We may have great ads, but if our guys are rude to the customer when we have them work on the job site, then we may be throwing a lot of money away when we run the ads.
We have to realize that our best customers are repeat and referral customers. I believe that will be even more true in the future. If that is true, than we need to make sure that every touch with our customer is congruent with the message we are trying to get across to our customer.
For instance if we advertise that we are reliable, but when we are called to look at a job, we show up a half an hour late, that tells the customer that we are not reliable. I've seen lots of cases where contractors will advertise that they do a great job, but when they are done, the job is less than desirable.
There are many ways that we can make sure that all of the contacts that we have with our customers are positive marketing. The first way is when we first have contact with our customer. If we show up on time and act professionally that will go a long way to get the customer to do business with us.
One of the complaints I've heard about other contractors is that they try to talk the customer into doing the job the way the contractor would like to do it. I think when we meet with a customer, we should first try to understand what they really want. Then we can offer suggestions about how to achieve that.
The second way we can try to market to the customer is when we actually do the job. When we or our guys are on the job, we need to keep up the professional image. Our appearance needs to be appropriate and our workmanship needs to be very good.
Other things to pay attention to on this contact are language, job site cleanliness, and respect for the customers' home. If our guys are using coarse language at the job site, many of our customers will be offended by this, especially if they have children there. Some customers will be offended even if they use the same type of language.
As far as job site cleanliness, we all know that in remodeling some mess will be generated. However, we can use drop cloths and take other measures to offset this problem. We can also make sure that the home is cleaned up very well as soon as possible. Of course, we also need to make sure that everyone on the job site respects the customers' property and takes what measures are necessary to make sure that the customers' property is not damaged.
The third way we can keep our contacts with the customer positive is after the job is done. If there are any problems, we need to resolve them as quickly as possible. If we do this, the customer will be much more likely to do business with us in the future. It is also up to us to stay in touch with the customer after the sale. We need to send the customer reminders that we still appreciate their business.
If we make sure that every contact we have with the customer is positive, then the rest of our marketing and advertising will be much more effective. You see how we treat the customer will then agree with how we say we will treat the customer. This is surprisingly rare today, but our customers will appreciate and will send us their business as a "Thank You."
Herb Reinhard is a contractor who specializes in building relationships with his customers so that they use him for all of their jobs. He also teaches other contractors how to market to create more income and a stable business. He can be reached at herb@contractorriches.com. He publishes regular blogs about marketing your contracting business at http://www.contractorriches.com
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