Veterinary Service Technicians: The Problem Solvers

Today’s veterinary service technicians can’t be afraid to go find the answers to client questions and problems.

When Micah Duncan, CVT, region service manager for Patterson Veterinary, is interviewing for an open position among his team of field service technicians, he searches for one mindset among candidates. “I want to hire problem solvers.”

Duncan has worked in the veterinary industry for more than two decades, first serving in various roles within veterinary hospitals before training to become a field service technician in 2014. In 2017, he was promoted to service manager. Today, Duncan leads a team of more than 20 field service technicians calling on accounts throughout the West region of the United States. That means a new hire may be in Denver, Colorado, or Spokane, Washington, depending on the need. While Duncan can provide support over the phone or via email, he can’t physically be there to help every service technician solve every problem that may arise. “They can’t be afraid to go find the answer.”

To discover whether a job candidate has good problem-solving skills, Duncan usually walks them through several scenarios in his interviews – four or five different situations that will mimic what could go wrong in the field. Duncan wants to see how candidates work the problems presented. What kinds of questions do they ask? What would they say to a customer?

These scenarios are helpful for Duncan to complete his evaluations. While Patterson Veterinary provides extensive training on all the major equipment categories, even that can’t cover all the nuances and differences to each piece of equipment available to veterinary clinics.

“Maybe the field service tech doesn’t have the answer, but he or she has to know how to get it, whether that’s reaching out to peers or to the manufacturer,” said Duncan. “A lot of the field service technician’s role is on-the-job training. We can’t train them on every piece of equipment. They need to be able to help themselves with resources, FaceTiming folks, and searching the internet or YouTube for manufacturer tutorials and self-help videos. We train our service technicians to be mindful of that.”

Another critical skill? Listening. “You can have all the technical skills in the world, but if you’re not a good listener and don’t truly understand the customer’s concern, you’re always going to be behind the eight ball.”

Solving a client’s problem often goes beyond the skills, knowledge and talent of the field service technician. Effective collaboration between distributor and manufacturer is a must. “We

have so many partners that are great at taking ownership over a problem and making the solution seamless,” Duncan said. “We have others where we may have to jump through some more hoops. But we work through it. Every manufacturing partner is different.”

Professional communication means neither party taking it personally when a client has an issue with a piece of equipment. Field service technicians may have to reach out and have a difficult conversation with a manufacturer about a piece of equipment that needs repair or a part that hasn’t been delivered. It’s important for both parties not to get too frustrated over the process of diagnosing the problem and finding a solution. “I’ve found that if I’m talking to a manufacturer, it’s not that specific representative’s fault that the equipment is failing or part is missing. We’re just trying to get to a solution, so there’s no blame there. Let’s work together.”

Like family

That collaborative spirit is instilled internally between field service technicians and Patterson Veterinary’s territory managers. Duncan said members of the two departments are in constant communication over service requests, whether there are product recalls or back orders, and anticipating equipment purchases that may be needed at a future date.

Savvy territory managers understand the importance that veterinary hospitals place on field service technicians and can leverage that in the organization’s overall relationship with the client. It’s no secret that clients will ask valued field service technicians what their opinion is on whether to buy a new piece of equipment. “Field service technicians themselves don’t push an order for a piece of equipment,” Duncan said. “They will pass that information into a sales rep’s hands.”

Yes, Patterson Veterinary is in the business of selling products and solutions. But the company’s service department has the built-in advantage of being one of the few distributors to do preventative maintenance on old equipment, Duncan said. “We have a service program specifically designed to keep their old stuff running,” he said. “I always used that to my advantage as a field service technician, because when I did have to have a tough conversation with a customer about a piece of equipment that was beyond repair, they would know that I had kept it running for as long as it could last, so they would trust us in making the purchase of a new piece of equipment. Our service program helps to develop trust with the customers.”

As a service technician manager, Duncan defines success beyond just profitability. The relationships that his team builds in the field with customers come first. One key indicator that they’re succeeding in the field is a lack of complaints, for instance. “If a few weeks go by where we don’t have customers calling to ask where a part is, or when their piece of equipment will be serviced, if we can consistently come in, fix things, and they can continue practicing medicine, that’s success to me.”

When Patterson Veterinary technicians were allowed to return to the clinics following the social distancing mandates of the pandemic, many clients expressed to Duncan how elated they were and how much they had missed the service technicians being in their facilities. “Our field service techs are in these clinics at least once a month, so they’ve often become a de facto part of their team.” In fact, one field service technician in Washington state returned to a veterinary clinic team that had baked him a cake and put up a Welcome Back sign.

“That’s an example of building relationships with clients who value our partnership so much they want us in their facility,” he said. “To me, that’s the definition of success.”

Most frequent service calls

The four biggest pieces that technicians typically get service requests for are:

• Autoclaves or sterilizers
• Anesthesia machines
• X-ray machines
• Dental carts or delivery systems

Image credit: istockphoto.com/Avalon_Studio

Image credit: istockphoto.com/SDI Productions