It’s a perfect day. Your beloved UISP dashboard shows 100% network health, all your customer routers are online, your LibreNMS instance shows no major latency bottlenecks, everything is humming along.

From your perspective, no one should be having problems.

Then, the phone rings or the Facebook Messenger dings. A customer is frustrated because Netflix won’t load. You’ve walked them through all the standard troubleshooting steps, but their service simply “won’t work.” You have no choice but to roll a truck. This feels like a loss: wasted man-hours, fuel, and resources. But what if it’s actually a blessing in disguise?

From an operator or investor perspective, company health is measured by Key Performance Indicators, often referred to as KPIs. For a WISP, the number of truck rolls relative to your subscriber base is a critical KPI, and the goal is always to keep it as low as possible. However, I argue that a necessary truck roll isn’t necessarily a failure. It could be a powerful opportunity to strengthen your business. Below are some tactics to take what is an annoying part of the WISP business and make it a value-driving activity for your organization.

Turn a Problem into a Personal Connection

First and foremost, train your technicians to lead with empathy. When they arrive, their first job is to listen and understand the customer’s frustration. Then find a way to solve the problem as respectfully and quickly as possible.

Is this an elderly customer who needs extra assistance navigating a new device? If so, your brand must live up to its values. Take the time to help them get connected, just as you would for your own family. As part of our standard process at my WISP, technicians are instructed to ensure ALL CUSTOMER DEVICES are connected to the Wi-Fi before leaving an installation.

If a service call is needed later for a new device, we embrace it. We note customer-specific details in our CRM, such as elderly, gamer, or work-from-home, so we can dispatch the right person with the right mindset to solve their unique problem on the first visit.

I often see this sentiment in industry groups: “We just sell internet; we don’t have to help with their devices.” You can adopt that mindset, but it makes you no different from a faceless national fiber company. Don’t be surprised when customers drop your premium service for a cheaper competitor who treats them with the same indifference. A premium price commands a premium experience. Act accordingly.

Educate and Add Value

Once the initial issue is resolved, you have a unique one-on-one opportunity to educate the customer on your other value-adds.

For my WISP, I built a proprietary mobile app that gives customers exclusive access to live, full-HD weather camera views, a perk available only to them and area first responders. For a customer who isn’t tech-savvy, taking two minutes to help them install and navigate your app will drive adoption far more effectively than any SMS or email campaign ever could.

If you have other value-adds like discounted TV or landline service – this is also a good time to bring those things up when you see that old big-telco landline still active. At my own ISP, we only provide MSP services to customers that buy our internet. If your customer works at a business and is complaining about issues at work – be shameless here and plug how you can help them there too! The annoying house call could turn into a new commercial customer + MSP agreement. ” Matthew 7:7-8 comes to mind.

Perform a Proactive Installation Audit

In my article “Documenting the Edge: Photos You Need From Every Install,” I outline the essential photos you need in your CRM to streamline future service calls. Sometimes, a truck roll is necessary simply because the original documentation was poor or is now outdated.

Since the customer has already invited you into their home, this is the perfect time to capture those crucial photos. The environment may have changed: trees may have grown, or new structures may be present. You are already paying the technician to be there, so have them update the documentation while on-site.

Secure a Five-Star Review

This is where a technician’s people skills shine. If they can read the room and sense the customer is happy with the resolution, they should be trained to ask for a review. Simple questions can gauge the customer’s satisfaction:

• “Is everything working well for you now?”
• “Is there anything else that’s been bothering you about our service that I can fix while I’m here?”
• “How can we improve?”

If the feedback is positive, show them how to leave a review on Google or Facebook. We armed our technicians with a QR code that takes customers directly to our review page. This simple tool makes it easy to accumulate positive reviews that HONESTLY AND AUTHENTICALLY build your brand’s reputation. No dark-marketing tricks needed here – just good old-fashioned manners and customer service.

Turn One Visit into New Leads

According to the RAIN Group, it takes an average of eight touchpoints to win a new customer. In an age of digital noise, many people have learned to ignore online advertising. But a physical presence is hard to ignore.

When a neighbor sees a branded vehicle next door, receives a door hanger, sees a nearby yard sign, and then hears a raving testimonial from their neighbor about your courteous and efficient technician, they are compelled to learn more. For this reason, we arm our technicans with door hangers on all company vehicles and encourage them to tag doors nearby when they’ve achieved a successful customer issue resolution during their service call.

That truck roll, which on paper hurt one KPI, is actually boosting another: customer acquisition. Your installers become a powerful, organic sales channel that doesn’t appear on any spreadsheet.

The Mindset Shift: From Liability to Asset

These are just a few ways to transform a seemingly negative event into a shining moment for your brand. You can gain new customers, earn stellar reviews, improve your documentation, and, most importantly, turn an unhappy customer into a loyal brand ambassador.

Ultimately, it comes down to mindset. As a leader, you “set the weather” for your organization. Encourage a positive, opportunity-focused attitude in your team. Because even in the daily challenges of business, there is always a chance to improve your company and your community.

Now that’s a truck worth rolling.

OF COURSE it must also be mentioned that no amount of branding, salesmanship, or customer charm can overcome bad infrastructure. Your service has to earn its reputation in the field. Stable upstreams, good peering, QOS, solid routing and switching, dependable hardware like Nokia LTE or the Titan 4000, and the insight of good optimization engineers — these are the foundation that every promise to your customers rests on.