to know why XYZ company is calling you personally. And XYZ company can and do make private phone calls asking you to do some moonlighting work on weekends. For all intents and purposes you should try to keep your work life separated from your personal life, if you want a happy healthy home life. I would only give my number out if I felt it absolutely necessary. Like if I was out of town, I would ask a customer to call me if the machine has a problem before I left. But in most cases I would insist they ring the office, and the office would contact me to return to the job.

Working for and Employer, Private phone numbers help keep the peace all round with everyone.

In say the above, I now have to do the complete opposite of what I said ,because I'm now an independent Tech working for myself, an I need as many phone calls as I can get, so everyone now gets my cell phone number, along with my home/workshop phone number. The home/workshop is on an answer machine, so we do get to screen the calls first... Well ,when the phone calls finally get through. I'm fighting with my Telco at the moment because the phone lines an internet are dropping out intermittently. Our branch of the phone exchange is a critical node an it's overloaded. The local paper has run articles on the phone overload problem in our area....

[fixthecopier]

Re: Promotion?

I am sure giving out my phone number works for me because I have always had a lot of control over my customers and calls and we are a small company. It always helped with critical customers. The less they have to wait to talk to a tech, the less they whine. Nowadays most phones display numbers anyway. I can't log calls anymore so they still have to call the shop, but sometimes it helps if I get to talk to them. I get info I need before I dispatch.


On the issue of things you will eventually encounter. Think about conditions. All of those copiers with paper detect sensors on the doc feed, well if you ask you will find that most customers don't know what they are. So they have no problem covering them up and calling in work orders. Such was the case yesterday when I deduced that the ladies issue was caused by the arm of her sweater covering up the photocell on the Ricoh, and then asking for 11x17.

Don't get stuck with tunnel vision. Somewhere on this site is a post about how I gutted a bizhub one piece at a time trying to make a beep go away, and all the while it was a week surge suppressor.