This episode features an interview with Chris Lampien, Operations Manager at Lampien Mechanical Services in Atlanta, Georgia. 6 years ago, Chris took over the reins of the family business from his father. On this episode, Chris discusses the talent shortages he and other mechanical companies face, how to offer your clients the best customer experience, and the technical advances service providers must keep up with.
This episode features an interview with Chris Lampien, Operations Manager at Lampien Mechanical Services in Atlanta, Georgia. 6 years ago, Chris took over the reins of the family business from his father. On this episode, Chris discusses the talent shortages he and other mechanical companies face, how to offer your clients the best customer experience, and the technical advances service providers must keep up with.
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Guest Quote
“The biggest challenge is employees. Finding new technicians. Most of my staff is 50 to 60 years old. And there's not a lot of young people coming into the skilled trades. So that's my biggest challenge with business and achieving a higher potential is making sure I'm ready for the future. I don't have a shortage of applications. I have a shortage of finding people that are actually qualified.” —Chris Lampien
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Time Stamps
*(0:22) About Chris
*(1:37) How Chris’s career has evolved
*(2:34) Creating Camaraderie
*(5:20) Creating customers for the long-haul
*(6:45) Segment 2: Across the Goal Line
*(8:50) Is growth always good?
*(9:51) How Chris measures success
*(11:09) Managing under unpredictability
*(13:00) Recent investments Chris has made
*(14:16) Segment 3: How We Do It
*(14:30) The great talent shortage
*(19:50) Nurturing great partnerships with service providers
*(24:25) Segment 3: Future Forward
*(28:14) COVID related shifts
*(31:17) Chris’ advice to upcoming talent
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Sponsor:
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Links
Welcome to Elevating Brick and Mortar.
A podcast about how operations and facilities drive brand performance.
This episode features an interview with Chris Lampien, Operations Manager at Lampien Mechanical Services in Atlanta, Georgia. On this episode, Chris discusses the talent shortages he and other mechanical companies face, how to offer your clients the best customer experience, and the technical advances service providers must keep up with.
But first, a word from our sponsors.
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Here’s your host, Industry and FM technology thought leader and Chief Business Development Officer at ServiceChannel, Sid Shetty"
Sid: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the show. Thank you for joining us. I'm here today with Chris. Lambien Chris. Welcome. How are you
Chris: I'm doing well. How about you
Sid: doing well, thank you. So Chris, let's dive right in. tell us about your company, your role and what you're responsible.
Chris: Well, we're lamping mechanical services. We do a commercial refrigeration and HPAC. my dad started the company about 15 years ago and, about six or seven years ago, I took over the reins, rented the operator.
tell us about your journey. How did you end up in the business?
Chris: Well,
my dad's been in this industry for over 30 years. and when he decided to start his own. Company. I always took a liking to, being around what he was doing and growing up around the industry in general, I had a good idea of everything. And then I was in college and, he came to me. I had about two years left and he came to me and said that if I wanted to learn the trade and the business side, that he'd given me that opportunity.
Chris: So when I finished school, I had already been working for the company. in many different capacities, but, I really dove head first when I finished college and started working for the company and learning the trade started from the bottom, with the technical side and, also learning the business side with it.
Sid: Gotcha. Nice. We'll talk a little bit more about this later. What makes a good team within a service provider company? what do you look for in employees and what does the comradery look like within your company?
Chris: So I, I would say that, especially with us, what makes our team good is everybody cares about what they're doing. they're very competitive and they don't want to do a bad job for the customer and that they, we don't like seeing recalls come across our emails. and we want the customer to know that we care and that we're taking care of them. So that's, every one of our guys has that mindset. So I think that helps us all work together to make sure that the customer is taken care of. the other thing with camaraderie is we all come here. Quite a bit together. we just keep an open line of communication between myself and all the technicians together and our office.
that's the big, biggest thing with, keeping our camaraderie in a good place.
Sid: So I always wanted to ask this. does competition look like within the team?does the team look at,how few recalls the each have, or, you know, is there pressure on the text so that they don't cause recalls because somebody else has to go out and fix it? how does it work within the team?
how do you compete and what does success look like?
