HVAC Industry Telephone Management Tips

You may offer your HVAC customers multiple ways to reach you, but in a pinch, many are still likely to pick up a telephone and give you a call. While telephone customer service for HVAC businesses may have changed somewhat over the last decade, there are still some tried and true telephone management tips that still ring true today. Here are some HVAC industry telephone management tips to keep your customers smiling.

Be available around the clock

HVAC problems don’t just occur during business hours. Unless you and your employees love to take HVAC calls at home during all hours, you need to have someone in place specifically to handle those middle of the night calls. An answering machine won’t cut it, either. Worried customers want the reassurance of a live human voice at the end of the phone line when they have a problem in the wee hours. If you don’t have the staff to take these calls, consider hiring an answering service to filter the calls and prioritize them for you.

Be professional

You may be up to your elbows in unpleasant repairs, but if your phone rings, you’d better be prepared to answer it in the most professional manner possible. If you find this difficult (and who wouldn’t during a busy work day), consider having your calls routed to a customer service person at your business or at a call centre. Your customers and potential customers deserve undivided attention and a professional, prompt greeting. Using a call centre or answering service shows your clients that you respect them enough to be available whenever they need you.

If you don’t take each call yourself, make sure that you at least call each customer back before you show up at their home to do any work. This helps establish a personal relationship and will help build trust.

Prioritize calls

If you have a limited number of repair staff, you need to make sure that the most important tasks are assigned quickly. A good central customer service hub is crucial if you want to make sure that the urgent tasks are assigned first. Also, don’t forget to allow for less urgent, but no less important, sales and maintenance tasks. Maintaining a great relationship with your customers only starts with a phone call, but it ultimately ends with how you handle those incoming calls as a business.

For more great tips on providing excellent customer service to your HVAC customers, visit Answer 365 today.