Highly Effective HVACR Techs Leave a Clean Impression

You have done your best to keep the customer’s house or business clean. You have worked at protecting the driveway, the yard, the floors, walls etc. But invariably you will dirty up the place a little. There will be lint, dust and perhaps a little mud or something that gets on things. No matter how much you cover things up something slops over on the side somewhere. So it is very important to make sure that we leave none of that mess behind.

Messy impressions leave customers feeling uncared for. Sometimes customers decide that if you are sloppy with around the site maybe you are sloppy with your technical work as well. If everything looks neat and clean then they will often assume that you have done excellent work. There are a number of things that you can do to avoid leaving a messy impression.

Clean up after yourself. Brush things off, sweep up the area and vacuum if necessary. Carry your own clean up tools, brooms, brushes, rags etc.

Insist on cleaning up yourself even if the customer tells you that they will take care of it. Doing it yourself and doing a good job of it always leaves a great impression. I once had to fix the vacuum cleaner for a customer before I could use it to clean up after myself. After that I carried my own vacuum cleaner with me on the truck.

Be sure to inspect the area around your vehicle and clean up anything spilled or dropped around the driveway.

Check all around the outside of the building. Make sure you have not left or dropped anything.

Don’t forget areas like the attic and garage. I have left tools and supplies behind. This can be time consuming and expensive to retrieve as well as leaving a messy impression. When I was supervising a class of students installing a system every year, we inevitably left tools under the insulation in the attic or under the concrete slab. Customers and contractors are understanding when students are doing the work but expect Highly Effective Techs to be much more thorough.

It can be even more important to take care of public areas like the church discussed in Lesson 3.4. There are likely to be a number of current customers or potential customers among the people who will be observing the quality of your work and the quality of your clean up.

When you walk off of the job with the assurance that there are as few negative traces of your work left behind as possible you will take pride in your work, your customers will be more likely to refer you, and your boss will be more likely to reward you.

As a Highly Effective Tech you should be ready to sign your name to your work in plain view.

Learn more at www.LearningHVACR.com or contact mark@LearningHVACR.com

Are you the Tech that customers invite in?

What do your customers see when they look at you?

The public image of HVACR technicians is often pretty poor. Do customers greet you at the door with “The air conditioner is around back?” Or do they invite you in and make you feel welcome?

As a sixteen year old following my father around it always amazed me to watch him work. He could go from crawling under a house to service a floor furnace to crossing white carpet in an exclusive home and not leave a trace of dirt or grime. He would still have the crease in his pants. How in the world did he do that? Why would customers invite him in, offer him a cup of coffee and seem to feel so comfortable with him? Now frankly my family did not have the type of home we often worked in. We did not even have central heating or cooling. We did not associate in the same social circles as most of our customers. And yet my father was accepted into these fine homes and made to feel welcome.

Well, I eventually learned to do the same thing. This turned out not to be nearly as mysterious or difficult as I had imagined. In my book 13 Strategies of Highly Effective Techs: More Company Profit - More Personal Income I discuss some of the techniques for minimizing the mess that I have learned from my father, from my own experiences and from visiting with company owners and managers from all over the United States. This can help you win customers, earn bonuses and lead to raises and promotions.

My boss at one company where I worked as an HVACR technician posted letters from customers thanking the company for being so neat and clean on the jobs I performed or supervised. My vehicle was a mobile billboard for the company that always looked immaculate. Customers never had to clean up after me. Customers would often ask for me by name when they called in. Customers would sometimes have cookies or other treats waiting for me when I got there. On one occasion a customer made cupcakes with my name in icing on them for me. In Strategy #6 we discuss how to turn these situations into the most Customer Capital.

Now it is time for a little self examination. Get ready for work a little early and take time to really examine yourself in the mirror. What do you see? Is that person dressed professionally? Are there worn or torn places? Is the person you see well groomed? Hair neat? Shoes shined or well cleaned? Does that person smell good? Any tattoos showing? Does that person have a smile? Does that person seem like the type to be accepted in the finest homes in town? Do you see a name tag, patch or other identification? Are you carrying your paperwork in a nice portfolio or other neat carrier? If you were that customer living in a fine new home would you want the person you see in the mirror coming in to your home?

If not do something today to improve. An improvement a day and soon you will see that Highly Effective Tech looking back at you out of the mirror.

Learn more at www.LearningHVACR.com or contact mark@LearningHVACR.com