Wonderful to see that appreciation of exceptional customer service is alive and well in this industry.  It is rarely appreciated by anyone or even  acknowledged as being important until it is absent.

Congratulations to Laurence.  A well deserved winner.  I wasn't there last night but I just read that last's years wonderful winner Disa presented the award. How truly fitting and in the spirit of the award that is.

The blog that started this said that it is should be an award for those that don't normally get noticed.  ACR News have responded wonderfully to the challenge laid down by Steve Gill.

As Kyle said, I hope that this is not the last the we will hear of Disa or Laurence. Two young people going the extra mile and with their whole careers ahead of them. Now that is something worth celebrating

Congratulations to all. And I know it has been said by many before, but what a wonderful use of a blog.  In this day and age of digital word overload, it is good to see someone use their words for the good  of others and this industry

Good luck tonight to all the finalists at the ACR News Awards. Customer Service is so important to the industry. It is overlooked by too many. Well done to ACRN for running this award. Great initiative that deserves all and more the recognition it receives.

This is a wonderful modivational blog post.  It makes me want to do my job so much better.

I hope that I can win a Fred Award for Customer Service in the future

Congratulations to Mr Gill for being a short-listed finalist for the ACR New Awards again in February.  I hope you walk away again as the winner that you are. Such as inspiration for others to follow.

Eric, from Beijing, China

By the way, I meant to say that I have seen a number of the refrigeration industry campaign posters started by Mr Gill here in Germany. He social media message is spreading.

Customer service can make all the difference, and managing their expectations is a fine art.  Interesting blog post
 

Congratulations Mr Stephen Gill on your success at the Climate Control Awards in Dubai last week.  You really are a global  champion campaigner  for this industry and your social media campaign is the success story of 2014.

Congratulations Stephen on your win at the Cooling Industry Awards. Very well deserved.  It has been quite a year for you. 

Read your blog on the Fred Award. That is quite something. Very different from the marketing campaign.  You really are a great observer of the industry and an expect at effecting change.

Look forward to reading more from you

Incredible to think that this blog was written so long ago and is still attracting interest.

Good luck to ACR News with the Awards again this year.

Matt

Brilliant.  Sometimes the obvious is right under our noses but it takes someone special to put something out that is so simple.

We all appreciate good customer service and recognize it when it is applied to us.  Put we don't see if when we deliver it ourselves or our colleagues do

An award for those that go the 'extra mile'. Fantastic.

Simon Gill from California. (no relation to Steve Gill)

I googled Fred the postman after reading this blog because I was inspired to 'up my game' when it comes to customer care. What i discovered was quite disappointing.  Providing exceptional customer care did nothing for Fred's career prospects, in fact he stayed at the same level without promotion his whole career. What is more although some of 'his customers' noticed and appreciated that he was different from the 'norm' in that he 'went the extra mile' for them, many didn't even notice and most didn't even care. 

I am not saying that customer care is not important, but it can be overrated and those offering poor customer care can be even more successful as individuals and as organisations. 

Having said all that, I think having an industry Award for Exceptional Customer Service is a great idea because it can only benefit us all to have this aspect of our work recognised.  May be that is the point of the blog.

I would like to join the others that have heaped praise upon this blog and the author because it is very different and really does hit the spot.

I was forwarded a link to this blog by a colleague.  What a real surprise it was. A pleasent one!. Engineers don't tend to write engaging blogs that interest people other than themselves. No problem with that as they talk their own techie speak and discuss the engineering problems that they face. But this blog really is different and I must say has rightly captured most people's imagination.

I have read through a few of the comments (there are simply too many to read in total) and it appears that everyone has a tale to tell and can relate to customer experience in one way or another.

From an HR perspective, I think this blog and story of the postman is so multi layered that we can gain many insights into individual's performance as well as general company policy and the organisation's response to customer feed-back.

I am a convert and will read more of Steve Gill's blogs.   This one has certainly opened the opportunity for the ACR industry to celebrate individuals that 'go the extra mile' and to showcase the exceptional difference that some individual's can make.

