Striking a balance

Getting and maintaining a lifestyle balance.

All work and no play isn’t sustainable, says Tracy Pleasants of Foleys. strong pull to provide emergency service to your hard-earned loyal customers.

It’s a tough one…. or is it? Hopefully you’ve enjoyed a decent break over the summer months. I suspect, however, that for many the phone kept ringing, and there was a

It’s a trade off, isn’t it? You need a break. Families need time together to make holiday memories. Yet we can’t control when a hot water cylinder decides to leak… and if it’s when we’re rightly taking a welldeserved break, and our phone and emails are turned off, those loyal customers may go elsewhere to get their problem fixed.

The reward for not doing these emergency jobs is getting a decent break and coming back refreshed for the new, busy year ahead. The risk, however, is that your customers call their new plumber the next time they need work done.

While you’re on holiday, there will also be customers who text or email with non-urgent jobs. So, inevitably the first few days back are spent scheduling, prioritising, phoning, replying… back to the day-to-day grind with the break soon becoming a distant memory.

Balance is important. All work and no play is not sustainable. There are plenty of ways to ensure the loyal customer who had an emergency comes back to you the next time they need you.

Find a way to make contact with your loyal customers. Give them a coffee voucher on a card with your contact details. Drop them a magnet with your contact details. Pop a handwritten note in their letterbox. Something to let your customers know you’re back on board when they need a plumber.