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This month marks the 3 year anniversary of the Refrigeration Mentor Podcast! Thanks to all of you listening day in, day out, investing in yourself, getting to the next level in your career and making an impact on the people you serve. Also, thanks for all your reviews and comments, which helps us grow the podcast. To mark the anniversary, we're re-releasing some of our top downloaded podcasts from the past 3 years. We continue our countdown with Episode 135. 15 Tips To Become a Great Service Technician.
In this episode, we cover:
-Mastering technical skills
-Hands-on experience
-Problem-solving abilities
-Effective communication
-Customer service
-Efficient time management
-Continuous learning
-Certifications
-Safety
-Attention to detail
-Adaptability
-Professional appearance
-Ethical conduct
-Networking
Helpful Links & Resources:
Episode 228. Tips for Faster Service Calls & Better Time Management
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome back to the Refrigeration Mentor Podcast. I'm your host, Trevor Matthews this week marks the three year anniversary of the Refrigeration Mentor Podcast,
(00:01):
Because over the last three years I've grown so many friends from the podcast. So many people reach out on social media who now are just really a part of the global community of refrigeration mentor, and none of this would've happened without any of you. I. All of you who are listening day in, day out, investing in yourself, getting to the next level in your career, making that big impact on the people around you, and all of you are making the big impact on me from the different events that I see you, uh, at, from the different messages you send me on social media But these are some of the top ones that really made a difference in. Technicians lives in refrigeration professionals lives, and this is why we're, we're gonna do this over the next, uh, few episodes.
Now I'm a great technician. Why I know that is because I can go into a problem and tackle a problem, be either being onsite or talking someone through things to check to do to figure it out, because I'm very curious. This took a long time to get to this point to become a great service technician, but it requires a combination of technical skills, soft skills, really commitment to personal and professional growth.
Well, the first one is mastering the technical skills, like really continuing to advance your technical knowledge by learning, staying up to date. All the new technologies I do. Posts on digital compressors, for example, from Copeland. They're over 10 years old. Yes, you may have not have seen them or heard of them because it's not in your realm, but it's not new technology.
A compressor manufacturer's a component manufacturer, the controllers, you should understand that and great technicians understand to know where to go to find this information, to help them troubleshoot problems, especially complex issues. We talk a lot about this in our different learning programs. The next one is really hands-on experience.
And this is really what's important. You have to do both. The theory side as well as the hands-on side. All the great technicians I know who's great at controls, who's great at mechanicals, great at drives. They know both. They know the technical side as I mean the hands-on side, but they also know the theory side behind it, understanding why when they do something, why that happens.
I travel all over the world to learn from different people so I can help more people out to learn this information faster, to become more confident and competent. Another one is problem solving viability. Developing like a logical and systematic approach to problem solving. And I talk about this in my programs all the time.
Diagrams are really diving in, reading the manufacturer's material, reading the other manufacturer material to build materials that build the same type of equipment. And this is really what has helped me get to my level is from developing a systematic approach. And I do that with training. I take a systematic approach when I train because I know if you can get those checklists, you have a certain approach on every service call.
I'm here talking to you on the podcast, but really practicing clear and concise communication with your clients, with your coworkers, with your supervisors. This is so important and really active listening. It's so important someone asks you a question, think about that question and be able to explain the technical details in a way that it's easy to understand.
It keeps dropping offline. I'm having a communication issue. So it's similar to when you can't pick up your wifi signal, so you know something that relates to them. And when you make it easy for them to understand, they can follow you and what you're doing, and this builds a relationship with them. They want you to come back to this site because you can talk to them and it's so important.
You want to go in there and be understanding, be empathetic to them. You know, you might have had a bad day too. You don't have to put the bad day on them. But when you build this, really this customer service of excellence, I know it's hard. I've been there, I've been yelled at, I've been cursed at, um, from different people.
Loose connection or it's a rub through somewheres where you open the door and only when you open the door, that's when the controller trips off. You close the door, it runs fine, or a certain compressor starts up and it trips off another compressor. I've seen different weird things, and it takes a while to figure this out, but when you are punctual, you're reliable.
People notice that stuff. They're noticing more and more, and I'm seeing technicians grow really fast in organizations because they're putting the work in not going to the wholesaler and spend two hours having conversation. That stuff can happen. I've done it before, but as I grow older and more experience, I wanna spend more time with my friends and family and getting the job done right and preparing myself is such a better way.
