My Story: From Customer To Employee

It was the middle of June and I was miserable. I sat on my couch, in the new home I had just moved into, sweating and wondering how it was so hot. Next to me my toddler was whining about the heat. Down the hall I heard my wife trying to console our screaming newborn. I got up to check the thermostat for what must have been the 50th time that day: 82°. Our heating and cooling system didn’t work. I let out a long sigh. 

That’s just a quick glimpse into the situation my family experienced in the summer of 2020: recently moved into our first house with a one-month old and no AC. We received the runaround from our home warranty company and the HVAC technician they originally sent out disappeared. We were two weeks into it with no end in sight. I needed a solution for my family. 

Enter Homesense Heating and Cooling

That’s when I remembered Brian Schutt and Homesense. Earlier in the year (pre-covid) I searched for a new job and had the opportunity to talk with Brian (owner of Homesense) about an opportunity at the company. His vision for doing work with integrity in central Indiana was infectious, and I could tell the business was different than other heating and cooling companies. 

So after seeing 82° for the 50th time, I finally gave Homesense a call. I trusted that they could help my family in a short period of time. My first call with Jason at Homesense was full of empathy and a quick willingness to help. My next call with Brady gave me confidence that we were getting the best product and service we could. Together, they heard me and my family’s situation and fit our install in early to take care of us as quickly as possible. That level of care was a breath of fresh air and meaningful in light of how we were treated by others. 

Andy and Scott (who had previously done our duct cleaning before we moved in) did an excellent job installing our new air conditioner. Kary helped us put in a new thermostat and talked through the system with us. Since then, Chuck has come to do preventative maintenance. These are good guys who are knowledgeable about what they do and trustworthy in their work. 

We haven’t had a single problem since Homesense entered our story. I can’t imagine using anyone else in the future. We’re going to add Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) products into our HVAC system after talking with Chuck about my allergies. 

How I became a part of the team

Life has an interesting way of coming full circle. As the first six months of covid went by, I took a break from searching for a job. But I consistently thought back to my conversations with Brian and my experience of being a customer of Homesense. This was someone I knew I’d enjoy working for and learning from, and a company that I saw making a unique difference in its industry. It was serendipitous, then, that I received a call from Brian in the fall. He simply called to check on how I was doing during the pandemic. 

From there we had conversations about the potential of me joining the team as the new Marketing Manager. Throughout those conversations, we found an alignment in our values and in the way we do work. It was clearly a good fit, and near the end of the year I accepted the position. 

I see my experience as a customer as an integral part of now being part of the Homesense team. As I work to tell our story well, I’ve experienced that story from the other side. It’s important to me that as I do my role, the customer experience continues to be the center focus. We’re about helping people, and I want that to always be clear. 

My Goals

In general, my main goal in this role is to tell our story well. Homesense has a unique past, a strong present, and a vision for the future. I want people to know those stories so that when they may enter into a situation like mine, they think of us and trust us. Or when a friend of theirs has heating and air conditioning problems, they tell them about us. We are doing something different, and I want people to know that. 

I want Homesense to grow so that more people in central Indiana can experience a refreshingly different way of taking care of their home’s heating and cooling. I hope to bring greater consistency across all the ways we communicate with customers to help make that a reality. And I hope to make easy pathways for customers to hear about us, get in contact with us, and get their systems fixed quickly in times of stress. 

Ultimately, I want that dad of two young kids to check the thermostat and not stress, because he knows exactly who to call.