Customer Service Survival Guide for Contractors – How to Keep Happy Customers Coming Back
Whether you’re a plumber, electrician, general contractor or the like, if you run a business, you know the power of ‘word of mouth’ when it comes to marketing your services. Going above and beyond in your customer service techniques is integral to keeping a loyal customer base and attracting new ones. Contractors often focus solely on their trade, but the most successful contractors are the ones that master the following steps to create exceptional customer service relationships.
Always Meet and Exceed your customer’s expectations
First impressions are everything when it comes to hitting it off with a new customer. Always show up early or on time and give over –the-top professional service. Greet your client, introduce yourself, shake their hand and make a genuine attempt to get to know your client and their needs. It is important to ask a lot of questions and practice your listening skills, and it is not the time to go on about your credentials.
Clean and Professional Attire
Make sure that from the moment your customer see’s you walk into their home to the time you leave the job that your clothing reflects the values of your company. Have a logo crested onto your shirts, make sure that your clothing is clean and pressed, and make certain that you are wearing the correct safety attire to accompany your trade.
Offer a Binder of Testimonials and Past work
You can offer customers a binder of your work to peruse through while you do their work. Within this binder, offer testimonials, photos of completed jobs, your credentials, promotional materials as well as any innovative new ideas within your trade that a customer might want to incorporate into their home design. This binder is used to add credibility to your skills as a contractor, keep your customers informed about your trade, and inspire your customer to move forward with new projects in their home that they never thought of.
Create Lifelong Customers from the First Meeting
Stay in touch. Perfect your customer service by sending customers a Christmas card with your company logo. Staying in touch has never been easier.
Stay In Touch with Social Media
With the use of Facebook, twitter, blogs etc. you can add a list of your customers to your company page, and offer them interesting information and promotions via these social networks. You can also give customers an outlet to ask questions, or post testimonials about your work.
Referral program with incentives
Within your promotions, whether they be via social media or simple telephone calls to past customers, be sure to entice them with referral programs that have incentives. Word of mouth marketing is great, and what makes it even better is when your happy customers have a lot of friends who need work done. The law of reciprocity states that when we give something away for free, we are much more likely to get something back in return. Give your customers an incentive to bring you more valued customers.
Clean Up
Nothing takes away from a job well done, like leaving garbage from your job on site. It doesn’t matter how great a job you’ve done if you leave a mess. Your customer will remember you as messy and unprofessional if you leave dirt from your outdoor shoes, wrappers, coffee cups, and old material on the job site. You can minimize tracking in dirt, mud, and snow into a customer’s home by wearing a reusable neoprene boot cover such as the CleanBoot. For any mess that can’t be avoided, always clean up when the job is done. Bring garbage bags with you, to remove any larger debris, give the area a quick sweep or vacuum, and make sure that trash is disposed of effectively. If you have any old material left over from a job, be certain to ask your customers if they would like to keep the material rather than leaving your mess.
Follow-Up and Feedback
When you make a mistake, recognize that a mistake has been made and let the customer know that you will take all measures to correct the problem. Customers who might be angered by a job that is done incorrectly, will quickly change their tone if you show them that you have the integrity to do what it takes to satisfy their requests for the job. Also, get your customers to give you feedback on the job you performed. An easy way to do this is to make up a quick service questionnaire about your job performance. Customers can fill this information online, and you can use this information to improve your practice.
