Latest / The Refrigeration Mentor Podcast / Episode 228. Tips for Faster Service Calls & Better Time Management

Transcript

Episode 228. Tips for Faster Service Calls & Better Time Management · The Refrigeration Mentor Podcast

• 0:00
  Today I want to dive into because I had quite a few people ask me like I struggle with time management.
• 0:01
  I struggle with troubleshooting. I struggle with, , verification. And really that's confidence on troubleshooting time. And so I think there's a lot of things that can be done and things that you can do and habits you can build to get into a better time management realm that will help you. One quick example could be your vehicle, your van, your truck.
• 0:02
  And if you clean your truck and it's all, all your tools are in the right place, all your parts are in the right place, you feel good about yourself. And when you get to a job, you know, where that tool is, you know, where that component is, is that the contact or if it's a relay, it doesn't, doesn't really matter what that is.
• 0:03
  But when you have that clean band, that clean truck, you can actually go and find that part quickly. It's like having organized tools as well. And how does this help with time management? Well, because you can find that stuff quickly, you don't have to spend time looking for it, and then you can be more effective.
• 0:04
  That will save you time. Even if it's 30 seconds, those 30 seconds add up a lot. In your time management, I struggled sometimes cleaning my vehicle because it was difficult. You're working 12, 14 hours a day, sometimes six, seven days a week. It's like you feel like you don't have time, but actually you got to think, do you have time?
• 0:05
  Okay, is there a time during the day each day when you're maybe on your break? When you're on lunch, maybe when you get to work and you're waiting for the crew to get there, if you're waiting for someone, to actually just tidy up one section, because the biggest issue with a dirty van or a messy van or a truck is that it compounds.
• 0:06
  So you throw one thing in there because it's a late night, you're on call, and then you throw something else in there, and you're rushing, you're gonna get home, uh, because you had dinner, or you got an event going on, or you need to just get home to get some sleep because you got a big day again tomorrow, whatever it is, or, but What you need to do is step back and think, okay, can I take 10 minutes or even five minutes a day,
• 0:07
  because when you get to a point where it's super overwhelming, that's where you, you just stop doing, you see it all the time, it's frustrating for you, but you don't do it. And if you prioritize to have that clean van, for sure it's going to help you with your time management. You may not think about what, what does a clean van have anything to do with time management?
• 0:08
  Well, for us as service, professional service technicians, it is, it makes it very important because when you go look for that, say that tool, the core remover tool, just make something up. You didn't throw it back in the same place in your bag, which you should. You should have your tools organized to you know where everything is at all times and most most technicians do and you should have multiple Tool bags and what I mean by that like I had a I had a toolbox for when I had to do any Brazing or any anything that has to do with welding.
• 0:09
  I had it all in one box So if I knew I was going to go do that, I would have that I would have like a small tool box Service tool bag because I didn't know this at first. I used to have everything in my bag It weighed like a hundred pounds and i'm calling i'm walking through Sites with it thinking that I need it You don't if you're doing service, you don't need all those tools straight away.
• 0:10
  So I always had a smaller one This is another time management thing instead of rushing in and trying to fix a problem You should be rushing to figure out what the problem could be, asking questions, looking around, spending more time up front is going to save you more time at the end when you are in that troubleshooting situation or in the fixing and repairing situation.
• 0:11
  So having the proper tools and the proper bags is going to also save you time, but getting back to that, that messy van or truck really to overcome that is to tell yourself, okay, I'm going to take five to 10 minutes. Every day, not just once, make it a habit. Maybe it's in the morning before you leave for work.
• 0:12
  So you get up five minutes earlier, you go out and do that before you do anything else. Or, when you leave and you get your final sign off, instead of being like, I need to rush home, or I need to rush here, or rush there, or rush there, take five minutes, or ten minutes, and organize something.
• 0:13
  Because when you start to organize that stuff, take steps each day on the things that you need to do, it's going to really help you focus on the things you have to do. So when you get into that service call or when you get into that.
• 0:14
  Construction jobs. Like it doesn't really matter. You can focus your attention on that. Not be thinking in the back of my mind, what a mess my truck is. I'm so frustrated with today, starting the day off, opening that up and your first call and you're like, uh, okay, so this is something that you need to do.
• 0:15
  And it doesn't happen overnight. Cause it might take a few weeks to clean that, that truck or that van out. You could actually just take a Saturday. Cause this is what I used to do. I used to just take a Saturday morning and spend three hours to clean it up. Why couldn't you do that? Or on Sunday? There's just excuses if you don't, oh well, I needed to go to a barbecue, or I needed to go hang out with this person, or I needed to cut the lawn, I needed to do whatever, some chore around the house, well put that in your schedule to do, and this is why I already talked about scheduling.
• 0:16
  And this is Scheduling Wisely, where you put that in your calendar. Okay, every, every week on Wednesday night at 6 30 p. m. after dinner, I'm going to go out and spend 20 minutes on my vehicle.
