Easy electrical terminology training for employees who are not electricians

SparkyAdam

SparkyAdam

Member
Location
Oregon
Occupation
Electrician/Small Business Owner
Hello Forums,

I am in the process of hiring some office help. They will be answering the phones mostly, and they are not electricians. I am curious if any of my fellow business owners have found a good resource for basic entry-level training for these employees to recognize terminology and understand the basics of what customers are asking so that they can effectively communicate with customers.

On YouTube, for example, maybe The Engineering Mindset channel, he makes some good basic videos on electrical circuits. Perhaps there are others that people have used in a similar way?

I am just soliciting ideas; I want to have people answering the phones who can at least speak the language; just looking for easy training for them. Open to training that costs money (like online courses etc.)
 
Joe.B said:
Once someone has been there a few weeks (or a few months) take them out to jobs once in a while. Actually seeing the work they're taking calls about will make a big difference.
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If it were my wife, this would make all the difference. She can look at something she's never done and make sense of it, knows the right questions to ask from there.
 
Last thing my customers want is electrical terminology. If customer says he has a short (or often "shortage"), I usually don't talk about definition of short and open.

I'll try to explain trying a known good bulb that is working in another fixture, and where to look for tripped GFCI, but that's about it.
 
Husband's the electrician. I do the phones. Honestly, sometimes it's way better that I know so much less because it's not intimidating & I can easily gauge peoples' knowledge and dumb it down or smarten it up depending on how much they know. I know so much more than I did when I started & can pretty much handle all the calls myself without needing to ask hubby questions. Sometimes I read my husband's emails trying to explain things to customers & it's so technical & overwhelming, he needs me to dumb it down. Customers are nice & most don't know anything themselves. The ones that do understand I'm not the electrician & I might need to talk to my husband & call them back.

I just learned as I went & kept a document sorted by job type to keep track of the info. The most important thing is knowing which questions you need to ask depending on the job so that they can get all the info needed without having to go back & forth. (The worst is when there's one question I forgot to ask [e.g. are we replacing or installing brand new] & that affects all the other questions that need to get asked.)
  • General fan/light install questions - Is there existing wiring or brand new install? Is there an attic above? Is there a basement below? Finished or unfinished? How tall are your ceilings? Do you need a switch? Do you have the light/fan/camera/whatever or want us to bring it?
  • They need a general understanding of running a new circuit & tying into an existing circuit (finished areas vs. attic/crawl space/unfinished basement/drop tile ceiling/etc)
  • Which things are 120 vs 240, which are dedicated vs. non-dedicated. Dedicated = ask your dedicated circuit questions (where is your panel, do you have a basement, finished or unfinished, etc.)
  • Troubleshooting - Have you checked to make sure the breaker isn't flipped? Have you checked for tripped GFIs? Made sure there's no 3 way switch you didn't know about?
  • Electrical code "up to code"
  • What your role is for installation of appliances, range, dryer, sump pump, microwave, garbage disposal, hot tub, etc.
  • 3 prong vs 4 prong dryer cords
  • things you don't do that sound like you might - (e.g. whole house fan, battery for sump pump (plumbing), generator repair)
  • thing you do that sounds like you don't - grounding/bonding gas CSST
  • what things are low voltage & if you do it or not
words
  • three way switch
  • Transformer
  • Driver
  • Receptacle
  • GFCI AFCI
  • Conduit
  • NEC
  • Mini split
  • dedicated circuit (and all it entails)
  • Battery Backup / Whole-Home Backup Power
  • Generator hookup generator inlet, transfer switch, generator interlock
  • main disconnect
  • service entrance cable
  • electric meter vs. panel
  • Can vs. canless recessed light
  • Whole home surge protector
  • Attic fan (roof mount vs. gable mount) & what your role is w/roof work
Some of it's more important than others. Don't overwhelm them with info. Again, the main thing is they need to know which questions to ask so a document that show if someone calls about x, ask about y.
 
Stress that tripped GFCI may not be at receptacle that they noticed isn't working

When they say they put a new light bulb in fixture that doesn't work, tell them to try that bulb in a different fixture (and call it a bulb, not a lamp)
 
WattsHerName said:
Husband's the electrician. I do the phones. Honestly, sometimes it's way better that I know so much less because it's not intimidating & I can easily gauge peoples' knowledge and dumb it down or smarten it up depending on how much they know. I know so much more than I did when I started & can pretty much handle all the calls myself without needing to ask hubby questions. Sometimes I read my husband's emails trying to explain things to customers & it's so technical & overwhelming, he needs me to dumb it down. Customers are nice & most don't know anything themselves. The ones that do understand I'm not the electrician & I might need to talk to my husband & call them back.
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You should have stopped right there. "Customers are nice & most don't know anything themselves" says it all. While I absolutely applaud your effort to learn the business and consider it a huge asset, asking those questions or trying to troubleshoot all but the simplest of things with customers is a waste of time. If they knew all that stuff they wouldn't be calling you, would they. My philosophy is to take whatever a customer says with a grain of salt. Be nice and yes them to death, but if you can't see the situation yourself, you are going to be running around in circles.

So, for me I want whoever answers my phones just to get the name, address and phone number and what they want done or what the problem is. Schedule a service call for your husband or another tech to go there and determine what needs to be done and how much. At most, if asked give your hourly service call rate. Never discuss pricing over the phone and remember, sometimes being nice and saying things like "oh, that shouldn't be a big deal" will backfire when the actual amount of work is determined.

-Hal
 
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