Wayne: Customer Communication

Wayne goes on another rant - this time it's the customers who are getting a finger wag! Send us your questions to TalkingPools@gmail.com

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Hey everybody, welcome to Testing Thursdays with Wayne Ibisitch, member of the Talking Pool podcast team. Um today is gonna be a little bit different because I'm gonna step in my Wayback Machine. Uh for those of you of a certain generation, you'll remember and will understand that, right? Um I kind of thinking now that it's getting cooler here in the mid-Atlantic area and people are closing down their poles for the winter and things like that. And I kind of sat back and thought, well, you know, what kind of topic can I talk about today? Go back in that way back 15. See if we can find something interesting. I remember I was well, three steps back, two steps forward. As most of you know, I was with AR Technologies for 31 years as the director of education and technical services. And my my duties, among other things, for those of you who have seen me talk or done something at trades and whatnot over the years, I answered all the technical questions that came into Taylor. And so before 2000, it was primarily phone. Uh, after 2000, then the emails and installed phones came into play and all that other nice neat stuff. Well, I remember specifically one one question from a customer um up in Connecticut, and this was probably maybe the second year or the third year that I was with the other. So we're talking early 90s, 92, 93, somewhere around there. Guy called me up and um uh he was having some problems with his chemistry in his pool. And I remember it was pretty extensive uh at one point, chemistry-wise. The guy obviously wasn't listening to the advice of his local pool and spa store or service technicians, he was one of those, you know, I can do it better myself kind of guys. And yes, it was a guy, so ladies, you're you're not part of this right now. But uh, and this guy is kind of a little bit on the arrogant side. And and for those of us who answer customer questions, you know, we we have that unique ability to know how to answer people sometimes. So sometimes with Eric and guys, a little bit of sarcasm in an answer can help. And God, you know, am I good at sarcasm? No. Well, um, the guy gave me the list of everything that was wrong with it and what what things he had done wrong with it, but he didn't realize were wrong. And he ended up after like 20 minutes of of talking and and talking, never never letting me get in a word edgewise, other than okay, okay, okay. Um, he said, What are my options? And I said, Well, you've got a couple options. He said, The first option is would be to drain the pool and refill it with fresh water. I can't do that, that's cost money. Okay. Second thing is to spend a few hundred dollars in chemicals and try to fix it that way. I said, but you know, people want to swim in water, they don't want to swim in chemicals. And he said, I'm not gonna do that, that's good. Well, what's the last option? And I joked and he said, Well, drain it and fill it in. That I said that would be the ultimate solution. I said, but you know, and obviously you want your swimming pool and um your your choices are a little bit limited. So he said, Oh no, I gotta think about this. And he hung up the phone. Okay, didn't think anything of it until about a month later. We got in the mail. Remember the mail? Um, a rather long handwritten leather leather, right? Uh letter from this guy complaining about my answer and how inappropriate and unprofessional it was. Uh, I should be fired. Uh, should read we should need to retrain new people and kind of handle customers, you know, like a a pre-Karen Karen, but a Ken. You know, before it became somewhat you know, um obvious that Karen's and Kens exist. This was uh early onset Ken, I guess. Um, so you had nothing better to do but to complain. And you know, it it that's the one of the things that we get in in our business is um you know unfounded uh complaints, not really complaints and more accusations. Maybe that's a better way to put it. And you know, we we we know how to deal with them for the most part. Um so I remember reading the letter, and I gave it to my my then supervisor, and he had a big laugh about it, and he said, This guy has no no clue what he's doing, and just I'm not even going to reply to the letter. It's not worth my his time to draft a letter and get it sent out and all that other stuff. So, you know, you you run into people like that over the course of you know a little hair over three decades, uh, people who appreciate your advice and actually listen and understand what it is you're trying to do. Then there's the people who, you know, said, Well, I don't know, that's not what the store said. Um, well, the store wants to sell you stuff, you know. I don't sell treatment chemicals, I don't sell rubber duckies, I don't sell inner tubes, I sell, you know, at that point test kits. And so I know my chemistry. I don't know about that, click, you know, that kind of thing. Same thing goes with emails. Um, I remember too many emails um about people that you know would ask me a question, I would you know, answer the question in an email. The only difference being is that now I have a record of it. Um, and um they would come back, yeah. I it was it was one or the other, it was either almost immediately or two or three days later, um, never no, like an hour or so later, um, complaining that I gave them poor advice. And um, you know, it ruined their pool. Right. I didn't ruin your pool, buddy. You ruined your pool by not listening to people and and you know who know what they're doing. And that that was the that was the kicker here is that people don't understand that you know, those of us in the in the industry who have a certain niche within the industry, of course, minding testing and in chemistry. Um, Rudy, very similar, but he had on you know building and and servicing pools, everybody else on the on the podcast group. Um, we all have our own little niche in the industry. And people don't understand, you know, I