One of the easiest ways to turn people off to your business is being too busy to communicate.

For the past four years, my wife and I have been renovating our home that was built in the early 1970s. We’ve removed a load-bearing wall, put in new kitchen cabinets and countertops, renovated the main bathroom, installed new flooring throughout the whole house, had new drywall on both the walls and ceiling put up, and everything in between.  

We have had some great experiences working with suppliers and contractors throughout the project, but sadly it seems for every positive involvement, there was a negative one, and they all centered around the lack of communication.

I encountered an alarming number of unreturned calls when inquiring about a service, was treated like I was a hassle when trying to order and purchase large items like a wood-burning furnace, and often I was not notified when something I did order was delayed several weeks.

I don’t know if I should attribute my experiences to an overall change in the dynamic of customer service, or if now I’m simply more immersed in trade transactions and just now seeing the way things have always been. Regardless, I’m a firm believer that communication can either lead to the growth or demise of your business, depending completely on how you approach it.

The subject of this month’s profile, Travis Gemmell talks about communicating with clients and how education is part of business as usual for him and his crew; something I have no doubt contributes to his success. 

So, how can you keep your customers feeling like they matter and that they have your attention?

ACKNOWLEDGE EARLY

Even when you’re swamped, take a minute to acknowledge that a request was made. Set aside time every day to call back customers and return emails. If you can’t address the entire request immediately, just let them know you received their questions and that you’ll get back to them as soon as you have time. A helpful tool is setting up an auto-response email that lets customers know what time of day you check messages and when they can expect to hear from you. Not only will this help them feel like they matter, it signals that you are well-organized and professional, and stops them from pestering you when you haven’t answered a question. 

BE APPROACHABLE

Asking the right questions to gauge a customer’s experience and knowledge is a skill that can go a long way toward healthy client relations. Many people you’ll do business with have little to no experience with septic systems. Installers have to put themselves in the mindset of these customers. They don’t understand this expensive process and are intimidated by the thought of hiring someone and the money involved. 

You can help with this by managing their expectations and keeping them involved. Provide information about what you will be doing and why it needs to be done. When possible, readily supply clients with documentation of what they should expect from start to finish in terms of equipment that will be used, the crew that will be doing the work and an estimate of the time it will take. These are things they will want to know, but may feel intimidated asking or don’t know what questions to ask. 

BE CONSISTENT

Frequent reminders and updates are appreciated. This applies to before and during the installation work. After you schedule a job, follow up a day or two before arriving to confirm you will be there. This ensures that the customer isn’t caught off guard if they forgot, and reiterates that you are organized and trustworthy.

Once on site, provide consistent updates on the progress, or if there are setbacks. Let people know what was accomplished after a day’s work and what is left to be done. A few quick updates helps the customer feel like they are involved and also keeps them from badgering you while you are trying to work. 

BE HONEST

Honesty, even when it doesn’t immediately benefit your business is huge. 

When we were choosing our new kitchen cabinets and counters from a local contractor in town, we were struggling to choose a counter color and material that fit within our budget. The one we really liked was slightly outside of what we hoped to spend, but ultimately we decided to go for it. We had already ordered our cabinets through this dealer, and when I let him know what counter we wanted, he informed me that though he could order what we wanted, he wasn’t a distributor of that brand. He followed that by telling me that we could save a lot of money on the same counter if we went to a larger supplier nearby. His honesty was refreshing and we greatly appreciated it. Since then, I’ve made sure to encourage everyone I know to go there for cabinet and counter projects, and he was my first call when the time came to update our bathroom vanity. 

The lesson here is if you are too busy at the time or think the proposed project isn’t exactly in your wheelhouse, be truthful and let the customer know that. The headline of this issue’s Snapshot sums it up well — Courtesy Is Never Outdated. A quote in that article from a longtime industry professional says, “It is important to answer the phone and return calls even if you can’t do the job or don’t have time for it.”