We can all make a difference if we try. This blog, and the story of Fred just go to prove that

It is said that if you want to get a message across, tell a story.  This is such a great story with a deep yet clear message.  Inspirational blog.

What a truly refreshing refreshing read.  So much more interesting than the usual '5 Ways to improve your work by eating breakfast' type blog

I feel inspired to actually try and make a difference today

A very good and interesting read.  This really opened my eyes to customer service in the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration industry.  I feel inspired to try harder to improve today and every day

Congratulations Steve on the Asia Pacific Stevie Award.  Well done, that really is an inspirational achievement

This blog about customer service and suggesting that the ACR industry should have such an award really is something different and is rightly popular.  I think it is because you are saying that we should have an award because we are not good at promoting many of the fine 'soft skills' that we have.  As you point out, we are a customer lead service industry and it is a given that technical excellence is critical to the successs of the industry, it is customer service that is the driver. Without customers, it doesn't matter how good we are at engineering and science if we can't sell the stuff and retain satisfied customers

I was glad to see that the first award went successfully earlier this year and I hope it is the start of a long history

Alex

Small people matter and so do the little things in life.  Exceptional customer service is all about people making a difference to other people.  It is a personal thing.   I really love this blog because it reminds engineers and us that deal with them on a daily basis that some small changes in attitude and behaviour really can change our world

I feel stupid but will leave this message as a warning to others

I bought a book called 'The Fred Factor' by Steve Gill online.  I thought it was about customer service and was by this blog author Steve Gill but it wasn't.  It was an American political book.  

Yes, this is obvious to anyone with even half a brain but I am not that bright it seems

I can't imagine anyone else will be this stupid but if you are, you have now been warned

I really like this blog and heard that the ACR News Customer Service Award was a great success.   Congratulations to Disa, the first winner. You really are special to have won such a special award.

I haven't read all the blog comments (has anyone?) but I agree with Jason that calling it the Steve Gill Award makes sense to me. But I am not from the UK so there may be many other good reasons why this is not a good idea.  For those of us outside UK, Steve Gill is well known and represents the ACR Industry exceptionally well.  There are others for sure and I don't mean to say Steve is better than others but we have at least heard of him already, and like what he stands for

Can we ask him to write more please?

'Normal is not a term that should ever be applied to this industry'.  Right, it is exceptional as are the people in it :)

I bought the Fred Factor book a few weeks ago after reading this blog. It is a good read and I recommend it to anyone that found this blog interesting

What I would say though after reading it is that Steve is a much better writer and I would like to read more from him on the subject of customer service.  He knows this industry inside out and recently won an international award for customer service. I would like to gain his insights. What better person to advise us.

Regarding a Fred Award for the ACR Industry,  it is a really good suggestion on so many levels that it is amazing that we haven't had one before.

"Normal is over rated and is not a term that should be applied to this industry"

What a great line and how true!   We are an extraordinary industry populated by extraordinary people doing extraordinary things. What an inspirational blog.

Fantasic

A great suggestion.  Customer service is not considered important in the ACR industry.  Many companies take the attitude that the customer needs them, not the other way around.

If an individual has the attitude to offer exceptional customer service off their own back using their own initiative then I think the ACR industry should reward them and use them as an example.  There are individuals that follow the company lead and do just what is required.

It is good to see that customer service is recognised as being an important aspect of this industry. 

Well said

The ACR industry by and large plays lip service to customer care and the customer experience.

As Steve reminds us, this is a service industry and yet we are so used to being treated like a second-class low grade engineering industry requiring a low skill set that we have come to believe it ourselves and in turn offer low grade service

Not enough is done to raise the profile of this industry and its value to society

I enjoy reading Steve's blogs as he reminds me that I am not a lone voice and that there are others out there that share my values and belief in this industry

Can we have more calls to support this industry so that we can unite under one banner please or is that hoping for too much? Then the focus that the real important issues facing us can be address properly and together

Great blog Steve

For such a service orientated industry, the importance of customer service is surprisingly overlooked by many who consider the engineering and technical aspects far more valuable and important.