do know some stuff, and um the stuff I know is chemistry. And chemistry doesn't change. Chemistry is chemistry, is chemistry. Testing is testing is testing. Um it um it's not something that you can uh adjust or or um uh customize. You can't customize chemistry, I guess, is what I'm getting at. Um you simply can't do it. You can't uh get around it, you can't ignore it, you can't not deal with it. Um particularly when you're talking about things like sanitizers and oxidizers. You know, you you gotta sanitize and oxidize the bull water, else you're gonna get sick. Duh. Um people don't seem to understand that, unfortunately. So you you know, they they think they know better. And and you know, I I understand the DY, DIYers. I mean, I'm I'm a little bit of a one myself to an extent, uh, but not when it comes to something that I know about. Um definitely not something that I know about. I understand how things work. Uh, and when I pass along that kind of um information to a customer, um, I'm I'm you know, I've been trained to do that. I I know what to do, I know what to tell them. Uh, you know, my my pH is turning purple. Well, I know why your pH is turning purple because it's too high of a sanitation, you know, those kind of things. So I know these answers. And and a good service person uh is is the same way. Uh they will know exactly what it is uh they are are doing. Um, and and the the information that they pass along to you is absolutely and 100% correct. For the most part, I mean there's sometimes that people interpret things differently, and and I get that, but but a good service technician knows how to answer a question, whether it be chemistry-oriented, whether it's related to something equipment-wise, um, you know, uh if it's a contractor who who knows what they're doing, and um they're talking about you know design and and and things of that nature. So, you know, we we we do know what we're talking about. Uh, and I'm not even gonna reference the fly by night people because I can, number one and two, it's not worth my time dealing with that or talking about that, but you gotta be able to learn and understand the psyche of a customer's mind. You know, they're thinking I'm paying this guy or gal a goodly sum of money every month to take care of my pool because one, I don't have the time or I don't want to, or whatever. You know, and you hope that at least the customer hopes that the person knows what they're doing. It's been my experience that for the most part uh service technicians do the right thing. Uh unfortunately, we have our fly by night people who um um uh kind of destroy that. Uh a perfect example. And I know I sound like I'm I'm going all over the place on this one, but bear with me. My best friend's next door neighbor uh built in, and I've talked about this guy, um had a uh it's a it's about a 25,000 gallon in-ground um gun-yeye pool. It's a nice pool. I've looked at it. Um, but he hired a service company that comes once a month. Yeah. Once a month. That's it. Not weekly, not every other week, once every four weeks. And I think he charges him, I want to say like 150 bucks a month in season. You know, Maryland has a short, short pool season, May to um uh late September, pretty much. But once a month. Do you really, really, honestly think that that pool's in a good condition to be enjoyed by this guy's family? Once a month. Now, granted, the homeowner, which is odd because he's a contractor himself, but he builds houses. He doesn't build pools, he doesn't dig that hole in the ground. So he knows a little bit about um uh how to construct things, but doesn't have a clue when it comes to his pool. Um so because the service tech only comes once a month, guess what the service tech does? Actually, watch this guy. He comes in his truck, he pulls out um a jar of test strips, um, and uh that's it. That's it. Doesn't bring a hose, doesn't bring a brush, doesn't bring anything. Goes in the guy's backyard, stands there and looks at the pool for about two minutes, leans over, takes a test strip out, dumps it in, and dumps it and dips it in, looks at the reading, and leaves. He's there for less than five minutes. Once a month. So of course the pool pool's in a horrible shape. The the the the um the pump isn't pumping well. Um the uh water is the the surface is stained. Um the um the water is just it's got it's it's awful. It needs to be shocked all the time. There's algae growing in one. It's just basically a cesspool. And I met this by my friend's neighbor one time, and and I told him who I was and my background and and what was what was wrong with the pool, and the guy got upset at me. And and he said, you know, that's not what my service guy is telling me. And I said, Well, your service guy is telling you wrong information, I'd get a new service guy or gal. Not to be, you know, sexist or anything. But um, and I told him, I said, this guy's not giving you your money's worth as far as service is concerned. This is what he should be doing. And my last podcast, I talked about, you know, what does a good service tech do, what does a bad service tech do. Um, and and I pretty much elaborated and and and ranted about that. And now I'm ranting about how you know service people respond to their customers uh when they have a question, or they they uh just a general question, or if they have a question about, you know, why are you doing that? Um uh what is this doing? Why am I buying, why are you charging this to do that, that kind of thing. Um, and you you you have to have that unique ability to to um uh be able to talk to customers and and answer their questions. Um over the years I used to give a uh seminar on um the um 10 most commonly oh no, the myths, that's what it was, the myths of water testing chemistry. And one of the last few slides was about service service people and the the best way to gain the trust of your customers and and have repeat customers. And the the big thing to me was you know, if if your customers out there watching it, watching you while you're servicing the pool, that's fine. I shouldn't should not bother you. Um and if they have a question, answer their