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Remembering the Basics During the HVAC Busy Season

May 27, 2014
Summer is actually the best time to train on various topics, just keep it short and relevant. Keep the suggestion box in plain view, and solicit employees for ideas to improve process improvements. Continue to announce successes, and reward employees for jobs well done.

Anyone who’s in the HVAC business knows that the summer means being swarmed by customers, tired employees, and overworked management staff.

While it’s a welcome time with more customers being served and profits soaring, it can get stressful. However, there are still a few “must” activities that cannot fall off the radar.

Training
Most people say that it is impossible to train and develop individuals in the summer months because they are just too busy. I would submit to you that this is the perfect time to train. The training must be short in duration and relevant. Think about it — would you rather turn untrained employees loose on your customers?

Employee Feedback
Since this is the period of time when your employees see the largest number of customers, any process improvements discovered during the summer can be of great benefit. Have a suggestion box ready and checked every day to uncover any nuggets employees may bring forward. You may be surprised how much of a difference this can make.

Celebrate Accomplishments
The summer months present many opportunities to catch employees doing something right. Have the owners, managers, and employees actively looking and reporting outstanding performance. When catching someone doing things right, the reward should be immediate.

These points executed properly during the summer months will ensure customer satisfaction, employee productivity, and improve company profits. The busy season is when we need to accent the basics, not forget them.

Mike Moore offers HVAC advice for managers, technicians and sales teams on a daily basis on Facebook, Twitter, and his blog.