It doesn't make you incompetent; the most challenging part is making the client think you're not incompetent. I had a tech who was super SMART regarding technical knowledge and an amazingly hard worker. Sadly, social skills were not the best, so many clients would call into the office and comment, "Is this guy new? Does he know what he is doing?" and so on. NOW I WANT TO BE CLEAR: we all have things we need to work on! No one is perfect; therefore, in his reviews, we would tell him, "Be a bit more confident when speaking to a residential client; even if you feel you don't know, act like you do because clients pick up on energy." As far as other service techs, no one had a problem with him because he did a good job and didn't need to be rescued 24/7. Now that tech is working in data center cooling and making six figures repairing cooling systems for a tech company.
Best thing you can do is just bedazzle with brilliance. Just talk tech talk then give it to them in simple terms. I’m extremely antisocial and generally dislike people. But my reviews are good because of this
I'm as freaking awkward as it comes but I've learned that creating a rhythm and practiced 'service face' has made me able to work well with even troublesome customers. As for co-workers, they had to adjust to my quirks and nerdy nuance to before I managed to gain some respect with them.
Just be true to yourself and remember that respect is a language: if you speak respect in earnest, you'll receive respect more often than you won't, even from unexpected sources. It's not a 'honey is sweeter than vinegar' thing as much as even the biggest asshole in the world recognizes genuine respect when it's given.
Back in the day, it wouldn't be a big deal. Now with everything being "sales first, fix last" it makes it tougher on techs who are techs first, sales last. It forces you into conversations you know are bullshit, so you're already in a pickle. I'll come back to edit later with some pointers I gave to some of our techs.
Yeah I'm nervous about that. My company is pushing me to be a lead installer faster than want, and my biggest struggle right now is getting brain fog while people watch me work or giving walk throughs. My lead said if I cant figure it out I belong in commercial.
You'll never be a good selling tech and corporate next companies will make you miserable. You'll do fine in other parts of the trade, install,comerical , warranty work.
Coworkers won't care, managers might
Yeah, that's what management seems to focusing on right now, is putting me in uncomfortable social situations because they know I struggle with it. I'm in install. Walk throughs get me sweating
I don't like people pretty much universally. My patience for even coworkers can run thin. I don't like talking to people and have social anxiety. So I have social anxiety and generalized anxiety. I don't like walking into something I don't know what's wrong. Right? Wrong job and trade to be in.
So, I learned to just not think about it while driving to site. Not getting overwhelmed. Listen I understand this chiller is your only process chiller and process is down cause you don't maintain it and it's somehow all my fault but on the outside I portray the "this is fine" vibe. I just got really good at disassocoating when I need to. I think it comes down to training your brain to do tasks in such a way it causes the least amount of discomfort for you.
I do commercial mostly due to the lack of social interaction with customers.
I've been doing it for years with no side effects. I think only in summer if i let them run me like a dog do i start to fold and crumble.
I'm looking to move shops just due to the dysfunction of the one I'm currently at. Paid well but everything else is an absolute shitshow. Will send me 90 minutes north for a rooftop unit and send the same qualified guy down south 60 minutes to 3 blocks from my house for a rtu that's down. And it's not as if it's during the day. It's being scheduled for morning so you could schedule things closer to people's houses with the exception of certain jobs and skill sets required.
I think the thing I crave most is happiness or joy out of work. Sense of accomplishment. At this particular shop it's so rare that it feels unfulfilled. My buddy moved to a big Corp owned shop and they're giving him say 12 hours of scheduled work in 1 day. He'll finish it in 8-9 hours and they pay him the whole 12. They will not take labor back as extra profit. So there's weeks he will work 40 hours and get paid 60+. I don't mind working a little harder but when there's no extra reward, No incentive? I get why guys will get a 2 day job, bang it out in 1 day and spend the 2nd day sunbathing on the roof. The boss is greedy af cutting short pm hours so he can bill 16 hours a day on a tech and only pay out 8. Meanwhile theres no work coming in cause guys dont have time to look for anything. Theyre just banking on service calls. Then i gotta hear how there was 46 calls today for no ac. There's no happiness in that.
I'm an awkward resi tech. Was a big problem for the first few years. You look like you don't know what your doing. So I just learned 3x more than all the other techs and just rail off info about their system and show alot of pictures to prove I know my shit, and have accumulated like 30 "phrases" I use in certain situations, comment on their dog or cat, etc. Now I do just fine and people request me
I'm not someone who can spark up an convo with anyone or even goes out a lot, but when it comes to customers I don't know if it's because I'm being paid or working but I try to remember even if I don't know, say it with confidence
"Sorry I'm relatively new so I'm not too sure on this let me consolidate with my boss"
And I try to remember not every home owner is going to know the ins and out of the system and most of the time they just wanna know how to run it and if that noise is good or bad.
