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Good service-congeniality included

Hi Blog fans!

I want to take a minute to remind everyone the importance of knowing what to say or not to say when you are at a customers home or place of business doing service. Just as important as knowing your trade, you should also be choose your words carefully and thoughtfully. I am writing this article because I had an experience recently that made the homeowner very upset. While I was at her home there was another tradesman doing some work on the heating system. She asked if he thought it was worth the investment to convert from propane to natural gas to heater her home. His reply was “How old are you?”. I started to head for the door when those words left his mouth but I still had business to take care of. When she refused an answer to that he immediately followed with “Do you expect to live another 30 years?” She replied “No”.  He went on to explain that the return on her investment would not be realized for some time to come and that she would be just as well off to leave things as they are. By this time I was sneaking towards the door as quietly as possible. I thought “Thank goodness he doesn’t work for our company.”

Let’s take a look at the insinuations he was making without even realizing it. First, she appeared to be in her early 70’s and no self respecting southern girl is going to give her age. Second, he had no idea what physical challenges that she might be facing and would rather not discuss with the hvac service guy. As it turned out I later found out that she had been battling cancer. Most importantly, he assumed that she was only concerned about herself and if the system continued to be more expensive to run after her death then “who cares?”

I’m sure most service technicians are more congenial than this guy but it might be worth the effort to train your service team on manners and proper etiquette.

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