• 0:17
  And these are just little tips, , and, and tricks. You got to schedule that time, you got to schedule in there. And just like educate, uh, educating yourself, like there's many people that I talk to that, , that I struggle with troubleshooting trouble.
• 0:18
  I feel like that I do the troubleshooting, I fix the job, but I got to check two to three times to verify for myself that I did it right. Even though that very first time it was done right. This comes back to confidence, , training, , experience, all these things line up. The one thing that you need to do is that the more you practice, the more you do, the more you get in those situations, the easier it gets.
• 0:19
  So if you feel like, You have to go back and troubleshoot what you've done two or three times. You need more experience That's what it is And I still see this and I talk with service managers business owner and they say trevor like I got some Amazing service technicians. They've been doing it for eight or nine years But what's what I notice is that they will rush into a job.
• 0:20
  They get a call, they'll rush into the job and try to figure out and solve the problem right away. And then sometimes they, they may miss something. They may not, they may nail it on the first try, but they're rushing What the serviceman in the business knows what they want them to look at the bigger picture because a lot of times It is a bigger picture issue and it's not just that single thing that you look on This is called looking for the root cause of an issue and the biggest thing is 98 99 percent of the time they fix the problem the first time The problem is, is that the verification that they look for, they're great technicians, they're solving the problems all the time, but they're after they're done, they're making a phone call, even maybe not to the boss or a service manager, but to somebody else in their organization to just to bounce it off them, to see if they, they fix the problem for that verification, even though they are actually the expert, they fix it, they just don't have that confidence and it's a habit of always.
• 0:21
  Getting that validation because if you get into the habit of consistently having to be validated, if your work is right, you're going to keep doing it because it's just a habit. Because if you have it, a comma is okay. I go in, I had a, , the case froze up and it froze up again a week later. Someone came, wash it and it froze up again.
• 0:22
  Week later, we, you know, that there is an issue. If somebody went in there three weeks or every month for the last three months, once a month, someone went in to defrost the case. There is an issue. So you go in and then you find out, well, it's actually a loose connection on the electrical, , element or the, , solenoid was leaking by whatever, whatever, whatever it is.
• 0:23
  And then they find that, but they still have to, make that phone call. Did, did I do this right? And I think the big thing is, is that if you've been doing this. , for, for a few years and you feel like you have to call for validation, take a look at why you're calling for validation. Is it, is it always because it's electrical?
• 0:24
  Is it always because it's mechanical? Is it always because it's a certain store, a certain rack or certain piece of equipment you're working on? And then think about that, reflect on, okay, on these pieces of equipment, I'm always, it's ice machines. I'm not used to ice machines. I don't know how to work on them.
• 0:25
  I only work on them once a month. Well, maybe that's the thing if you want to feel more confident and reduce your troubleshooting time get the manuals out for that specific manufacturer Call the manufacturer up even when you don't have that service call for there Call them while you're driving to another site and say listen a month ago I had this issue on this certain ice machine and i'm not 100 sure If I did it right or not, can you walk me through it?
• 0:26
  And not every technical support person that you get is going to be helpful for you on that. But maybe you call again and again, and again, I say this all the time. You've got to be reaching out to these manufacturers and ask them the question and getting the right person. Because some people are just going to blow you off and you, until you get to that right person.
• 0:27
  And this all comes back to time management. Because, now, if you understand what you're working on, you don't have to call for that verification as much or you don't have to go back and feel like you have to double, triple, and quadruple check your work. You go out, you fix it, and then you leave. And you go on to the next job, or next job, or go home.
• 0:28
  The biggest thing is, and I really believe that this would help you out if you feel like that, You should have a process, have a document, you create your own document, you can get the office to print it off, you can have it for everybody and share it with all the team, and what's your service and sequence of operate, uh, your, your sequence of troubleshooting.
• 0:29
  So just say it's a, it's a case you're working on. So you check airflow, you check fans, you check lights, you check power, you check case controller, you check infiltration, you check gaskets, whatever the type it is, and have this on the list. So if you have this list built out, then you check everything off on there.
• 0:30
  Why do you have to go back and double check if you already checked it off? I know the door gaskets aren't leaking, so you check that off. Why would I have to go back and double or triple check that? That's just one example and I know that's a simple example because it's a door gas. You look at it and that's it But now if you get into an electrical issue, well, you take a look at it.
• 0:31
  I owned out Electrical coil I checked it you wrote it down. It's good You don't have to go back and check the resistance of it again after it's checked But that you know what? I mean, that's this sometimes when people go back and do a double check You're checking things that you already checked. So if you're doing that, you're not taking inventory of what you checked in that service call.
• 0:32
  And this is going to help you with time management on those, on those troubleshooting calls, uh, delegate stuff. This is going to help you with time management too. Cause I see a lot of times when. People are going out and working with someone else or working with apprentices. Delegation is very, very important for time management.
• 0:33
  So if you're going to a job site and you guys have a specific job, one person needs to be working on one thing and the other person needs to be working on something else. If you are working there to complete a job, if you're there to help train someone at the same time, that's a different story. But if you're there going out to complete a job, you should have Prioritize tasks.