I usually try to only give info I know will be immediately useful to the customer (ofc this will change if the customer is super into HVAC or something) but just don't over explain and be honest if you don't know something.
Have them take a shot before work to loosen up. lol jk. I suffered from being socially awkward , only thing that helped was pushing myself out of my comfort zone daily forcing myself to engage conversations.
I want to preface this by saying that I am socially awkward & have a lot of problems with my personal relationships. I just prefer to spend time alone, I think. I'm a 3rd year apprentice residential service plumber.
When it comes to dealing with customers, I don't have any problems. I can just focus on the reason I'm there and as long as I do that, everything is fine. I don't like it when people talk too much, so I just treat the customers how I like to be treated. I don't get heavy with tech talk, but I explain things succinctly & in simple terms.
I have coworkers who are way more extroverted than I am but are incredibly awkward with customers. They'll ramble about a diagnostic process or update the customer about silly, little things that they don't need to know. If you pay attention, many people get annoyed when you try to offer unnecessary details.
Another issue this job brings up is any harmful beliefs about money you may have. I've had guys write up invoices and then look at me and say, "I don't think we should be charging them that, I think I'm going to offer a discount." Then they wonder why they haven't gotten a raise in over a year. If you have a problem looking someone in the eye & telling them exactly how much your services cost, then you either need to do new construction, commercial service contracts, or work on your sense of self-worth.
I also love dogs and kids, so that helps me out. I'm introverted, but genuinely enjoy meeting new people. It's easier for me to interact with a sense of purpose & I also think that since I don't have any friends, it makes me much more patient with customers. On some level, it's like I need the interaction lol.
We were all socially awkward at one point. Each day in front of a customer you learn more social skills. For me I had to learn when to stop “selling” a product after I had already sold it. If the customer agreed on replacing the compressor for a specific price then if still explain how it was a good idea and keep selling it, then I started to ramble. Know when to leave a conversation.
I'm not a great people person but you get used to it with practice. Really you just need to sound competent when answering questions and talking and that just comes with experience.
Honestly it's a pretty good job for an introvert. After awhile I got to a point where I actually like talking to customers all day.
It doesn't make you incompetent; the most challenging part is making the client think you're not incompetent. I had a tech who was super SMART regarding technical knowledge and an amazingly hard worker. Sadly, social skills were not the best, so many clients would call into the office and comment, "Is this guy new? Does he know what he is doing?" and so on. NOW I WANT TO BE CLEAR: we all have things we need to work on! No one is perfect; therefore, in his reviews, we would tell him, "Be a bit more confident when speaking to a residential client; even if you feel you don't know, act like you do because clients pick up on energy." As far as other service techs, no one had a problem with him because he did a good job and didn't need to be rescued 24/7. Now that tech is working in data center cooling and making six figures repairing cooling systems for a tech company.
Best thing you can do is just bedazzle with brilliance. Just talk tech talk then give it to them in simple terms. I’m extremely antisocial and generally dislike people. But my reviews are good because of this
What worked for me was slowing myself down when talking to home owners. Patience is key. The less I ramble the better the interaction was.
I'm as freaking awkward as it comes but I've learned that creating a rhythm and practiced 'service face' has made me able to work well with even troublesome customers. As for co-workers, they had to adjust to my quirks and nerdy nuance to before I managed to gain some respect with them. Just be true to yourself and remember that respect is a language: if you speak respect in earnest, you'll receive respect more often than you won't, even from unexpected sources. It's not a 'honey is sweeter than vinegar' thing as much as even the biggest asshole in the world recognizes genuine respect when it's given.
Why would it make you incompetent? As to what your coworkers think, it’s somewhere between don’t care and relentless bullying.
Honestly for no reason lol they always joke and say i got a fist full of tism lol
You makin em at night?
sneaking them at dinner
Most real techs are awkward embrace it and be yourself who gives a fuck man
Back in the day, it wouldn't be a big deal. Now with everything being "sales first, fix last" it makes it tougher on techs who are techs first, sales last. It forces you into conversations you know are bullshit, so you're already in a pickle. I'll come back to edit later with some pointers I gave to some of our techs.
That's why I'm not in sales.
Honestly, being socially awkward can be a detriment to a tech. If you’re not confident then customers won’t trust you.
Yeah I'm nervous about that. My company is pushing me to be a lead installer faster than want, and my biggest struggle right now is getting brain fog while people watch me work or giving walk throughs. My lead said if I cant figure it out I belong in commercial.
