The ACR Industry needs a 'Fred' Award

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The ACR Industry needs a 'Fred' Award

It is around twenty years ago that Mark Sanborn, a professional speaker, trainer and author on leadership and customer services met Fred his postman. Mark had just moved into his new home in Denver when Fred knocked on his door, introduced himself and welcomed him to the neighbourhood. He also asked Mark about himself and how he wanted his mail handled while he was away.

Mark was astonished. This was not the service he had come to expect from a postman. He was truly pleasantly surprised and delighted by Fred's approach and manner.

Mark became interested and asked Fred more about his job and how he approached it. Fred's answers inspired him to develop motivational seminars and a bestselling book (The Fred Factor) promoting Fred's attitude and approach to life.
In a nutshell, the Fred philosophy is to realise and practise that everyone can make a difference; success is built on good relationships; you must continually create value for others and it doesn't have to cost anything; you can reinvent yourself whenever you want.

In the past few months I have had the pleasure to meet two 'Fred's from the ACR industry. The first was a service engineer who I bumped into by chance when I walked into a client's refrigeration plant room on a site in Birmingham. The young engineer was knowledgeable, enthusiastic, helpful and a pleasure to speak to. The second was a food factory engineer who managed the refrigeration plant along with all the other services required in a modern food production environment. Although not a specialist refrigeration engineer, he went out of his way to provide the information I required and to answer all my questions and more.

Both of these engineers embodied excellent customer service qualities described in the 'Fred Factor'.

We should never forget that although highly technical by nature, the ACR industry is a still a service industry with customer service excellence being a key to business success. If you think that is a cliché, imagine how long a company can survive that ignores this in the competitive market place we find ourselves in today. Customers do have a choice and they will go to where they perceive they most consistently get what pleases and impresses them.

The 'Fred' philosophy is built on timeless values like personal responsibility, authentic relationships, and respect for others. It is in essence, a mind-set that looks for and seizes opportunities to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.
The ACR industry has individuals who go beyond the ordinary and create extraordinary experiences for their clients. These are not only service engineers; they are from all business fields, from sales through to administrators. Their attitude to customer service should be recognised by this industry in the same way as technical excellence is. Normal is overrated and has never been a term that should be applied to our industry. We should have a 'Fred' Award, although I am sure that we can give it a more appropriate name from one of the many fine examples from our own industry.

Posted by Steve Gill 15 April 2013 23:21:00 Categories: Fresh Talk

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Comments

By Mark Canham

15 April 2013 23:34:00

Putting the customer at the heart of every thing one does is good business practice. However, many businesses forget this and poor customer service is all too common. As individuals, it is still possible to make a difference not what the company policy dictates or standard procedures determine. When we meet a 'Fred' it makes a big difference to our perception of the company and of the service provided.
Steve, I do not normally leave a comment but I found that your blog this time has left me thinking of how I behave and also how our staff behave towards customers and even to each other.
It would be interesting to hear of the 'Freds' that the ACR Industry has and an Award is one way of showcasing them. Good idea.

By PT

15 April 2013 23:33:00

Congratulations Steve, another thought provoking blog. It is interesting to know about the Fred Factor. Your blog may encourage people to think about the work they do and how they go about it

By Jason

15 April 2013 23:32:00

sorry, i meant Steve was NOT suggesting another industry contribution award. I was agreeing with Neil's comment

By Jason

15 April 2013 23:31:00

Neil, and Graham. You could also add the Phil Creaney Award to that list, along with Alan Moor and Fred Jamieson. I agree with Neil, I think that Steve was suggested another industry contribution award but rather a special customer service award. One that promotes the values described in the Fred Factor book.
I would say that the industry has more than enough awards but they seem to be much of a muchness. This is something different.

By Marlboro man

15 April 2013 23:30:00

Steve, Trade counter staff are a good examples of the difference in customer service that is experienced. Some are unhelpful whilst others really go out of their way to help and advice.
Also service support staff. Some else said that their girl was really good. Well, so is ours. The customers love her.
Good idea. As I said last time, not enough do enough for this industry. Customer service has been overlooked. Thanks for raising this important topic. Good blog Steve

By Neil Everitt

15 April 2013 23:29:00

Graham, I think Steve was suggesting more of an award for special customer service, the employee who goes that extra mile. As you rightly say there are already awards in memory of influential contributors to the ACR industry, the Fred Jamieson Award being one and ACR New's own Alan Moor Award being another.

By Graham Young

15 April 2013 23:28:00

Steve, the ACR Industry already has a 'Fred' Award. It is the Cooling Industry's Fred Jamieson Award for Industry Achievement. The criteria is:

"This award will be presented to the individual who is judged to have made a significant contribution to the refrigeration and air conditioning industry in the course of their career.
Presented in the memory of Ryan-Jayberg founder and chairman, Fred Jamieson, this award will go to the person who has been similarly influential with colleagues and customers alike.

