A guest post from Lifestyle Tradie!
A customer booking your services or looking to purchase a product from you is good news for any business, however, it’s only half the picture. You and your staff still need to impress your customers and provide the best service/products possible.
If you succeed at this, you will increase your trustworthiness and credibility in the mind of the customer, both of which lead to customer loyalty… and greater profits!
We know this is music to your ears (increased profits? yes please) and you’re eager to know how you can make a good impression on your customers, so here’s the secret…
There are three basic yet important aspects that you should keep in mind when dealing with a customer. These aspects are What customers See, What they Hear, and What they Receive.
You must continually strive to improve on each of these fundamental aspects, to be better at each, if you want to build a strong relationship with your customers.
But how? Read on to find out.
What The Customer Sees
It only takes 7 seconds (from first face-to-face contact) for a customer to form an opinion about you and your business. How you compose yourself, what you say, and your physical appearance when you meet a customer is crucial!
When it comes to physical appearance, the first few things that a customer will visually digest is:
- Service vehicle — the vehicle should obviously be clean. Vehicle signage should be presentable, easy-to-read, and branded.
- Clothing — having a uniform is highly recommended as well as an observation of cleanliness.
- General appearance — the person in contact with the customer needs to be as neat as possible. This includes clean shaven, free from odour, and presenting with good body language (eye contact, no fidgeting, no texting while talking, open posture etc).
- Store front — if you have a physical store, it needs to be kept neat, tidy, and free of mess.
Some of you might be wondering “Is doing this even worth it? It’s going to cost me money to get uniforms/branding!”
And yes, these things are going to cost you money, but the benefits are too good to be ignored.
When we think of our own plumbing business’s target market, they are 30-40 year old women with young children at home who are a little cautious at having a stranger in their house. If we turned up to their house looking scruff, in an old battered plain white van, are they going to let us in their home? Chances are slim.
Instead, we turn up looking professional in our uniform with our branded vehicle in the driveway behind us and it immediately builds trust with them. Putting their worries at ease!
Besides, there’s no doubt your competitors are doing these things. Don’t get left behind!
What The Customer Hears
After impressing your customers with your professional appearance, your next step is to build rapport through effective communication.
You don’t have to be a smooth talker to interact with the customer but you do need to be adaptable.
One of the realities of running a business, is that each customer is different. Meaning, how you communicate with them should be tailored according to their mood or tone of voice.
In addition to this, the customer needs to be assured that you are the right person to handle the issue they’ve come to you with, not your competitor. Communicate this to them by paying attention to them, repeating their request back to them along with your solution, and demonstrate your confidence in your ability to meet their needs and wants.
This will further increase the customers trust with you and perhaps even provide you the chance to upsell to them. Higher average dollar sale for each customer = more money for your business!
What The Customer Receives
Your customers should receive the best product or service that you can provide if you want them to continue business with you. And refer others to you!
In addition, you should always give the customer something that will remind them of you — something that ‘invites’ them to contact you again.
For example, in our plumbing business we give customers an exclusive membership card. This makes the customer feel valued, and also incentivises them to our services again as they are considered a ‘VIP Member’.
You could also provide your customers with a:
- Business card;
- Information pack;
- Discount flyer; or
- Testimonials.
Each of these 3 fundamentals of business are important, and you shouldn’t favour one over the other.
Excel in all 3, and you’ll reap the benefits of increased customer relations, increased loyalty, higher average dollar sale, and greater profits.
If you’re interested in learning more strategies to ‘wow-ing’ your customers to increase your customer retention and profits, come check out our live event ‘The Next Level Tradie’, where we share the exact 3 stages we use in our own award-winning plumbing business to Attract, Deliver and Retain A-Grade Clients!
Click here for more details and a free ServiceM8 ticket.
Andy & Angela Smith
Husband and wife team, Andrew & Angela Smith, are the co-founders of the award winning Australian business Lifestyle Tradie Group. A membership to inspire, energize, connect and educate tradespeople and their partners, Lifestyle Tradie is dedicated to helping trade business owners fast-track business and lifestyle success.
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