I'm getting better with my memory skills 'cause I'm practicing this stuff. But if you don't practice this all the time, it's gonna, it takes longer to learn stuff, but you need to be continuously curious, continuous learning, and this is how you're gonna stay up to date and you're gonna stay ahead of the next person out there.
Oh, you, you, you're with Toastmasters. You're learning communication skills and, and public speaking skills. They notice this. It's not about the resume. In our industry, you can have the biggest resume. Seen it time and time again. Uh, 15, 20 years, but they can't troubleshoot or problem solve a situation when it comes to riot.
And this is, this is continuous learning. It's gonna take a lot of time to get to where I want to be in my career. But it's all about continuous learning. And when you commit to lifelong learning, you're always gonna enjoy what you do. Another thing, great service technicians do know. Is safety first.
Refrigerant trying to fix leaks while there's a massive leak in the system and there's breathing in these chemicals. Great technicians, safety first, prioritize your safety in all the work you do. Wear the proper gloves, the safety glasses. Ensure that you are safe and other people around you're safe. I know we try to finish jobs quickly.
'cause it's not, you can't get it all out, you know? 'cause you gotta do your best. It could be in some oil, there could be a lot of oil in that, that whatever it is, get the proper vent, uh, ventilator, a scotch pack on there. Wait till the evening. I know there's sometimes we just can't do them, but it's more important to be safe to go home to your family than fixing a leak.
You know, another one for a great ser becoming a great service technician is really attention to detail, paying close attention to the smallest detail, you know, thoroughly inspecting equipment, you know, diagnosing equipment accurately, and double checking your work because this will help avoid mistakes, and it's so important.
This coil's starting to plug up. And it's, there's so many things on maintenance that you can offer to your customer, and when you build that relationship, when you have that effective communication we talked about when you talk about that customer service excellence, those service managers do not mind signing off on you fixing problems, especially when it's a slow time.
Did I wanna do it? No, I didn't wanna do it, but I knew I needed to help the customer out and they didn't have anyone to be able to do it. So bring value to them, and when you pay attention to the details, the smallest thing can really change that relationship with that store owner or that client, that customer.
They understand how to read a manual. So where do I look? Okay, here's the safety factors. Here's the the beginning introduction. Here's the meat of this manual. Here's now here's the parameters. Okay, here's the troubleshooting section. And they read all the different sections. The great technicians read it thoroughly and they read it multiple times.
(00:22):
I. As well as being a team player is another one, another trait of a great service technician. Being able to collaborate with your team, your team members, help them out, share that knowledge, assist them when they're needed, you know, work together to solve problems. And great teams. I've worked with a lot of contractors around the globe and I'm training a lot of teams and I can see how the differences, I can see the differences in different teams, and when they work together closely, they can figure out the problems in the training programs.
I think the big one is personal appearance. I remember when I first started out in construction, I used to have silicone all over me, all over my shirt, ripped shirt, ripped pants, very unprofessional, ripped boots. This is not what you want to be doing. I did it for a while. I didn't know until I looked at myself one time in the mirror and I'm like, man, this does not look good.
And this is the big things they know, customers know, and even your company knows. Those of you that have that professional appearance, neat and professional manner reflects on what the company is all about. And this is huge with inside your organization. It it's like having a clean van. They see that.
Holding up high ethical standards. You need to be honest, you need to have integrity. You need to be very transparent to build that trust with your clients, with your colleagues, and great service technicians do this. They have a huge amount of honesty, integrity, loyalty to, to their team. I. So that goes a long way.
You can get a job, really. Anyway, if you're, all the things that I talked about so far, if you have all those traits, you're gonna get a job anywhere, no problem. In North America, I'll tell you right now, if you have those traits, you're getting a job very quickly. Because there's huge amount of value in people that have all those things I talked about, the technical skills, the hands-on experience, problem solving, abilities, effective communication, customer service skills, time management.
Start chatting with some, not everyone you're gonna, you know, build a strong relationship. But it's good to have a professional network and it'll provide a huge amount of value and opportunities down the road. You know, becoming a great service technician is a huge and continuous journey, and it's always about striving for excellence.
It doesn't happen over a year. Maybe it doesn't happen over a two year. Sometimes this could take five 10 year journey in this one step to becoming a great service technician, and I really believe. Continuing to invest in yourself will get you what you want in your life. So at Refrigeration Mentor, we have tons of different refrigeration programs.