The special judging panel, which will include the Jamieson family, will particularly be looking for candidates in all levels of the industry who embody some or all Fred's characteristics: entrepreneurial flair, innovation, determination and passion for the industry and the people within it."

This sounds very similar to the one that you propose. Why do we need two?

GY

By Malcolm Gale

15 April 2013 23:27:00

As an end-user I can say that my experience of using ACR companies is that most, almost all, are reactive rather than proactive. I am not complaining. The companies that we have used have been reliable, quick to repair faults, quick to supply tenders for new projects, etc., etc. But I have to say that by and large, they have all been reactive. This is fine, but like Mark's expectations of the post service and his postman, this is what we have come to expect. We complain from time to time when the service falls short of these expectations.
In fairness, quite a few companies have offered additional services for additional charges. They may see this as being proactive, but I view that as just selling more. It is debatable depending upon your point of view but that is how i view it.
I can only think of one individual who has been truely proactive in the "Fred" spirit of customer care. Without charging any extra he took an interest in our business and most important in my purchaising role within it. A similar story to the Fred postman.
For what it is worth, I did write to his employers and did receive a phone call back from his manager. I understand that he was called in as a result of my email and was given a pat on the back, but no financial reward.
After that, he was made up to sales and given a target. He has since left and we lost touch.
An Award that rewards proactive guys like him would be good for your industry, for the companies that employ them, and for the individuals involved.

By Snow Man

15 April 2013 23:26:00

Hello Steve, I have worked in the industry for over 30 years and my company has never received a letter of commendation or even a thank you from any of the hundreds of customers I have visited over the years. I actually pride myself on going the extra mile for the customer, indeed for anyone in the business whether internal or external. I work on the tools and have been in service, maintenance and commissioning. I have repaired, fixed or started hundreds of systems in my time.
Why am i saying all this? Because all of this is quickly forgotten and is taken for granted. It is only when something goes wrong that the customer shouts.
I think an industry award for people that do make an extra effort is a good idea. Some recognistion for what we do as an industry is long overdue. Perhaps by recognising the work of those in it (and I don't mean industry people) will be one way of raising our profile.
It is fine to give awards to industry people. I I read your last blog about the Alan Moor award and that is fine as far as it goes. But, give something to the ordinary guys who make the customer experience extraordinary. Then the industry will be a far better place.
Good blog, good idea.

By Jason

15 April 2013 23:25:00

Steve, interesting blog from you yet again. You continue to surprise.
An Award like you suggest would be within reach of everyone working within the ACR Industry. All they have to do is really take an interest in their customer. I can't think of any other Award that potentially could be won by anyone that outs their mind and soul to it.
Interesting read, and an interesting proposal.
It would also promote a side of the business that usually goes totally unnoticed.

By John S

15 April 2013 23:24:00

Steve, your blog strikes a chord in that we show do more to promote those individuals who are extraordinarily helpful. These do further the cause of the whole ACR Industry in a far more direct way that many of the other Award winners that the industry has.
I also agree that an award named after a Denver postman doesn't sound right. Get the name right and i think this really would be an interesting award.
We get very few letters from customers complimenting staff in any role. As the other commentators have said, we do receive far too many complaints. This is not a fair balance for the actual good work that takes place unnoticed.

By Paul Barry

15 April 2013 23:23:00

Hello Steve, the ACR industry is very inward looking and loves to applaud itself with Awards. As you say, these are more often than not of a technical nature but not in every case. There are some for training for example, or marketing, or environmental etc. However, none of these are for excellent customer service like you propose.
At our company, we have a non-technical service administrator who is loved by our customers and actually generates more work than many of our so called sales team. She, is our 'Fred' and would be a fine example for the industry.
I agree with you, an Award judged by the people we sevice - our customers - rather then some technical boffins will do more to advance this industry and raise it's standing than yet another pat-on-the-back for doing what we should be doing anyway.
Interesting blog.
Also, I agree with Mike, it is all too common for management to only be made aware of problems and to overlook the true stars of the company unless a customer actually makes the effort and writes in. This is rare, but perhaps a 'Fred' Award could change this.
Steve, I like this idea and your shift in attention to the customer who actually at the end of the day pays for all our wages.

By Mike

15 April 2013 23:22:00

Our company rewards staff when a letter of thanks is received from a customer. It doesn't happen very often but it is nice to recognise those people that really do make the extra effort. This is often unseen my management until a customer tells them what they think. It is about customer experience. Unfortunately management mostly only ever hear from a customer when there is a problem.
Good idea Steve