It’s easy to let the little things slide – your customer is annoyed you cut their hedges too short, another is mad your guys left their equipment lying around, and one is upset your running behind schedule– but despite your best efforts to “avoid confrontation” by ignoring the small slip-ups, the little things really do add up.
Getting rid of the small and, let’s face it, often reoccurring problems at the source is not only a surefire way to improve your customer satisfaction rate, but it will boost your customer referrals too.
Current problems
So how do you get rid of the mundane issues that are standing in the way of you and your next lead? Start by taking a look at your current projects and your current clients. Are there any outstanding problems that have been put on the back burner? Have your customers voiced their concern about your crews, how the job is shaping up or how long the project is taking? It’s best to deal with the most current issues up front before diving into the underlying issues that could be causing the same problems to continuously arise.
Lingering problems
Once your current outstanding issues are no longer outstanding the next thing you should do is direct your attention to past problems. While it may be “painful” to have to go back and revisit past issues, it will help you change the way you do business now, thus, eliminating future problems.
Take note of these problems as you’re revisiting them, including any troubles you encountered on the job or any customer complaints. Consider posting or sharing these problems with your employees and get everyone involved in brainstorming ways to mitigate the problem at the source. Use these ideas to implement a plan that you and your crews will refer to going forth – make it one that seeks to eliminate the underlying issues that cause the problem.
The goal here is take care of problems without your clients having to bring it to your attention. For example, if you have a client that expects you to start maintaining his property in April, make sure you know to give him a call first to verify the date, before he has to take the initiative to call you. Similarity, if a client expects you to prune his hedges to a specific height, make note of it for future reference to prevent your guys from making a mistake that will surely annoy your client.
Improving customer service
Continue to review and revisit your clients’ needs. Designate someone for each new project to handle the customer service. Having a familiar face that your clients can address their concerns to throughout the entire process is a definite way to quash any small issues before they become big issues. It should be the designated individual’s job to build a solid relationship with your clients from the start and to assure, through regular meetings, that they are satisfied with the overall experience of working with you.
Landscape Management Network is a collection of systems, tools, and training to help great contractors build and manage great businesses. Visit the LMN website.
