HVACCUSTOMER SERVICE

HANDBOOK

Residential · Commercial · Professional

Fourth Edition

Steve Coscia, CSP

Plumbing, HVAC & Construction Trades!

HVAC Customer Service Handbook - 41 www.coscia.com

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-the-

line” 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.

Chapter 2

Tactical Service Ideas

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 LearnSoft-Skills from Steve Coscia, CSP!

“Steve Coscia is the most widely published and quoted authority in the customer service industry.”

TOM PERIC, EditorHVACR 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

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610-853-9836www.HVACcustomerservice.com 9 780989 754088

90000>ISBN 978-0-9897540-8-8