< PreviousHIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY30 JULY 2021 the disruption. They assume you understand since everyone is working from home. Since when is it the customer’s job to be under- standing? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? In the past year I could probably identify at least 15 or 20 such annoying interactions. And if I can, I’m sure if you think about it, you can too. AN OPPORTUNITY This creates an opportunity for our industry and your company. Kick things up a notch by making sure your people haven’t fallen into the frog syn- drome. Make sure they deliver excellence in every- thing they do and your company will stand out. In fact, we should all see this decline as a chance to take a hard look at our organizations. Has frog syndrome crept into your business, one degree at a time? Take a step back and look at how your employees interact with customers on the phone and in person. Is it time to initiate new customer service training? The other day I heard someone use the term “Pandemic Fog,” comparing it to a “fog of war” feeling. Many have experienced a sort of memory lapse on how we did things prior to the pandemic. At NCI, as we return to in-person training, our team is dusting off and relearning how we did things before the pandemic. It’s been an eye-open- ing experience! Even though most HVAC contracting business- es continued working throughout the pandemic, it still might be worth taking time to evaluate and give your team a customer service tune-up. This way you can make sure they’re providing the best possible customer experience. Such a “tune-up” will be an investment well made, and without a doubt will make you a stand- out in your marketplace during these changing and uncertain times. O ver the past year, as the world’s reaction to the COVID Pandemic evolved (or de- volved), I noticed a slow but steady de- crease in customer service across many of the in- dustries I interface with. This reminds me of the story about putting a frog in a pot of cold water and raising the tempera- ture one degree at a time. Before the frog realizes it, without even trying to jump out, it is cooked! Now the frog is NOT the customer. Believe me, they also notice that many businesses are not treating them very well. Most people I talk to have encountered increasing rudeness and poor attitude. Plus they feel businesses make more mistakes than before as many employees don’t seem to care that much. The frogs in this story are businesses that are becoming lax, not monitoring what employees say or do with regard to customer care. This of course isn’t true with all businesses. In fact, those that purposely make sure their service is more stellar than ever shine bright among the many companies whose light seems to have gone out. “Frog” companies seem to just be going through the motions, and in some cases treat customer in- teractions more as nuisances than opportunities to win customers for life. I believe one reason for lackluster customer ser- vice is the movement from working in an office en- vironment, where people are more accountable for their actions, to a work-at-home environment where things can easily become a little too relaxed. I’ve personally experienced annoying inter- actions with support personnel and salespeople working from home where they seem to almost be bothered by answering the phone. Conversations are often interrupted by children playing, dogs barking, the UPS guy at the door and so forth. What’s worse is they usually don’t apologize for ONE MORE THING... By Dom Guarino Don’t Be a Frog in Hot Water! Dominick Guarino is publisher of High-Performance HVAC Today magazine and CEO of National Comfort Institute, Inc. He can be reached at domg@ncihvac.com Next >