Got Advanced supermarket course, we got CO2 programs where we dive into the introduction of CO2 and we get advanced CO2 course where we dive into the technical side, troubleshooting, learning how to work with new technologies. If you have. A company. If you work for a company and you want to get involved with more continuous learning, more education, more development, ask your service manager to reach out to me, Trevor, at refrigeration mentor.com.
And the way you talk with people and people talk to you. That's just one example as always, a refrigeration mentor. Let's get a conversation going.
Welcome back to the Refrigeration Mentor Podcast. I'm your host, Trevor Matthews this week marks the three year anniversary of the Refrigeration Mentor Podcast,
(00:01):
Because over the last three years I've grown so many friends from the podcast. So many people reach out on social media who now are just really a part of the global community of refrigeration mentor, and none of this would've happened without any of you. I. All of you who are listening day in, day out, investing in yourself, getting to the next level in your career, making that big impact on the people around you, and all of you are making the big impact on me from the different events that I see you, uh, at, from the different messages you send me on social media But these are some of the top ones that really made a difference in. Technicians lives in refrigeration professionals lives, and this is why we're, we're gonna do this over the next, uh, few episodes.
Now I'm a great technician. Why I know that is because I can go into a problem and tackle a problem, be either being onsite or talking someone through things to check to do to figure it out, because I'm very curious. This took a long time to get to this point to become a great service technician, but it requires a combination of technical skills, soft skills, really commitment to personal and professional growth.
Well, the first one is mastering the technical skills, like really continuing to advance your technical knowledge by learning, staying up to date. All the new technologies I do. Posts on digital compressors, for example, from Copeland. They're over 10 years old. Yes, you may have not have seen them or heard of them because it's not in your realm, but it's not new technology.
A compressor manufacturer's a component manufacturer, the controllers, you should understand that and great technicians understand to know where to go to find this information, to help them troubleshoot problems, especially complex issues. We talk a lot about this in our different learning programs. The next one is really hands-on experience.
And this is really what's important. You have to do both. The theory side as well as the hands-on side. All the great technicians I know who's great at controls, who's great at mechanicals, great at drives. They know both. They know the technical side as I mean the hands-on side, but they also know the theory side behind it, understanding why when they do something, why that happens.
I travel all over the world to learn from different people so I can help more people out to learn this information faster, to become more confident and competent. Another one is problem solving viability. Developing like a logical and systematic approach to problem solving. And I talk about this in my programs all the time.
Diagrams are really diving in, reading the manufacturer's material, reading the other manufacturer material to build materials that build the same type of equipment. And this is really what has helped me get to my level is from developing a systematic approach. And I do that with training. I take a systematic approach when I train because I know if you can get those checklists, you have a certain approach on every service call.
I'm here talking to you on the podcast, but really practicing clear and concise communication with your clients, with your coworkers, with your supervisors. This is so important and really active listening. It's so important someone asks you a question, think about that question and be able to explain the technical details in a way that it's easy to understand.
It keeps dropping offline. I'm having a communication issue. So it's similar to when you can't pick up your wifi signal, so you know something that relates to them. And when you make it easy for them to understand, they can follow you and what you're doing, and this builds a relationship with them. They want you to come back to this site because you can talk to them and it's so important.
You want to go in there and be understanding, be empathetic to them. You know, you might have had a bad day too. You don't have to put the bad day on them. But when you build this, really this customer service of excellence, I know it's hard. I've been there, I've been yelled at, I've been cursed at, um, from different people.
Loose connection or it's a rub through somewheres where you open the door and only when you open the door, that's when the controller trips off. You close the door, it runs fine, or a certain compressor starts up and it trips off another compressor. I've seen different weird things, and it takes a while to figure this out, but when you are punctual, you're reliable.
People notice that stuff. They're noticing more and more, and I'm seeing technicians grow really fast in organizations because they're putting the work in not going to the wholesaler and spend two hours having conversation. That stuff can happen. I've done it before, but as I grow older and more experience, I wanna spend more time with my friends and family and getting the job done right and preparing myself is such a better way.
I'm getting better with my memory skills 'cause I'm practicing this stuff. But if you don't practice this all the time, it's gonna, it takes longer to learn stuff, but you need to be continuously curious, continuous learning, and this is how you're gonna stay up to date and you're gonna stay ahead of the next person out there.
Oh, you, you, you're with Toastmasters. You're learning communication skills and, and public speaking skills. They notice this. It's not about the resume. In our industry, you can have the biggest resume. Seen it time and time again. Uh, 15, 20 years, but they can't troubleshoot or problem solve a situation when it comes to riot.