question. Or if they're out there, tell them why it is you're doing something. I mean, you can tell them, you know, oh, I'm gonna add two gallons of sodium hypochlorite. Okay. But tell them why I'm shocking the pool, I'm bumping up the free chlorine reading. You know, why why are you adding all this bicarb? Why are you adding all this calcium chloride? Tell them why. You know, just tell them what it is you're doing. They can see what it is you're doing. You know, give them give them a reason. Give get tell them why you're doing it, you know. Now, yeah, and the same goes for other topics. Uh water balance, for example. I know water balance is confusing or can be confusing. And a lot of service technicians are kind of about it. And and I get that, I understand that completely, okay? Um the thing is, if you if you understand water balance and the significance of it, you can very easily explain it to a customer. Um so so they understand what it is you're doing. Um it just it just kills me when I see all these service checks. And it's not just my best friend's next door neighbor. It's all over the country. It's it's you know, I've done a lot of trade shows over the years, and I've taught a lot of seminars and and talked to a lot of people over the years, um, including you all. Um, and I've heard some some the most ridiculous answers from people um that you can imagine. And and I know that I've I've talked about a couple of them on these podcasts, but and and I'm not really gonna go into it deeply, but it's some really stupid reasonings, like stupid things, and and uh you know, and it's not just testing in chemistry, it's it's other things. Um, oh, I've never cleaned out a cartridge filter. What? You know, um what's DE? I like that one. Um CPOs who should know the answers to some of these questions don't. Um it's it's it just baffles my mind sometimes why we don't create a better atmosphere, a better relationship with our customers. Now, with that all being said, I understand also, you know, that you've got you know 20, 30 pools a day to deal with. I know that might be an exaggeration, but I'm talking about pools in areas that are that are pretty much year-round. So we're talking like you know, the bottom half of Florida, southern Texas, all the southwestern states, that kind of thing, Southern California, Hawaii, all the resorts, you know, I I get that. I I understand that. Um but it it's still it's it's um it's it's a matter of of knowing what it is you're doing, and not just doing it because you were told to do it. And in in doing something, you know why you're doing it. There's a reason for things, there's a reason why you're adding this product to do something, and here's what it is, blah, blah, blah. You have to be able to communicate effectively with your customers. Um, so despite our best advice, unfortunately, people don't listen. And um they they they think they know better. You know, the the guy at the retail store told me that uh this product is will take care of everything. Yeah, right. There's no such product that does everything all at once, um despite marketing efforts. Um it just doesn't happen. So what what what how am I gonna sum this all up? Um as a service person, um you have a responsibility to not only take care of your customers, okay, which is obvious, but also to establish a good working relationship with your customers so that they're in a position to trust you to do the right thing, they trust you to interpret um chemistry results and testing results, they trust you to correct any problems that that might evolve. That's your responsibility. So you you make those corrections, you take care of your customer, you explain to the customer if if if it works, if it if if they're there or what what not, or whatever you communicate with them. Tell them why you did something. Tell them why a piece of equipment broke and why you it needs to be replaced, you know. Uh commun communication is is most effective, you know, when when the sender and the receiver, you know, get it. We all remember those things from like probably high school is when I think I think I first learned saw the thing, you know, sender receiver, that kind of thing. Uh you can send, but if you don't receive it right, uh it's not even worth sending in the first place. So I've ranted enough for today. Um as always, and I'm sure as um Rudy and Dan and Kelly and Heather have already and Andrea have already mentioned, um, please feel free to send us any comments or questions uh you would like to ask any of us on the group. Uh our email address is talkingpools at gmail.com. That's talkingpools at gmail.com. If your um topic or if your email is selected to be talked about in one of our podcasts, oh I'm forgetting the guys in Australia and New Zealand too. Sorry about that. Sorry, Peter, sorry, sorry guys over there. Uh Chain. Um, but send them into us, and if if it's used in one of the podcasts, you will receive a what the block hat. Um, and they're very nice. I mean it's carrying it on, it's gray, it's just the one back, and it's perfect. It's absolutely perfect. What the flock. So uh please feel free to do that. We we look forward to talking with our listeners. Um, we enjoy getting feedback, both positive and negative, but you know, there's constructive criticism, and we get that where we're gonna feel perfect. Okay, um, for those of you who may be interested, I will be in Las Vegas at the International Home Spa Expo. Um, but just prior to the expo, I'm part of the group of people who teach uh people how to teach the CPO course. It's an instructor's course. We have a big, big class um this year, so almost 40 people are taking it. And I'll be in Vegas from the 10th to the 13th. From the 10th to the 13th, um, and then coming home um the afternoon of the 13th. So I'll I'll be by the expo. I won't be attending the expo first. Um, but like I said, and any kind of questions that come up uh about uh rules in general, CPO program, that kind of thing, uh PhDA probably send them over to me and again at upon at gmail.com. That's it for now, boys and girls. Have a great week, and I'll be talking at you soon. Bye.