Chris: Well, so within the team, we don't necessarily keep track of who has the most recalls. we have an idea when they happen. but the biggest thing is if a guy has to go behind another guy, because he didn't do his job very well that day, They know, and they, know who was out there before them. So it's one of the guys might call the guy up and say, Hey, you missed this.
Or, Hey, what were you seeing on this? Because I'm seeing this. but the biggest thing is, I guess, checking their ego at the door. So it's not necessarily competition with having less recalls. We all just want to do a good job. So it's checking the ego at the door to make sure that the customer is the one that's being taken care of.
And. You know, their personal score of who has more or less recalls,
Sid: Gotcha. So, so you're customer focused or customer obsessed, but there's also internal accountability that, you know, you hold each other to a higher standard.
Chris: right. And say, since we're 24 hour business, there could be a situation where a guy's work on a piece of equipment during regular business hours and he missed something or. Was not thorough with evaluated the equipment. And then the service technician that's on call that night gets an emergency service call because this piece of equipment went down.
So that keeps guys in check as well, because they don't want their coworker to be mad at them because they were lazy or just not thorough when they were working on something.
Sid: Right, right. You get the evil eye the next day. Right. all right, before we move on to the next section, let's, ask you a question that we like asking all our guests, which is there any surprising or interesting stat that you can share about either your company or the industry?
Chris: Well for our company, I think would be what's interesting is, we have. I think for customers that have been with us for about 15 years. And, I know in this industry?
That's unheard of, then I guess that means we're doing something.
Sid: That's right. That's right now. That's great. I think that, a lot of what, I think customers and service providers have come to appreciate is, there's a lot of accountability, that needs to exist in our space, but also trust, right? and that, you know, Your partner is looking out for your best interests.
and you still hold yourself accountable using scorecards and data, and KPIs and metrics. so you can always keep your partnership, aligning. But it comes down to also knowing that, when the chips are down, that you can rely on your partner to do whatever it takes to give your customer, the best experience possible and to, essentially ensure that their consumer, doesn't have a decrease in, the experience they have when they walk into that physical space.
Chris: Exactly.
let's jump into the next section. Let's talk about some big picture objectives and the way teams can move them across the goal line as its service provider. What is important to you as a business? Where would you like to see your business go?
Chris: I want to say the business continue to grow, this new program that we've been a part of, I guess, for a little over a year with service channel, the se managed Really opened up the door for us with, getting new customers, based on how well we perform, in the past, you always have to go door to door, make cold calls to different companies and try to find out who's in charge of their facilities and then fill out vendor packets and try to get a foot in the door.
What's being able to service their offices. with se managed program, we haven't had to do that. it's based on how we perform and we perform well. And we look at the data constantly within the platform to make sure that we're continuing to perform well. And so far it's been rewarding. I liked the way, The business is handled and I like I'm being rewarded for doing a good job.
you don't get a lot of things within this industry as a meritocracy, and I enjoy that.
Sid: Right now that's a great point. meritocracy, right? you get more business because you do. Well, and,you not only succeed in kind of expanding your business, but you also ensure that you're fulfilling your commitments to your existing customers. but as you know, as a provider, like, do you see success, as.
expansion. Do you look at the future? As I want to expand beyond a certain geography, I need more customers within, you know, my existing geography. I need to become the primary service provider. So I get more jobs because you're balancing it with the resources you have. Right. So I'm curious. You know, does every provider look at their business in a certain mindset?
Sid: Like growth is good or is it well, no. As long as we have, enough business to fulfill our capacity, like that might be good too. I'm not really sure. We'd love to understand your perspective.
Chris: So it's a little bit of both, with, growing, it requires more technicians and that's a tough market right now. And so we want to grow as much as we can, but we'll still be able to take care of the customer. So if we're not able to get more technicians, we're gonna grow just by performing better. And, We can keep track of that with the platform So we become more efficient. We're able to build faster, get paid faster, cut time down on jobs, where we can take care of more jobs with the same amount of technicians. It's essentially increasing our revenue without expanding the customer base. So when you look at your customers and how you want to, deliver the kind of customer experience, that is aligned with your brand, what are your goals like? How do you measure that? How do you measure.