And this is, this is continuous learning. It's gonna take a lot of time to get to where I want to be in my career. But it's all about continuous learning. And when you commit to lifelong learning, you're always gonna enjoy what you do. Another thing, great service technicians do know. Is safety first.
Refrigerant trying to fix leaks while there's a massive leak in the system and there's breathing in these chemicals. Great technicians, safety first, prioritize your safety in all the work you do. Wear the proper gloves, the safety glasses. Ensure that you are safe and other people around you're safe. I know we try to finish jobs quickly.
'cause it's not, you can't get it all out, you know? 'cause you gotta do your best. It could be in some oil, there could be a lot of oil in that, that whatever it is, get the proper vent, uh, ventilator, a scotch pack on there. Wait till the evening. I know there's sometimes we just can't do them, but it's more important to be safe to go home to your family than fixing a leak.
You know, another one for a great ser becoming a great service technician is really attention to detail, paying close attention to the smallest detail, you know, thoroughly inspecting equipment, you know, diagnosing equipment accurately, and double checking your work because this will help avoid mistakes, and it's so important.
This coil's starting to plug up. And it's, there's so many things on maintenance that you can offer to your customer, and when you build that relationship, when you have that effective communication we talked about when you talk about that customer service excellence, those service managers do not mind signing off on you fixing problems, especially when it's a slow time.
Did I wanna do it? No, I didn't wanna do it, but I knew I needed to help the customer out and they didn't have anyone to be able to do it. So bring value to them, and when you pay attention to the details, the smallest thing can really change that relationship with that store owner or that client, that customer.
They understand how to read a manual. So where do I look? Okay, here's the safety factors. Here's the the beginning introduction. Here's the meat of this manual. Here's now here's the parameters. Okay, here's the troubleshooting section. And they read all the different sections. The great technicians read it thoroughly and they read it multiple times.
(00:22):
I. As well as being a team player is another one, another trait of a great service technician. Being able to collaborate with your team, your team members, help them out, share that knowledge, assist them when they're needed, you know, work together to solve problems. And great teams. I've worked with a lot of contractors around the globe and I'm training a lot of teams and I can see how the differences, I can see the differences in different teams, and when they work together closely, they can figure out the problems in the training programs.
I think the big one is personal appearance. I remember when I first started out in construction, I used to have silicone all over me, all over my shirt, ripped shirt, ripped pants, very unprofessional, ripped boots. This is not what you want to be doing. I did it for a while. I didn't know until I looked at myself one time in the mirror and I'm like, man, this does not look good.
And this is the big things they know, customers know, and even your company knows. Those of you that have that professional appearance, neat and professional manner reflects on what the company is all about. And this is huge with inside your organization. It it's like having a clean van. They see that.
Holding up high ethical standards. You need to be honest, you need to have integrity. You need to be very transparent to build that trust with your clients, with your colleagues, and great service technicians do this. They have a huge amount of honesty, integrity, loyalty to, to their team. I. So that goes a long way.
You can get a job, really. Anyway, if you're, all the things that I talked about so far, if you have all those traits, you're gonna get a job anywhere, no problem. In North America, I'll tell you right now, if you have those traits, you're getting a job very quickly. Because there's huge amount of value in people that have all those things I talked about, the technical skills, the hands-on experience, problem solving, abilities, effective communication, customer service skills, time management.
Start chatting with some, not everyone you're gonna, you know, build a strong relationship. But it's good to have a professional network and it'll provide a huge amount of value and opportunities down the road. You know, becoming a great service technician is a huge and continuous journey, and it's always about striving for excellence.
It doesn't happen over a year. Maybe it doesn't happen over a two year. Sometimes this could take five 10 year journey in this one step to becoming a great service technician, and I really believe. Continuing to invest in yourself will get you what you want in your life. So at Refrigeration Mentor, we have tons of different refrigeration programs.
Got Advanced supermarket course, we got CO2 programs where we dive into the introduction of CO2 and we get advanced CO2 course where we dive into the technical side, troubleshooting, learning how to work with new technologies. If you have. A company. If you work for a company and you want to get involved with more continuous learning, more education, more development, ask your service manager to reach out to me, Trevor, at refrigeration mentor.com.
And the way you talk with people and people talk to you. That's just one example as always, a refrigeration mentor. Let's get a conversation going.
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