To be successful in any service industry, not just the plumbing industry, it requires two things. First, you need to provide an excellent service. Being “just good enough” in your industry isn’t going to cut it today, especially if you have many competitors that are vying for the same business. Second, you need to provide the customer with a great experience. This is equally important to doing great work and proving a great service. Your work can be top notch, but if something about the way you handle your plumbing business is a “turn off” to the customer, it will be the last time that you do any work for them and they certainly aren’t going to refer you to anyone else! The customer experience begins with that very first contact that they have with your plumbing business.
Here are 3 ways to provide a great customer experience from the start:
Respond to inquiries ASAP
When a potential customer gets in touch with you, they are looking for answers ASAP. Ideally you have someone live answering the phone but if that’s not possible, the next best thing is to check messages frequently and respond to them in a timely manner. The same goes for emails, lead forms on your website, social media inquiries, etc. Customers have more than one way of getting in touch today and you will need to be on top of each of these channels throughout the day. Depending on the nature of the job, a customer might have questions as it moves along. Don’t leave them hanging. If it’s a complex job there might be more than one vendor in the mix and the time that it takes for you to get back with the answer to a question only prolongs the process which is extremely frustrating for the customer.
Put quotes together in a timely manner
A potential customer might want to comparison shop when it comes to hiring a plumber, especially for a complex or expensive job. After the initial conversation, a professional quote that outlines all work being done and what the cost is, should be delivered as quickly as possible. If you don’t put together a quote in a timely manner you will probably be out of the running for the job. Customers want work to be done as quickly as possible. If your quote isn’t in hand in a reasonable amount of time, they will go with someone else.
Show up on time
If you tell your customer that you will be at the location at a specific time, be at the location at that time! The customer likely has planned their day around when you will be getting to the property. They might have even taken some time off of work. You need to be respectful of that and show up to the job on time. If you are caught in traffic or running late for some other legitimate reason, the very least that you can do is call and let the customer know.