I'd say we, we measure our success by continuing to be able to take care of the customer because it would, as we get busier, our workflow is. Predominantly controlled by the weather. So the hotter it is outside the busier we are. So when we start getting a large amount of work orders piling up, I know that we're going to start teeter-totter and on success, with being able to take care of it and get it fixed.
that's a, it's a tough balance. When you're slammed when things are busy. but we measure success, be it by being able to get it taken care of and kind of the amount of work orders we have completed. And then what we're getting built out every week. by the end of the week, we kind of know where we're sitting with,
Chris: our success for the week or for the month.
So we kind of base it off of that and then our metrics within different platforms that, allow us to see. First time completion, our check-in that sort of thing. I look at that every day. I relayed that to my technicians when there's a need for improvement or just letting them know that we're doing pretty good.
So keep it up.
Sid: Right, because I think in just the sheer nature of the business, there's so much unpredictability. I'd love to understand how you manage through that. Like, how do you manage through the unpredictability? Because you, because all you can say as well, okay, it's going to be summer now. We know for sure we're going to be slammed.
but you don't know, when, where, and by how much, maybe you have some ways of gauging that using historical data and experience and so on. know, but when you look at. Certain objective pieces of the, of your operations that you can control. The, like you just mentioned that you can use scorecards, you can use a certain metrics to make sure that you're at least doing the basics to ensure that you are in line with your own expectations, but also with the expectations of your customer.
Sid: But I'd love to understand, like, how do you go about managing,with your staff, the unpredictable nature of what.
Chris: So organized chaos. and it's just communication. if we, if I'm not talking with my guys who we have service calls waiting, I should be contacting them and saying, Hey, what's your status? How are we doing? Do I need to try to get somebody else to this job? And then when it's. We're really backed up.
I get out there and start catching calls myself. that's kinda,what helps manage the chaos is, and keeping us successful is communicating with everybody. And then me stepping in when I need to, and then, figuring out the what's the smartest route to get stuff taken care of.
And I have guys that live in different parts of the Metro Atlanta area. So. We're kind of strategically placed, with where all of our customers are. but sometimes it doesn't work out with, being able to send that person that's closer to the job because they're not available, but it's an organized chaos.
And the only way we do get through it is with communication.
curious, like, I'm sure there's a whole bunch of investments that you have to do to kind of stay competitive, and fulfill your commitments to your customers and really Excel. Right. Can you share, some of what those important investments are that you've made across the company recently?
we went paperless, about three years ago. And so no, no more paper invoices, the photocopies, that thing we don't do that anymore. And we have an app, That handles all of our work orders, it's facilities management, service management app, and it does our parts billing, regular work orders, all of it, it keeps track of that.
we went from. Taking probably 17 days to invoice, to averaging about nine days to invoice.
Sid: Okay.
faster, you get billing out faster, you get paid.
Sid: That's great. Yeah. A hundred percent agree. yeah, the more efficient you can be in the operational part of your business, it's easy. You gain back some control on the things that you can, you oh, well, cause you know, everything else kind of flows in a way that is not necessarily predictable.
Right. what do you think has been one of the greatest challenges? you see, has, prevented you from realizing your full potential as a company, or, getting you to your goals in, in, in, how do you envision kind of getting past that,
Chris: I would say employees finding new technicians. most of my staff is. 50 and 60 years old. And there's not a lot of young people coming into the skilled trades. So that's my biggest challenge with business and achieving a higher potential is making sure I'm ready for the future.
Sid: which is it's actually a great segue into our next segment. Right. where we talk about, how you do it. So. One of the biggest challenges we face, like you just alluded to. and our industry is around new talent, right? we have an aging workforce and not enough new blood coming in. How are you attracting talent and how do you keep them?
