Customer service is a weak point of most service based businesses. Missed calls. Grumpy overworked employees or owners. Chain smoking unkept technicians. Unreliable. Over promising. Disappointing.
Just answering the phone puts you ahead of most of your competitors in this space. But you can take it a step further and keep customers from even considering another company.
Professional customer service can blow people away. If you are good at talking to people and managing customer expectations in a fun and upbeat manner you will crush it. Plain and simple.
Answer the phone with a smile. Be very upbeat and positive and very friendly. Do this and you are in the top 5% of businesses out there.
Get quotes out extremely quickly. Try to do them in person so you can show off how put together and serious you are and why its worth hiring you over the craigslister that will do it for half your price.
Your competitors show up with dirty clothes. Cut off sleeves. Chain smoking cigs. Looking unkept.
Make sure you or your employees show up with a clean polo tucked in. No smoking. No facial hair. A smile.
Send out your certificate of insurance with every quote. Its a nice touch. Personalize your website and your media so you are likable and your professionalism shows through without giving off the corporate vibe.
Sounds like a no brainer right? It isn’t. If you do these things you’ll be head and shoulders ahead of everyone out there.
Do the little things to make people understand how serious and professional you are and you’ll start converting more sales, charging a higher price and generating much more income.
Its easy to forget that doing business is very much an emotional decision. People are way more likely to buy something from somebody or hire someone who they get a good feeling from.
Don’t be a robot. Personalize your emails. Spend an extra minute on each call learning a little bit about your potential customer.
Show a genuine interest in other people. Find out what makes them tick. Ask questions about their family and remember the name next time you talk to them.
Always have a positive attitude and exude excitement and smile often. It will get you farther than you think.
Warning:
Don’t try to please everyone. Don’t try to do a little bit of everything. Saying no needs to be a common occurrence. Your service isn’t designed for everyone.
20% of your customers will generate 80% of your revenue. Focus on them and specialize further if possible as you grow.
There are a lot of people who make it their life mission to take advantage of companies. Don’t let unreasonable customers cause stress. You don’t need to jump through hoops and get out of your wheelhouse trying to please everyone.
20% of your customers will cause 80% of your stress. Fire them in a polite way. Your service isn’t for them.