Set expectations, meet expectations

Don’t let your customer service levels drop when you’re flat tack, says Tracy Pleasants of Foleys.

We are lucky to be working in an industry that is busy. However, when you’re busy and thinking only in the here and now, it’s easy to let the essentials of customer service lapse. One of these is expectations, the other is communication.

It’s so easy: set the expectation with your customer and meet their expectation. If you are too busy to do their job this week/ month tell them that; tell them when you can do it and meet that time. If you say you’ll be there in the morning but then can’t make it until the afternoon, ring and let them know. Giving vague estimations to customers about when you can get to their job and then expecting them to chase you is not a great customer experience.

We’re all customers of tradespeople ourselves, so we know there’s a lot of frustration around lack of communication: no replies to messages, turning up late or not at all, not being informed along the way. This is all easily fixable, but it requires a focus on customer service and a focus on putting customers first.

We live in a world where we’re armed with multiple devices with which to communicate. Use them to keep your customers informed of when you’re going to be available to complete their job.

Provide your staff with the necessary technology and give them the training and the scope to communicate effectively. Sometimes even just a simple text that you’re on your way enables your customer to know they can duck through the shower before you arrive, or that they should hold off on doing that quick job in town.

Set clear expectations of your staff and meet the expectations of your customers, but when you can’t—communicate, communicate, communicate!

The times when you weren’t so busy might well come again, and those customers who remember how well you communicate will come back too.

About the author: Tracy Pleasants is the Marketing Manager for Foleys based in Dunedin. Foleys is a plumbing, drainlaying gasfitting, electrical and mechanical company with 12 branches across the South Island and in Palmerston North and Putāruru.

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