Real-Life Decision Making
Alarm technicians are out in the field all day. They have to work alone
and unsupervised. Any decision-making calls fall squarely on the shoulders
of the technician.
"They have to have excellent decision-making skills," says Henry Becker.
He is an alarm technician. "You always have to be asking what is going to
make a customer happy and what is going to make our company profitable? What
is going to be the best solution to resolve a situation?
"The technician is empowered to make these decisions, based on the findings
of the problem," adds Becker. "They have to determine is it warranty work,
is it billable work? Do we just need a Band-Aid here or do we need radical
surgery to fix this problem? Is this a recurring problem? The scenarios are
endless."
Some of the toughest judgment calls involve deciding how to best deal with
a situation where a customer disputes the work you've done or the price
you've put on it. You want to keep the customer's business, but
you also want to be fair to yourself and your company.
You're an alarm technician. You are called to a home where the system
has stopped working. You installed the alarm just last week, so you can't
imagine what would've caused a problem so soon. When you arrive and examine
the wire paths, you discover that someone has hung a picture in a crucial
spot, hammering a nail into the wire and severing it.
You make the repairs and then talk with the homeowner. You explain that
because direct damage was done to the system by the customer, the warranty
doesn't apply and you'll have to charge him for the work at a cost
of $75.
The customer is very angry and insists a warranty is a warranty. You try
reasoning with him, explaining how the problem wasn't the fault of the
warrantied equipment, but rather the damage caused to it. The customer says
he wasn't told about having to watch how he hammers into the walls. You
insist otherwise, noting the literature you gave him on being careful while
doing just that.
He still won't budge, and warns you that if you bill him, he'll
retract his business and get an alarm system from the company his neighbor
uses instead.
What do you do?