Residential Commercial Professional HVAC CUSTOMER SERVICE HANDBOOK Fourth Edition Steve Coscia, CSP Plumbing, HVAC & Construction Trades!
www.coscia.com HVAC Customer Service Handbook - 41 Chapter 2 Tactical Service Ideas When Too Much Talk Makes Things Worse Mrs. Sewell called Ace Plumbing and Heating and ordered a new designer kitchen faucet. Her old faucet still worked fine, but she wanted a newer design to brighten up her kitchen. When Tom arrived to install the new faucet, he wore shoe covers, put down drop cloths and he was careful not to scratch the kitchen counters. He was doing everything right until he opened his mouth to speak. You made a great choice in the designer faucet, Tom said. It s much better than that old piece of junk. Tom s intent was to compliment Mrs. Sewell for making such a wise choice, but his editorializing backfired. The old faucet was purchased from Ace Plumbing and Heating and installed by the company owner. During the installation, the company owner told Mrs. Sewell that she invested in a top-of-the-line faucet. The company owner s remark eased Mrs. Sewell s concern about the faucet s premium price. However, hearing Tom refer to the old top-of-theline faucet as a piece of junk upset Mrs. Sewell and she became visibly upset. Tom was stunned as Mrs. Sewell grabbed her phone and asked Tom for his boss phone number. I m in trouble now, thought Tom when he heard Mrs. Sewell scream into her phone.
42 - HVAC Customer Service Handbook www.coscia.com Your technician is in my kitchen saying that you sold me a piece of junk five years ago, she screamed. I want my money back. Tom s boss was involved in a proactive project prior to Mrs. Sewell s phone call. But once he took the call and heard Mrs. Sewell s angry tone of voice, his stance changed from proactive to reactive. This is a teamwork issue and a loss in efficiency. Needless-to-say, Mrs. Sewell s angry phone call could have been avoided if Tom would have kept his mouth shut. Just a few wrong words resulted in hurt feelings, more stress, lost efficiency and reduced profit. Customers hear what they want to hear. Every word and nuance conveyed by an HVAC rep can be twisted around and misinterpreted by a customer.
44 - HVAC Customer Service Handbook www.coscia.com Therefore, piece of junk can be taken literally by a customer, even though Tom loosely meant it as a figure of speech. The only way to ensure that customers don t hear editorializing is for an HVAC rep to not say it in the first place. Customers won t hear what is never spoken. Tom learned a valuable lesson about behavior, customer perception and personal accountability at Mrs. Sewell s house. He learned that work goes way beyond installing and maintaining equipment. Learning to not editorialize is an HVAC rep s personal responsibility. As depicted in this story, Tom s editorializing affected his boss too - the entire team can suffer when one HVAC rep fails to communicate correctly. When Less Information is More Jarret is a customer service representative for Action Heating and Air Conditioning Company. It s Tuesday and Jarret has just received a verbal dressing-down.
Reference/Customer Service 4th Edition Tomorrow s Trade Professionals Learn Soft-Skills from Steve Coscia, CSP! Steve Coscia is the most widely published and quoted authority in the customer service industry. TOM PERIC, Editor HVACR Distribution Business Magazine We sought a soft skills expert to add additional value at our National Educators and Trainers Conference. After we reviewed Steve Coscia s content, our conference committee invited him to share his instructional design insight at our conference. Steve has spoken here ever since. HOWARD WEISS, Marketing Director ESCO Group Published by: ISBN 978-0-9897540-8-8 90000> 610-853-9836 www.hvaccustomerservice.com 9 780989 754088