• 0:34
  So for changing a compressor, for an example, if you went in and you found a compressor was already failed the day before, and you know that you, you call up the wholesaler at a supply house and you say, okay, I need this compressor. Do you have it in stock? Yes, we have it in stock. Okay. Can you have it ready for me either tonight and I'll pick it up or tomorrow morning at seven, eight, whatever time it is.
• 0:35
  Okay, but before you leave the site, you should start prepping that compressor isolated, having the uh, uh, electrically lock it out safely, taking all the wires off, already have it pumped down. Take all the bolts off. I get it already in prep. So when that other person comes with you, all they need to do is help move that compressor off.
• 0:36
  Put the new compressor on. And then they can go and then you can put it back on or you can have them start putting it stuff on.
• 0:37
  The thing is, is there's a lot of, a lot of time that are, that is wasted, where if you want to be effective in your role and bring a huge amount of value to your company, this is time management, this delegating those tasks.
• 0:38
  Or you have if that day say it's at one o'clock and they need this compressor up and running Maybe it's you call the wholesaler. They say they got one in stock you call up the office Say I need this one delivered over you have them delivered over that's delegating tasks get the wholesaler delivered over does it is there a cost?
• 0:39
  Yes, there's a cost but it's a bigger cost if you have to leave Drive 35 minutes to the wholesaler. There is traffic. There is, when you get there, there's a lineup of people. Uh, then they want to talk to you about it. And you get back and it's an hour and a half, or two hours, where if you would have been, made that phone call, someone delivers it over, you were already taking it apart, and now you have that there.
• 0:40
  And so, so instead of you working till 7 at night, you might be out of there by 4pm. On 5 p. m. Whatever, whatever, you know, so you got to understand how to do and this is how our delegations hired on this is something that I'm still working on getting better, but learning about it. I read books on it. I talked to other people on how they delegate and to make me better at it .
• 0:41
  The other big things is for time management is get processes in place. You got to have processes and that could, that could go from what I talked about already, scheduling yourself. It could be from building, , those checklists that you need to make sure you cover. So you don't have to go back and double, triple check your work because you already understand it.
• 0:42
  And even goes back to cleaning your van. So all these things, you know, having a process for, it's going to help you with time management and it's going to take time to get to this point. Okay. You're listening now, but you want to listen to this once a week, you know, if you struggle with time management, you gotta listen to it over and over and over and over again.
• 0:43
  And listen to, to something on time management. To really kick yourself in the butt. But you gotta be accountable for yourself for time management. Because if you say I'm no good with time management, and you keep saying that, you're right. You're not gonna be good because you keep telling yourself that, and you're not taking action towards being better at time management.
• 0:44
  A few other things probably. Set realistic goals. So if you have a disaster of that van and you say, I'm going to do it in 15 minutes, it's not going to happen. You're just going to give up. So you're going to have to spend maybe a half a day cleaning it out to get you back to where you need to.
• 0:45
  That's the biggest thing. You got to be accountable to yourself.
• 0:46
  So when you're not doing it, you got to tell you to ask yourself why, what excuses are you making for not doing the things that you want yourself to do? Because I see and hear these excuses all the time. I'm working too many hours. I'm working six days a week. Uh, I'm working 12 hours a day. Once again, yes, there's lots of people out there doing the same thing, but they are still keeping their van tidy.
• 0:47
  Okay, so why are they doing it and, and you're not, if you get it into a habit, it'll just feel like a routine that you do it just like you get up every day and you go to work because some people get up and they, it's a struggle because they don't want to go to work.
• 0:48
  They don't like what they're doing. You know, it's the same thing. Traffic every day going into the office. They don't enjoy the office or the people that even hang out with traffic on the way home. So. Get in the routine and the habit of saying, okay, we got to get this done. This is a part of my job. This is a part of my mental health.
• 0:49
  Because if you feel like your space is clean and it's refreshed, it's going to make it easier for you. It's just like going into that, , supermarket or that mechanical room and it's a disaster. There's tables there. You had to push your way in at that point. That's when you go down to the, the office manager and you ask them to start pulling the stuff out with you.
• 0:50
  So these are a few things there's lots more to time management For sure, but spend some time thinking about some of the stuff we talked about today.
• 0:51
  Re listen to this podcast, because I think it will help you. Some of these things will resonate.
• 0:52
  And when you get into those habits, those time management habits, and breaking out of some of those other ones, saying that I'm not good at time management, I'm not good with my time, I'm not good with schedule, get that out of your vocabulary, and say, I'm working on time management.
• 0:53
  I'm getting better with scheduling myself. I'm getting better with time. I am figuring workarounds because of my hours I work, or the shifts I work. Start thinking that way and see if that makes a change. And if you do this consistently over the next one month, two months, six months, year, you'll see a difference in yourself.
• 0:54
  Once again, thank you for taking the time, my name is Trevor Matthews. Let's get a conversation going.