Chris: Use the different hiring platforms, this, you know, on the internet. And, I scour through all these different applications. Cause I, I don't have a shortage applications. I have a shortage of finding people that are actually qualified, or have the, the mindset for this type of work. So you have to be mechanically inclined.
you don't have to know what you're doing yet, but you have to be mechanically inclined and be a problem solver. and so what we've started doing is trying to hire. Newer people that are just out of school, but trying to give them?
Chris: the proper training because they don't, they really don't learn enough in the trade schools.
it doesn't prepare them for what we do. And then D there's nothing that can prepare a new technician for the physical portion of it. So when you get on top of a roof, it may be 95 outside, but on the roof, it's about 145 and you're hot you're it's. And so you're then having to troubleshoot, you have a customer that's piece of equipment is down and they could be losing product and. That guy's having to figure it out while he's also in a very uncomfortable situation. We've had plenty of younger people come on board before and it deters them pretty quick and there can be long hours. It can be a tough job, but it's a rewarding job, but that's, it's hard to get the younger generation to stick it out, to, you know, get to, to a point where they know really know what they're doing.
Chris: And they're trying to write. Be a good technician.
Sid: So, is there a high attrition? So once they come in, you hire them, you train them and then they leave.
Chris: It seems to be the case. w I'm I try to be a lot more selective with who I bring on board and know that they're going to try to stick it out, but I've had, I guess I've probably had seven in the last three years that didn't make it. You know, it wasn't for lack of trying on our end, it's just, they weren't cut out for it.
how do you judge, if a person is mechanically inclined? I mean, there are trade schools and, there's. This place is you can go to find talent, right? how do you go to those avenues to find the right skills? w what are you do?
honestly, well, I get reached out to from trade schools. I'll get emails from their, their coordinator of their programs to say, Hey, I have these people that are graduating here are their resumes. But then also, when I bring guys in for an interview, I asked him some questions, but I can hear just by What they're talking about.
if they get past the interview process, as soon as they're working with one of my guys, we find out pretty quick. If they have, any troubleshooting problem solving skills, And that's usually I can take a guy if he wants to try really hard and he can problem solve.
Chris: I can make him a technician, but if he just doesn't have that side of his brain, we're troubleshooting it's just not gonna have.
Sid: does that training look like? How long is it? what does a successful an apprenticeship look.
Chris: Well, I hope to have them on their own running a service call within three months, but they won't be a full fledged technician for at least two years, if not. that once they're on there, they're in a truck on their own kitchen service calls. They're going to be making a lot of phone calls, but I have I've made cheat sheets.
So this is something that I've tried to help with success with newer people is I have cheat sheets of different pieces of equipment. Step-by-step of what to look at when you, first come on a problem. And after they go through all these simple steps that. Really we'll help find most of the problems.
I'm still figuring this one out with being able to get the younger group in. That's going to be the future of.
I mean, you also, when you see someone come in, and you know, they're here to solve your problem, you take it for granted. Of course they know everything, but that's not the re that's not the reality. Right. I mean, you know, there everyone's learning all the time.
but wow. It takes two years for them to be on the job. essentially as an apprentice before you will send them out by themself on a server.
I'll send them out before two years on the, by themselves. I don't think that they, will know enough to be competent, as a full technician until it's two years.
Sid: Got it. Got it. They might need help. right.
and even that, even after the fact, cause I Got guys that have 25 years of experience, that's still will come on a piece of equipment that they're not sure about and they need help, but we have these things that, you can call people.
Chris: There's the search engines. You know, you can watch videos, training videos, there's manuals online. There's no excuse for, somebodyat least trying to find the.
Sid: right. It's never been easier to find information, right? I mean, you have your phone in your hand, you have, all the tools available. If you go looking for it, you can find enough information. but, you know, I guess it comes down to, do you have the tools, readily available? And I think as an industry, the more we do to enable.
the users to access information and be empowered, the better we are for it, right? whether it's the store manager or the technician on the roof. I think technology has a huge role to play in empowerment. and we all have a role to play. And if the technology allows us to do our part really well, I think the industry will be better for it.
