Importance of people skills in the heating business

I learned earlier in my career that being charismatic can take you places and have people do things for you or with you.

I have been an HVAC professional in the heating business for about eight years, and I love it.

During my first year, I took a customer service course that trained me to talk to customers while keeping in mind that they do not know more about heating and might ask ridiculous questions about help with indoor comfort and need careful explanations. The training has caused me to make friends with a lot of my customers, like Marjorie. She owns a diner and makes some of the best pies I have ever had. I once took my heating company colleagues to the shop after a job, and they thoroughly enjoyed the pies. I met Marjorie two years ago when I did her heat pump installation. We have been friends ever since, and she calls me whenever she needs help with her whole-home heating system. She called me last week complaining that her heat pump was making some unusual noise that kept her awake at night. She also said the air quality differed from when I did the heater maintenance several months ago. I scheduled repairs, and we set off to her house. Dirty air filters were the cause of the unusual noise and the poor air quality. The heating dealer got HEPA filters we installed for Marjorie, who had no clue about the improving technology taking over the heating industry. As was the custom for Marjorie, she offered the heating technicians pies and lemonade after we restored her system, and it was running like a new heating device. We chatted with her for a while before proceeding to the next job, where we would install a smart thermostat.

 

 

Commercial HVAC provider