KickStart: Commend (and reward) employees when they share ‘bad news’ with you! Read on for the ‘why and how’…
I love surprises.🎆✨🎊🎉 Surprise gifts, surprise parties, and yep, being surprised with a kiss from Sioux!💖 (Even after 47 years I still appreciate her!) HOWEVER, in my Home Services business I had one cast iron employee rule :
NEVER, ever surprise me!
KickStart: Convert an angry residential client into a Cheerleader by 1) saying “Thank you”, 2) apologizing, and 3) reassuring them. Shocked? Then read on…
You’ve started making the Immediate Quality Check Calls I recently suggested? I’m honored! (And always a bit surprised when clients actually implement what I recommend!) But wait!
UH-OH! You’ve dug up an unhappy customer.😲 However, instead of panicking I want you first to say…
KickStart: Call clients immediately to make sure they’re happy BEFORE they can trash your company online.
WOO-HOO! Another job is in your rear view mirror and you’re driving away with a juicy check! Time to celebrate! 🎉🎊✨🎆 OR…
You may still get ‘bushwhacked’ with a nasty one-star Google ‘surprise review’ when the home owner’s Buyer’s Remorse kicks in! Avoid these scathing online reviews (from a homeowner that appeared happy) when you implement…
KickStart: Prevent cancellations when you reach out to new clients AFTER they book the job with you.
WOO-HOO! You did it! Yet another lead converted into a booked job!👍 (Now you can make payroll!)
KickStart: Get your entire company focused on their ‘Triple A’s’ (Appearance, Actions and Attitude) and profits will soar!
I admit it. I truly love inventing acronyms for routine daily activities. (This drives Sioux nuts!)🙄 But my staff used abbreviations in my residential services business all the time. For example…
We invented and implemented a PDS (Production Day Sheet), IQC (Immediate Quality Check calls) and an EEB (Employee Efficiency Bonus program), etc. You get the idea, right?
KickStart: Want more reviews? Mention how important their online review is to the employee who worked in the customer’s home.
Let me be clear. I am NOT a ‘marketing guru’! Why not? Because the constant, frenetic changes in online marketing make my head hurt!😲 But I do know a bit about ‘Timeless Concepts’ (this phrase IS part of my tag line, after all!) in business.
Hands down, marketing’s most ‘Timeless Concept’ is ‘word of mouth’ advertising. But NOW it can be supercharged with ‘Today’s Tools’! (Darn it- how did the second half of my tag line sneak in here?)😁
KickStart: When booking their work give your residential customer options on how you should contact them.
All of us (including you, me AND your residential clients) are more stressed (and OUT of control) than ever before!😲 This is why you must help your customers FEEL ‘in control’. (Including on their first nervous phone call inquiring about your services.)
But remember, no customer wants to completely control your work on their home. If they did, the home owner wouldn’t be calling your company. They’d just do the work themselves!
KickStart: Send a brightly colored envelope “pre-orienting’ close-by home owners that you’ll be “in the area”. (Include a list of your services.)
Marketing your residential services is tough! After all, home owners are bombarded with a dizzying deluge of advertising and (GRRRR!) low-price offers!😡 But WAIT!
You have an exclusive, ‘virgin marketing territory’ when you or your on-site workers make a friendly, ‘heads-up’ visit to the neighbors when beginning each job. Or even better, in conjunction with your personal visits…
‘Pre-orient’ the neighbors that you’ll be “in the area” BEFORE your scheduled work. Simply…
KickStart: Make a friendly, ‘heads-up’ visit to the neighbors when beginning each job. Optional: Or pre-contact them by mail.
Think about this. On every residential job your Home Service Business workers are SURROUNDED by potential NEW customers… the neighbors!👍 BUT…
Is your company taking advantage of this secret, exclusive-to-you marketing opportunity?🤔 For example, your on-site workers should always…
KickStart: Avoid ‘Desperation Hiring’ by continually recruiting and interviewing future employees BEFORE you need them!
Why, oh why, did it always happen late on a Friday afternoon?☹ I’d had a good week (defined as 100% delighted residential clients!), was finishing up paperwork on my desk, and looking forward to a fun weekend. Then my employee Charlie appeared…
Charlie: “Uh, Steve, can I talk to you?”
Me: “Sure, Charlie, what’s up?”
Charlie: “Ummmm, Steve, I’m really sorry to do this to you. But I’ve got a new job starting on Monday. I asked them if I could give you more notice but they’re insisting I start immediately…”
And my relaxed weekend came crashing down! Now I was facing double shifts to cover Charlie’s booked-solid schedule! Or even worse being forced into the dreaded Desperation Hiring! AAARGH!😲