MANAGEMENTSOLUTIONS
Building snow clients for life BY MARK BRADLEY
IT’S CERTAINLY BEEN A YEAR OF UNCERTAINTY, but for most contrac-
tors, it’s also been a year of surprising success! Most contractors I’ve spoken with are either even or up over last year — which is a huge surprise given that our day-to-day lives were turned upside down this spring. So let’s take some time to reflect on that theme, and out of the uncertainty and risk that is the snow and ice industry, examine how to eliminate some uncertainty and build customers for life — using some simple and common-sense approaches to running a successful snow and ice operation.
CUSTOMERS FOR LIFE: PRE-SALE Building customers for life should start even before your prospects become customers. The process begins by: • Understanding your clients have needs and wants, but they are not experts. • Creating solutions for customers that balance their needs and wants with best practices. • Educating customers about our industry and the work to be performed. • Communicating your expertise in a way that differentiates you and your company from competitors. Let’s look at how this applies in the snow and ice industry. Your clients don’t really want to pay you to push snow around their lot. It’s what we do, but the real purpose is to ensure that their lots and residences are safe to walk and drive on, that they can get to work on time and safely, and they can be open for business, etc. A good sales process will convince the customer that we understand the reasons why it’s important to manage snow and ice. You will build strong alignment with 26 | OCTOBER 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES
your prospects simply by showing them you understand their goals, and not just the work at hand. Starting this process is simpler than it might seem. Think of all the problems you had plowing snow for customers in the past. These are the things that frustrate customers. Now talk to how you’re going to mitigate those problems. For example: • Discuss the ‘trigger’ for servicing the site. Ask questions. If you’re expected to plow when accumulations reach five cm or more, do they want you to leave your shop once accumulations hit that mark, or do they want you onsite by the time events hit that accumulation? • Agree on a weather service ahead of time, so there is no disputing forecasts or depths. • Discuss ‘ongoing events’ that happen during critical business hours and how you are going to handle them. Identify critical areas for plowing during these ongoing events so you can keep those open until you have time to do a full clean up. • Identify and ask about site hazards or important safety locations. • Discuss where snow is going to get piled, make recommendations (if necessary) and discuss the process for removals and relocations if required. • Take pictures of the site and scope of work to document pre-existing conditions or damage. This process has so many advantages. It positions you as an expert — you’re demonstrating that you understand the risks and pitfalls of this work — and you’re collaboratively working on solutions or risk mitigation to reduce the risk of in-season customer conflicts. It’s an important step to building customers for life, as you align
your interests with your clients’ interests and set yourself up to avoid unpleasant conversations or experiences later in the season.
CUSTOMERS FOR LIFE: IN-SEASON COMMUNICATION Once the season begins, communication is the most important part of continuing the selling process. It ensures you stay in front of your customers, stay accountable, transparent, and most of all reliable — even when things don’t go exactly as planned. Prior to weather events, send out alerts to your customers to let them know the forecast. Share your expected execution plan and/or what you’re monitoring. Trying to manage a snow and ice event while taking tens (or hundreds!) of phone calls can be the single most frustrating thing about snow and ice. Collecting information from field staff and relaying it to customers, especially in the middle of the night, is a daunting task! Mitigate this frustration by being proactive and keeping customers up-todate. Technology can play a vital role here. You can communicate with customers in real-time, without investing any time to do it. Using apps, our field staff tracked time spent on sites, work performed, notes, weather and even photos. Some of that information (we choose what to share) was relayed directly to the customer, live, so they didn’t need to call our office, but most importantly, they didn’t need to worry. We reduced incoming phone calls by 70 per cent and our client retention grew every year we used the technology. Clients got used to our level of service and transparency, and simply wouldn’t settle for less in the future.