It is good to read that Steve Gill is proving to be such an ambassador for the industry and particularly Customer Service

Congratulations on winning the Gold Stevie Award, that really is something very special.

A smile doesn't cost anything. Companies say that customer service costs money and investment.  What nonsense.

Excellent blog Mr Gill.  The Air Conditioning Industry needs more champions and leaders like you. You are a thought influencer

Very interesting comment from Mr Richardson. He tells us why he is doing what he is doing.  It is people like Mr Richardson that truly make a difference to this industry and to our every day lives. If more do what he does, this industry will be better for it

Very interesting background story from Karl.  It is good to read other people's stories.

Karl, you are doing excellent work with DIsa. I hope that she has a bright future in the industry

I also hope that this Award goes on to grow in significance within the industry. It is one of  a handful of truly worthy awards.

Congratulations to Disa again on winning and to Karl for putting her forward.

It is remarkable that this blog is now almost a year old and still attracts interest.  It has stood the test of time because it has genuine timeless value. Thanks Karl for the latest comment

I would just like to say a massive thank you to all for the kind words said about Disa. I was employed into this industry nearly 20 years ago and worked for a major wholesaler on their trade counter. I used to serve customers and load equipment, gas and copper onto vans as well as sweeping the floor and cleaning the toilets! 

Whilst my immediate manager was fantastic (he tought me how to look after customers, step forward RIchard Davies of Hawco) can remember not being appreciated by senior management, being ignored, not being motivated and not being trained. I was ambitious although maybe a little difficult to manage as I was young. I took myself to College to learn refrigeration because my employer would not invest in training. When I asked for promotion they offered me a role two - three hours travel away with a stark warning that I would be likely to fail. I wont mention that person but he knows who he is.

In the end I left to pursue my goals. I worked at some good companies and some poor companies, some with a positive approach to Customer Service and training and others with the exact opposite approach. I have worked with some good staff and some that quite frankly should not be in a "Customer Service" role. One clear memory I have is admonishing a member of staff for constantly refusing to answer the phone until the clock ticked onto exactly 8.30am which is when the branch opened. They would sit there, watch the phone ringing and wait! No-one ever pointed out that this was not "good customer service".  I was never forgiven for that approach by that employee and of course my name  was mud when conversations took place in the corner of the warehouse. 

Now, as MD of a thriving Distributor, I take great pride in training, educating and motivating. I don't always get it right but as someone who always criticised other companies and managers for not providing training and promoting good customer service I see it as an obligation to get it right. 

I firmly believe that this is one of the toughest industries to operate in if you work for a Wholesaler or a Distributor. The requirements from customers is that they need it now, the price has to be the right and we should know everything about our product. Air Conditioning contractors have an unreasonable requirement put on them by their clients and this is passed down the line. Luckily we only sell Air Conditioning, many other companies have to worry about Refrigeration products, components, copper, refrigerant and all the legisltation that those products come with. 

Unfortunately this award cannot recognise every worthy person in this industry but if an employee is deserving of that recognition then employers should do all they can to do so and make that employee feel appreciated. Anyone who feels that they have fantastic customer service skills should look to Wholesale and Distribution as it is our side of the industry who can make life easier or make things easier to handle when things do go wrong as they inevitable do.

I proposed Disa for this award because she just "gets it". She wants to learn and we therefore provide the platform for her to learn. In return she works her socks off for us and she always keeps the customer happy even when everything seems to be falling apart around us.

 I will always try my level best to keep introducing new people to the industry via apprenticeships but also be employing existing people in the industry and making them better at what they do via an investment in training and also listening to what they want to do and rewarding them where possible. 

Thanks again to everyone who voted for all candidates. This is an award that I hope to see grow over the years and gain real recognition.