It doesn’t matter what your trade is on the sign in front of your office. We are in the customer service business. Satisfied customers are our key to success. When your company is small, you may know your customers on a first name basis. You become “their guy” for all types of repairs. As you get larger, not so much…now, they really might not know who you are. So you have to follow up with your customers to see if they are happy, satisfied, or have issues with you.

The “right service” creates loyalty with your customers, but doing the job correctly is not all of the process. Do you follow up to see if they are happy? Do you do what you say you are going to do? Are they comfortable with your pricing and warranty? Will they call you again if they have another problem? Unless you start asking the right questions, you may get a surprise that you were not expecting.

At a good service company, it seems the phone is always ringing…is yours? Is your service the very best? In today’s world, if people are upset they will just go online and tell the world how bad you are? And then you get surprised.

If you are asking the right questions and doing the right thing, there are never surprises. Look at the customer before you leave their home and find out if they are happy. Ask the question, “Is there any reason why you would not give me a good referral or review?” If the answer is yes, find out what is wrong because you need to fix it before you leave their home. If they are complaining about price, then you did not deliver the value they expected. Find out what they expected and deal with it. Don’t leave before you fix it. Feedback and great ratings from your current customers are what is needed to get new customers.

Let’s face it, this is not the same world your daddy grew up in. Most people have a smart phone or other device at their fingertips, and they would much rather leave a terrible rating about your company then sing your praises. All the advertising in the world will not fix a bad rating when they check you out. Since so many do have modern electronics at their fingertips, why not follow up each service call with an email, “Are you happy with our service today? What could we do better? Will you use us again?” There are even companies out here that will do that for you and feed you the results.

Remember, fixing the problem at their home is only the start. We have to deliver great value for that money; plus, we have to please the customer if we want them to call back again. So just do what it takes. Make every customer visit one for them to remember in a good way. Start every call the same and fix the customer first!

The Plumbers Coach™ Detailed personal business coaching for plumbing contractors. Find out more at www.theplumberscoach.com, like us on Facebook @ThePlumbersCoach, follow us on Twitter @T_PlumbersCoach and follow us on LinkedIn @ThePlumbersCoach