Why We Encourage Our Heating & AC Techs “Waste” 45 Minutes A Day
We’re The Only Southern California HVAC Company That Urges Technicians To Spend Nearly An Hour A Day On Non-Billable Activities.
When we tell people that our heating & air conditioning technicians spend 30 to 60 minutes a day on activities that are 100% non-billable, people think it’s a little strange.
But when we add that we actually ENCOURAGE it, then they start to think we just might be crazy.
We understand that reaction. Telling your technicians to “waste” about 45 minutes a day is definitely NOT something you’d find in any business book.
In fact, we think we’re the only HVAC company in Southern California that strongly urges our techs to do it.
The non-billable tasks we’re talking about are what we call ‘Good Deeds For Free.’
That’s when our technicians look for things they can do to help our clients while we are in their homes. Good deeds—for free. No strings attached, no hidden agenda, and definitely NO charge.
Our techs will be in your home to perform things like an AC tune-up, or repair a heater, or install a new HVAC system, but they’ll also look around and ask questions. And there is almost ALWAYS some extra we can do to help our clients.
This can be something as small as rolling in the garbage cans or carrying in groceries.
Or it can be something as big as changing a tire, finding a lost dog, raking up leaves, or moving a piano.
And we’ve done many unusual Good Deeds For Free like foiling a robbery in progress, feeding oranges to horses, helping a veteran retire a flag, and tutoring kids on the fine art of rollerblading. (Go to any of the links to read about them – they are all true stories!).
By all appearances, all these Good Deeds For Free seem to be a complete WASTE of time when looked at from a ‘how much money can we make’ perspective.
So why do we do it when most Southern California HVAC companies would say we’re better off spending every billable minute tuning up, repairing, or installing air-conditioners and heaters?
We do it because it matches our core values (which you can read more about here). One of biggest values is ENTHUSIASM. We are excited to help people and we find that it is contagious.
We don’t mandate this – none of our technicians have a “Good Deeds” quota. But, interestingly, many of our technicians say that it has made them more thoughtful and generous—even when they’re off duty, not wearing their uniform.
So, just for fun, if we put on our accounting hats, what would we calculate that Good Deeds For Free cost us?
We have about 100 technicians working for us on any given day…
And even calculating on the lower end of 30 minutes a day each on Good Deeds, that would be 3,000 minutes (50 hours a day!) …
Times 6 days a week, that would be 300 hours a week…
Times 50 weeks…
Comes to 15,000 hours a year on Good Deeds For Free!
And maybe if we were nothing but bean counters, we would agree that it is a waste of time.
But the smiles on our clients’ faces tell us a different story. And that makes it all worthwhile to us.
Not to mention – our happy clients seem to keep inviting us back! Would you like to be our next client who gets a visit from World’s Friendliest Technicians! ℠ who do Good Deeds For Free? Our highly trained experts can repair, tune-up or install your air conditioner or heater. Contact Us to schedule.