Sid: All right before we jump into the next session. any fun, crazy, interesting story that, that you can share with, with our audience.
Chris: Well, I guess aboutThree or four months ago? I was in Utah on a short vacation and, we were riding horses in the mouth. And, I had a customer, the head, it was a, I believe it was a Saturday. I had a customer that had a emergency issue. some of the, important people in the company went into one of the locations.
And, there was a lot of things that weren't fixed and people were getting in trouble. So they reached out to me and we're hoping that we. Facilitate getting these problems resolved. So I'm on my phone, texting one of my technicians while I'm on this horse and then answering the phone.
And, my wife's turning around on her horse turns around and what are you doing? You know? And, but at the end of the day, they, we're very grateful when we get everything taken care of.they know they can call me and we'll be there for them when they need.
Sid: that's funny. So you solve the customer's issue while horseback riding.
Chris: Right.
but that's great. That also says, you know, one of the things that we always talk about is in our space.we spoke about press before. you can always trust that the right partners, you know, the partners that you rely on will be there when you need them.
Sid: That's just the nature of our business, right? When it comes to whether it's your provider partners or it's facility managers, you know, you have to be there, you know, because you not being there could mean. Tubs of ice cream melting away, which could lead to hundreds of dollars of losses. It could mean a store can open, which means even bigger losses.
It could mean a store can close, which means it's a security issue. and so I think the nature of our industry is that you get used to the idea that you have to be there when someone needs you. And I think it attracts a very specific kind of person to our space, you know, someone you can actually rely on.
Right. That's great. all right. So jumping into our final section, let's talk about the future, but before we do that, let's talk a little bit about the past. From your perspective, how has the industry evolved over the past 10 years?
So the. Problem with getting new employees or getting new train technicians that has been eased a little bit by having the phone, you're able to look up so many different things and that guy can find some information online to help him. So that's a huge change.
Chris: So in the past, my dad's got stacks and stacks of these thick manuals that guys apparently used to carry around in their services. So they would be in their truck going through this manual, trying to figure out how to troubleshoot, you know, a compressor or some sort of a large rack system on a supermarket, that type of thing.
So, the technology that's available to us just with most industries, that's this really started to change this business, in our industry over the last 10 years. And then. The new technology that's coming out for the equipment has, I mean, it just continues to evolve, which then creates a new set of problems for the service companies that have to learn how to work on this new equipment that keeps coming out.
But that's been a huge, thing that won't stop because you know, technology's ever changing. So that's just something that's part of the business.
Sid: Right. I mean, you're a hundred percent, right? I mean, the advancements in technology, I think I've been tremendous in our space and it just in general, enabling us to have information at our fingertips, enabling us to communicate better, communicate faster. but you're right. More things can break too.
Right. and the companies, the folks that are out there, responsible for taking care of these issues have to keep up on their training on their skills so that they can, continue to evolve, in this ever-changing environment. So, you know, a hundred percent agree it's been an interesting 10 years for sure.
Chris: Yeah, there's. New stuff with asset management, where you have modules inside equipment that, you know, you're monitoring it from remotely and in the past, you know, supermarkets have this sort of thing, but now you've seen it on all types of equipment,
in a smaller scale that, the customer can just log in on their computer or their phone and see what the temperature of their item is.
so, and then they also get alerted when there's a problem or these, Management tools will automatically generate a service call because it's reads that the temperature's wrong and the store may not even know.
No, absolutely. I think the world is going towards, this whole notion of prescriptive maintenance, proactive maintenance, and maybe someday, right. Predictive maintenance, right. Where, you know, if there is smart assets and IOT and the right rules, we know when something might break in the future and we can dispatch someone to go out there to investigate the issue so that it doesn't even reach to a point where it actually does break.
Chris: Right.
and there's something to be said about that because why should the store know? Right. Why should the general manager of that grocery store now? all they need to know. Is the refrigerator working and is my product safe for sale, and for safe consumption by the consumer. and it's everything that can happen behind the scenes to ensure that, you know, those racks are up and running, and that product is, optimal, you know, for sale.