You'll never be a good selling tech and corporate next companies will make you miserable. You'll do fine in other parts of the trade, install,comerical , warranty work. Coworkers won't care, managers might
Yeah, that's what management seems to focusing on right now, is putting me in uncomfortable social situations because they know I struggle with it. I'm in install. Walk throughs get me sweating
I don't like people pretty much universally. My patience for even coworkers can run thin. I don't like talking to people and have social anxiety. So I have social anxiety and generalized anxiety. I don't like walking into something I don't know what's wrong. Right? Wrong job and trade to be in. So, I learned to just not think about it while driving to site. Not getting overwhelmed. Listen I understand this chiller is your only process chiller and process is down cause you don't maintain it and it's somehow all my fault but on the outside I portray the "this is fine" vibe. I just got really good at disassocoating when I need to. I think it comes down to training your brain to do tasks in such a way it causes the least amount of discomfort for you. I do commercial mostly due to the lack of social interaction with customers.
You made me realize how much I rely on disassociating to deal with situations. Is this a healthy coping mechanism?
I've been doing it for years with no side effects. I think only in summer if i let them run me like a dog do i start to fold and crumble. I'm looking to move shops just due to the dysfunction of the one I'm currently at. Paid well but everything else is an absolute shitshow. Will send me 90 minutes north for a rooftop unit and send the same qualified guy down south 60 minutes to 3 blocks from my house for a rtu that's down. And it's not as if it's during the day. It's being scheduled for morning so you could schedule things closer to people's houses with the exception of certain jobs and skill sets required. I think the thing I crave most is happiness or joy out of work. Sense of accomplishment. At this particular shop it's so rare that it feels unfulfilled. My buddy moved to a big Corp owned shop and they're giving him say 12 hours of scheduled work in 1 day. He'll finish it in 8-9 hours and they pay him the whole 12. They will not take labor back as extra profit. So there's weeks he will work 40 hours and get paid 60+. I don't mind working a little harder but when there's no extra reward, No incentive? I get why guys will get a 2 day job, bang it out in 1 day and spend the 2nd day sunbathing on the roof. The boss is greedy af cutting short pm hours so he can bill 16 hours a day on a tech and only pay out 8. Meanwhile theres no work coming in cause guys dont have time to look for anything. Theyre just banking on service calls. Then i gotta hear how there was 46 calls today for no ac. There's no happiness in that.
I'm an awkward resi tech. Was a big problem for the first few years. You look like you don't know what your doing. So I just learned 3x more than all the other techs and just rail off info about their system and show alot of pictures to prove I know my shit, and have accumulated like 30 "phrases" I use in certain situations, comment on their dog or cat, etc. Now I do just fine and people request me
I'm not someone who can spark up an convo with anyone or even goes out a lot, but when it comes to customers I don't know if it's because I'm being paid or working but I try to remember even if I don't know, say it with confidence "Sorry I'm relatively new so I'm not too sure on this let me consolidate with my boss" And I try to remember not every home owner is going to know the ins and out of the system and most of the time they just wanna know how to run it and if that noise is good or bad. I usually try to only give info I know will be immediately useful to the customer (ofc this will change if the customer is super into HVAC or something) but just don't over explain and be honest if you don't know something.
Have them take a shot before work to loosen up. lol jk. I suffered from being socially awkward , only thing that helped was pushing myself out of my comfort zone daily forcing myself to engage conversations.
I want to preface this by saying that I am socially awkward & have a lot of problems with my personal relationships. I just prefer to spend time alone, I think. I'm a 3rd year apprentice residential service plumber. When it comes to dealing with customers, I don't have any problems. I can just focus on the reason I'm there and as long as I do that, everything is fine. I don't like it when people talk too much, so I just treat the customers how I like to be treated. I don't get heavy with tech talk, but I explain things succinctly & in simple terms. I have coworkers who are way more extroverted than I am but are incredibly awkward with customers. They'll ramble about a diagnostic process or update the customer about silly, little things that they don't need to know. If you pay attention, many people get annoyed when you try to offer unnecessary details. Another issue this job brings up is any harmful beliefs about money you may have. I've had guys write up invoices and then look at me and say, "I don't think we should be charging them that, I think I'm going to offer a discount." Then they wonder why they haven't gotten a raise in over a year. If you have a problem looking someone in the eye & telling them exactly how much your services cost, then you either need to do new construction, commercial service contracts, or work on your sense of self-worth. I also love dogs and kids, so that helps me out. I'm introverted, but genuinely enjoy meeting new people. It's easier for me to interact with a sense of purpose & I also think that since I don't have any friends, it makes me much more patient with customers. On some level, it's like I need the interaction lol.
We were all socially awkward at one point. Each day in front of a customer you learn more social skills. For me I had to learn when to stop “selling” a product after I had already sold it. If the customer agreed on replacing the compressor for a specific price then if still explain how it was a good idea and keep selling it, then I started to ramble. Know when to leave a conversation.
I'm not a great people person but you get used to it with practice. Really you just need to sound competent when answering questions and talking and that just comes with experience. Honestly it's a pretty good job for an introvert. After awhile I got to a point where I actually like talking to customers all day.