Build Customer Trust Before You Ever Ring the Doorbell

Introduction – The Power of Proactive Communication and Public Praise

If you want to build customer trust, you can’t wait until your technician is standing on the homeowner’s doorstep. By then, the homeowner has possible begun to experiences sentiments of calm or more likely… anxiety. The best residential service companies engineer trust before service day by reducing fear, humanizing their team, and reinforcing credibility at every touchpoint.

Why First-Time Clients Are Nervous

Many of my clients ask me the #1 concept that let me sell my residential services business and retire at the tender age of 38. I always tell them the same thing…

I realized early on that the main emotion of my first-time residential client as they waited for my tech was FEAR. So, I saw the need to OBSESS over “managing the homeowner’s experience” to convert that fear into surprised delight!

How To Build Trust With Customer Before The Service

How to develop trust with customers? Trust doesn’t begin when the job starts. Through your “Service Engineering” process you should start building trust long before your tech rings the homeowner’s doorbell.

Pre-Orient the Homeowner on Who Is Coming

One of the fastest ways to build customer trust is to remove the unknown.

It is essential to pre-orient your customer on who will be working in or near the “inner sanctum” of their homes, who will be answering their initial phone call, who is monitoring there satisfaction, etc. Here’s why…

Sharing photos and profiles of your employees on your website or through social media will “humanize” your business. It allows customers to see the friendly faces behind the service, making the experience more personal and less intimidating.

Showcase Employee Photos and Personal Profiles

What should you include in your Employee Profile? I used a template that I let each staff member fill out. (Obviously, I retained “editing and approval privileges”!) ☹️

Basics: Their name, age, time in the area along with a brief bio. Here is a simple example from Eco Friends Pest Control in Dallas, TX.

Optional: I also really hoped my workers would share the name of their spouse along with their kids’ names and ages, pets and what they enjoyed doing as a family. 💖 (Bonus points for photos!) Note: If my employee didn’t feel comfortable providing this info I didn’t push it.🥹

Work related: We also posted the employee’s role in our company, previous industry experience, their specialties and any certifications they had earned.👌

Remember, pictures add life and credibility, so we included photos of each employee at work and hopefully at play. (This applied to our office, management staff and yes, me too!)

BONUS POINTS: I highly recommend you go full hog wild😳 with videos of each employee explaining what they love about working in the industry, your company and (most importantly) with their beloved clients! 🥰 (Video Marketing is no longer optional.)

Now how can we take the sparkling image of your service team one step further?

“Double Dip” by Praising Your Techs to Reassure New Clients

As a home service professional you face a double challenge.

CHALLENGE #1: New clients are nervous, skeptical (cynical) and often downright scared of the strange techs you’re putting into their home. (And yes, some of your techs are definitely a bit “strange”!)😳

CHALLENGE #2: Many of your employees (and especially your techs working “down in the trenches”) suffer from a severe lack of self-esteem. (Come on- nobody brags about being a blue collar service technician. Sadly!)

In my case I saw I needed to go beyond just allaying customer hesitancy after they had contacted my company.

Instead, “Service Engineering” your client’s experience is a long term, continuing process that becomes ingrained into your company’s marketing and culture. For example…

Share 5-Star Reviews That Mention Specific Employees

Publicly recognize the best client testimonials and individual employees’ “success stories”! (Here is a beautiful example of newspaper article.)

Talk about “killing two birds with one stone”! NOTE: I really need to replace this saying! As an obsessed birdwatcher🦅🦆🦉🪿🐦‍⬛ my dear wife Sioux hates it when I refer even metaphorically to “killing two birds”! But what the heck…

🦜Bird #1: Build trust with new clients. 

Real-life experiences from delighted customers can reduce prospects’ fears and reassure new clients that they are in good hands. Including these stories in your introductory emails or in the employee’s Personal Profile will make a huge difference in how customers perceive your service.

🦜Bird #2: Increase your employee’s self-esteem and pride. 

Let’s be honest here. You and I are proud to be in the home services industry! Your employees? Not so much! (Your techs’ kids don’t brag to their classmates, “My daddy is an exterminator”!)

Instead, many of your employees probably view their job as “just a paycheck”. Or even worse? Techs may view their time in your company as just a stepping stone till “something better comes along”!🥹 (Discover 4 proven retention strategies.)

Over-Communicate to Eliminate Anxiety

Silence creates uncertainty—and uncertainty kills trust.

When a homeowner books a service and then hears nothing, their mind fills in the gaps—and not in your favor. They start wondering: Did they forget about me? Who’s coming? When will they arrive? What’s going to happen in my home? Every unanswered question quietly raises additional anxiety.

Proactive communication flips that script.

The goal isn’t creating flawless perfection; rather the goal is to be present. When clients feel informed, they feel respected. And when they feel respected, trust grows naturally. In residential services, over-communication doesn’t annoy customers—it calms them.

Two Communication Tips to Build Customer Trust

Trust Tip #1: Provide consistent 2-way communication.

Once you’ve booked the job, give the homeowner regular updates about the service process, any potential delays, and what they can expect at each stage. This will help keep their anxiety level low!😁

Trust Tip #2: Give your new client a “point of contact”.

This is an actual person to reach out to for any questions or concerns to bridge the gap between the initial booking and the service day. NOTE: Most homeowners will appreciate a texting number instead of calling which is better for you too!👌

💡 Remember, over-communication is better than under-communication when it comes to alleviating the fears of a new client.

MAIN POINT: Publicly A) thanking clients’ for their 5-star reviews and B) sharing success stories about specific employees will not only reduce your customer’s fears but also create a trust-filled relationship from the very start!

Summary – How Can You Build Customer Trust?

If you want to build customer trust, stop thinking only about the job itself and start engineering the entire homeowner experience. Familiar faces, public praise, and proactive communication transform fear into comfort and comfort into long-term loyalty. Trust isn’t accidental—it’s designed. Trusting customers stay with you longer.