Sid: That's. Right. And the more tools and technology we can use and leverage to ensure that we can stay ahead of it the better, because it's a reactive space, but,
Chris: Yeah.
it's very important. We can do a lot to get ahead.
Chris: Yeah. And it's continuing to grow in that sector.
Sid: Right. you know, the past three years have been very interesting right. With COVID. I'm sure it's affected, how you work with your customers within your own company. Are there any COVID related shifts that you think are here to see?
I'm seeing a lot more, customers being concerned with their filters, like having a heavier duty, filter that filters out more microbials or bacteria, you know, whatever. so that's, I'm seeing that a lot more. They're willing to pay the higher price for a higher quality of product. And then there's been a big push with the UV light.
Chris: So you, they have a. Lights that you can stick. Cause you know, hospitals and airplanes, everything use UV light to kill bacteria. So now they have it where it's setting up inside your air system and it's killing the germs in your air. So that's becoming a big push because of COVID, which is just a, it's another,
section of the industry that allows for, things that need to be fixed, a sales stream for selling new equipment.
And it's also potentially keeping people safer. that's pretty much the main differences or change that I've seen with COVID. a lot of the things with our side of the business, all of our guys are kinda either on roofs or,
by themselves working on things. So that's, we haven't had a big shift in anything else with our day-to-day operations.
Gotcha. No, I think that you're right. I think customers today are willing to spend more for quality. and the expectations of safety standards have definitely gone up, which I think is here to stay, which is a good thing. I also think like customer expectations have gone up, right?
Sid: There's a lot of competition. And the past three years has also shed a light upon, you know, which businesses are here to stay, you know, which ones are competitive and which ones are going above and beyond for their consumers. so expectations have gone up too, and brands are having to step up.
Chris: It seems that way. and I know there's some, Companies in my industry that have that didn't make it through the time period. And That's where performing well within platforms and also communicating well with your customers, became even more important. It should have always been important, but certain things happen in the world that makes things more important than, than they used to be.
And so now when your company is doing what it's supposed to do it show. And that's been, that has been beneficial for us.
Sid: That's a fantastic point. You're right. They, the competitive landscape, even in this service provider business,has been, very, you know, dynamic. There's been a lot of changes. it's much more competitive and the ones that. Do a great job for their customers and how objective data and subjective data to show it are the ones that should win and I think are winning.
Right,
Chris: It seems that way.
that's a very positive, kind of thing to kind of look forward to, which is, in any marketplace, you know, you want the best. providers to, to win because then the customer wins right. More competition is good. all right. What do you think about the shortage of talent that we have in our space?
Sid: What does the future look like? how do we solve it? Right. and what advice would you give to the young talent that's out there? Who isn't yet considering entering into the trade? What would you say to them? What kind of, life can they expect? what's in store for them. Why should they join our space?
well, the conversation needs to change. I think nationally made worldwide. with how the trades are looked at. For so long, it's been pushed to, you know, you go get your four-year degree or higher education and you go get a job out of college. Well, I had a lot of friends that did not get jobs or the jobs that they got.
they were not making the money that they thought they would. And you go to trade school. year or two in trade school and come out and start making a pretty good wage. And then you can grow from there and you can have a good living and you can start a family. You can buy a home you can have a good life.
Chris: And, it's, it can be hard work, but it's pretty, pretty good honest work. And you know, that you're taking care of. Somebody or on the commercial side, they need you. And so we have to somehow make new people feel like they're needed. And that it's a important job because of it. It is. I kind of jokingly say that it's most important job in the world because we keep ice cream cold,
Sid: Yeah.
Chris: but it's not just ice cream, you know, it's all food stuff.
And then same with, urinary. People aren't comfortable and I location, they're not going to go there. And so the conversation has to shift with, the trades for the younger people that it's important. And then you get a side benefit of, you know, how to fix things. So you probably will never call somebody to come work on stuff at your home because you are mechanically inclined and you troubleshoot things.
