First Responder, Military, and Senior Discounts.
First Responder, Military, and Senior Discounts.
Klein Cooling employees work inside people’s homes.
Customers are trusting us with their property, their equipment, and occasionally a significant amount of money.
Look like someone they should trust.
Employees are not expected to look like corporate executives.
We work in HVAC.
By 2:00 p.m. in August, everyone involved understands what has happened.
The standard is not perfection.
The standard is:
Clean. Presentable. Professional. Respectful.
And wearing a shirt.
This final requirement should not have required clarification.
Field personnel shall wear clean, appropriate Klein Cooling clothing while representing the company.
Company shirts should be:
Normal wear associated with HVAC work is expected.
Sweat happens.
Dust happens.
Attic insulation happens.
PVC glue will eventually happen regardless of all known precautions.
There is a difference between:
“I’ve been working all day.”
and:
“I found this shirt under the passenger seat.”
Employees are expected to recognize that difference.
Employees shall not substitute personal T-shirts for approved company clothing while performing customer-facing work unless specifically authorized.
This includes shirts displaying:
No Creed T-shirts.
This policy is final.
No additional explanation will be provided.
No.
Work pants or appropriate work shorts shall be worn.
They should:
Belts are encouraged where necessary.
Customers should not become involuntary participants in determining what brand of underwear the technician purchases.
Employees shall wear appropriate work footwear.
Footwear should be suitable for:
Flip-flops are not approved HVAC footwear.
Crocs require management review.
Sports Mode does not automatically constitute OSHA compliance.
Employees are expected to maintain reasonable personal hygiene.
This includes:
HVAC is physical work.
People sweat.
Customers know this.
There is nevertheless a point at which the technician becomes the indoor air quality problem.
Do not reach that point.
Use reasonable judgment.
The customer should not know you have entered the home three rooms before seeing you.
The goal is:
“The technician is here.”
Not:
“Something happened at Abercrombie.”
Employees shall not smoke or vape:
Actually:
This is considerably easier.
Customer flowerpots are not ashtrays.
Neither are:
Use an appropriate location away from the customer’s property.
Employees shall not use profanity in a customer’s home or on a customer’s property.
This applies even when:
The equipment cannot hear you.
The customer can.
The presence of another technician does not suspend this policy.
Whispering does not suspend this policy.
Walking approximately six feet away does not suspend this policy.
The Ring doorbell has also complicated matters considerably.
Some technicians were trained by journeymen who cursed like sailors.
This is acknowledged as part of trade history.
We are not preserving every tradition.
Employees shall not insult a customer’s existing equipment or previous installation.
Do not walk into an attic and announce:
“Who installed this garbage?”
There are several reasons for this.
First, it is unprofessional.
Second, the customer may have paid a considerable amount of money for it.
Third, the installer may be:
That last possibility deserves particular consideration.
Instead of:
“This install is terrible.”
say:
“There are a few things here I would have done differently.”
Then explain what matters and why.
If the installation is actually creating a problem:
Explain the problem.
If it is ugly but working correctly:
Remember that we were called to repair the air conditioner, not judge an HVAC beauty pageant.
Employees shall not trash other HVAC companies in front of customers.
We may disagree with another company’s:
Explain the disagreement using facts.
Do not turn it into a character assessment.
The technician who made the previous diagnosis may have:
We have also been wrong.
Start with grace.
Then diagnose the equipment.
Acceptable:
“I don’t see evidence that the compressor has failed. Here’s what I’m measuring.”
Not acceptable:
“Those guys don’t know what they’re doing.”
One statement contains diagnostic information.
The other contains a future opportunity for us to look stupid.
Personal phone use shall be limited while interacting with customers.
Phones may legitimately be used for:
If a customer sees a technician looking at a phone, they should reasonably believe the phone is being used for the job.
They should not discover that the technician is watching a man restore a pressure washer on YouTube.
That can wait.
If the journeyman is:
and the apprentice is standing nearby looking at his phone:
The apprentice has incorrectly identified the next task.
Put the phone away.
Pick something up.
Employees shall not wear headphones or earbuds while communicating with customers.
If hearing protection is required for work being performed, use appropriate hearing protection.
Listening to music while performing appropriate tasks may be permitted when it does not interfere with:
If the customer has spoken to you three times and you responded on the fourth:
The volume is too high.
Employees shall use reasonable judgment regarding music played at a jobsite.
Remember:
The customer did not hire a DJ.
Music should not be:
Klein Cooling recognizes that technicians may have strong opinions regarding music.
These opinions do not need to be resolved during an installation.
Still no.
Company vehicles are part of the customer’s first impression.
They do not need to look freshly detailed every morning.
They do need to look like they belong to a professional company.
Reasonable standards include:
The service vehicle is a workplace.
It is not a mobile archaeological site.
Employees should park thoughtfully.
Avoid:
If a driveway contains a vehicle that appears to cost more than the technician’s annual income:
Do not park six inches from it.
This is not a financial judgment.
This is risk management.
Employees shall conduct themselves professionally while representing Klein Cooling.
Do not:
Some weather complaints are permitted.
We work in Florida.
Between June and September, employees may state:
“It’s hot.”
This statement may be repeated periodically.
It does not require documentation.
Read the room.
Some customers want to talk.
Some customers want to watch.
Some customers want to ask 400 questions.
Some customers want to point at the thermostat and disappear until the invoice arrives.
All are acceptable.
Adjust accordingly.
Do not force conversation on someone who clearly wants to be left alone.
Do not ignore someone who clearly wants to understand what you’re doing.
And if the customer follows you to the condenser:
Congratulations.
You have company.
Customers are permitted to watch technicians work when it can be done safely.
Technicians shall not become irritated merely because a customer is interested in what is happening.
They own the equipment.
They may look at it.
Occasionally, a customer will stand approximately six inches behind the technician’s shoulder for the entire diagnostic procedure.
Remain professional.
Continue working.
If the customer begins breathing directly on the technician’s neck:
Reasonable repositioning is authorized.
Explain technical information in language the customer can understand.
Do not attempt to establish expertise by using the largest technical vocabulary available.
The goal is understanding.
Not domination.
Likewise, do not speak to customers as though they are stupid because they do not understand HVAC.
They probably know things you don’t.
This may include dentistry, accounting, software development, electrical engineering, or how to operate the television remote that has defeated you for fifteen minutes.
Everyone has a trade.
Respect theirs.
Before making a comment in a customer’s home, technicians should consider whether the statement is:
If it is none of those things:
There remains an additional option.
Do not say it.
This procedure has prevented an extraordinary number of problems across human history.
Customers should remember the technician because:
Not because:
Have some class.
You are in somebody else’s home.
Act like it.
And for the final time:
No Creed T-shirts.
END OF SECTION 03