And so you rather try to figure out. On your own I find a lot of benefits to come into this trade and that's, I'm still trying to figure out how to, you know, change that conversation for the younger generation.
Sid: Yeah, no, I, the more we can do to shed light upon, the trades and. And the fact that they'll always be demand, they'll always be a need for their skills. and that there's actually a deficit in terms of, skilled talent, the better, right, because we need more, new blood joining the space.
there's a lot of jobs out there You know, to your point. I think if folks are looking and thinking about what's next, I think, everyone would agree that they should highly consider, getting into the skilled trades business because it can be a great life. but I think it's also something which will always be around, but you'll always need, skilled technicians to come in and solve.
these problems that businesses are gonna face. You're gonna only have assets evolve over time and someone's got to take care of them. Right.
Chris: Right.
it's kind of economy proof,if the economy's down stuff still has to be fixed. Otherwise, you know, that we run into a lot of issues, no food and that sort of thing. So you're always going to be needed regardless of how everybody else is operating these industries, the skilled trades have to be available.
Chris: And so you're always going to have a job. And then if you perform well in your job, you become sought after just like with any other job. And, you can make a very good.
Sid: Right. And people will always need ice cream right now. No matter how good or bad the economy is. I think a little bit of ice cream can do a lot of good
Chris: you'd be when you're in those stores. and you see the customers coming in to get the ice cream and you're, you know, you're sitting on the floor working on a piece of equipment. They just automatically have smiles on people's faces. it's it's the strangest thing.
Sid: that's right. That's right. By the way, I have to ask what's your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Chris: Chocolate peanut butter.
Sid: Ah, nice. Mine's dark chocolate.
Chris: Okay.
Sid: Yep. Yep. all right. what would you say to our audience, Chris? there is a customer retailer or a restaurant and they have provider partners. what would you say they should do to nurture great partnerships with their service providers?
and how do you build the right partnerships? How do you hold each other accountable? How do you do it? Right.
With any relationship people, if they don't talk about or ask questions with what they're curious about, they start creating things in their head and they, and it makes a problem bigger than it should be. So when you asked, when I get a phone call from my customer, Hey, did you guys do this?
Chris: Or could you help me figure out what's why this quote is this why this cost so much money, that sort of thing. It makes a huge difference. And then they know that they can call you and just ask and solve the issue. Having something where they get upset with, and then the customer should, I feel like should be reasonable with their expectations.
When something goes down as an emergency, typically we have a four hour timeframe to get to the job. Well, when it's in the middle of the night, they have to realize that the guy that they're calling worked all day, regular eight to 12 hour Workday, And then they got woke up to come service their piece of equipment.
I feel like the customer should be aware that, you know, we're doing the best we can, but the, what we're doing is not easy. So you know, have a little grace with us. and cause w we'll have times where we'll start getting hounded with, please provide an ETA. It's two o'clock in the morning.
give us a second. We've got to give woken up and get on the road, but we'll get there. W we promise we will make it within our timeframe. Just bear with us a second is it's early. but having the customer, having some grace and also, with their communication, hopefully they're getting a good service from their vendor.
Chris: So then they know they're being taken care of and they can trust and rely that they are going to do what they say. They're okay. so it's, you know, it's a two way street with a vendor and a customer relationship. both sides have to play their part. And so that helps the customer be a better customer,
And of course when they pay on time, that's a good thing too.
Sid: Right. Of course, it's a partnership,
Chris: Yeah. So it's a partnership and a rambling way of me saying that it's a partnership.
Sid: Right. It has to be, I think the thing you summarize it. If you bought do your part, then both win and ultimately that's what we all want. Right? well, Chris, this is an absolute pleasure. I really appreciate your time. thank you for being here, and for everyone in the audience, thank you for joining.
Really appreciate it. Chris, can you tell the audience where they can find.
uh, limpian mechanical.com and, somewhere around Atlanta services.
Sid: That's perfect. Well, on that note, thanks again, Chris. And thank you everyone. I really appreciate it. See you next
Chris: Thank you.