Moment of Truth – Home Front Success

Ban These Items on Residential Jobs!

KickStart: Don’t allow 1) sunglasses, 2) ringing cell phones and/or 3) bad attitudes inside your client’s homes! Read on…

Back in the day, I loved pulling up to a new residential customer. New people, a new job-site, and new challenges. (Say what you will, our home services industry is seldom boring!)👍

Sure, I always had a few butterflies too.🫢 Did the office give me an accurate work order? The right tools and materials? Will I be able to get to my next job on time? And most urgently- will this homeowner be a total idiot?😲

“PMOT’s” for a Confused Homeowner

by Steve Toburen

KickStart: Pre-orient a confused new residential client on what will you’ll be doing in their home. (#2 in an “intermittent series”- Click HERE for #1.)

“Bewitched, bothered and BEWILDERED?” Folks, it’s not just Ella way back in 1956 that was ““Bewitched, bothered and BEWILDERED”! As a new homeowner nervously awaits your company to service their home they too are “bewildered”! (And very, very CONFUSED!) Think about it…

Gracefully Reply to a Homeowner’s “Thank You” and They’ll Love You Forever!

by Steve Toburen

KickStart: Flip a home service customer’s “thank you” by reminding them it is YOU who should be grateful to THEM!

I always loved hearing a homeowner’s sincere (sometimes almost worshipful)😲 “Thank you, Steve” as I packed up my tools!

I’m sure your clients are incredibly grateful for you and your service company too! After all, you do great work.👍 But, more importantly you also focus on the homeowner’s emotions! (Remember, a thankful client will be much more likely to leave your business a glowing online review!)

But still, WHO should be grateful to WHOM? After all, your client is paying you… not the other way around! So create yet another Positive Moment of Truth with your residential customer by replying…

Program in “PMOT’s” to Consistently Make Homeowner Cheerleaders!

by Steve Toburen

KickStart: “Any time a customer comes into contact with any aspect of a business, however remote, is an opportunity to form an impression with a Moment of Truth.” Jan Carlzon, Moments of Truth (1985)

Way back in the 1980’s this “Moment of Truth”(MOT) concept transformed my life! (Thanks, Jan!) Click HERE to review why MOT’s are so very important in our Home Services industry.

Of course, it’s easy to say: “Great idea, Steve!”👍 And then go back to putting out fires and/or planning your next trip to Disney World!😲 Instead, I urge you to…

Core Concepts: “Moments of Truth”

by Steve Toburen

KickStart: “A Moment of Truth is any point when your customer (or a prospect) comes into contact with your company AND subliminally forms an opinion.” Steve Toburen

I recently depressed everyone warning about the hidden “customer minefields” just waiting to explode (without warning😰) on every residential job. Doubt me?

Think how often you’ve left a home feeling great about the fantastic job you did. (And the nice wad of cash in your pocket too!)👍

Then that evening you’re shocked to get a complaining phone call, read your customer’s unhappy text or even worse- get bushwhacked with a nasty “surprise” online review!😲

OBSESS Over (Your Home Service Clients) FEELINGS!

by Steve Toburen

KickStart: “… it’s not what you say or what you do, but how you make people feel that matters the most.” Tony Hsieh, Zappos founder

“Feelings, Steve? Seriously?” As a rugged, profits-obsessed residential services business owner you likely focus ONLY on your bottom line! (I did too!) After all, who had time for a squishy, hard-to-manage word like, “feelings”?

I mean, everyone knows “emotions are for sissies”?💪 Right? WRONG! For far too many agonizing years I struggled before FINALLY learning that…

In a residential service business success is based on building “trusting relationships” (TR’s)!

In fact, Mr. Logical here even reduced this concept into an “Emotional Equation”: Success= (ETR + HTR) x SE= CMB. Say what, Steve?😲

Clearly Defining Your Home Service Client’s Expectations

by Steve Toburen

KickStart: ‘Clearly defined expectations’ are the basis for all successful relationships.(Including with your homeowner clients.)

This KickStart quote above is a one-size-fits-all principle to guide your business and just maybe… your life!💖 (After all, you have a myriad of ‘ongoing relationships’.) But today, let’s focus on molding your business relationship with each residential customer…

I know. You’re thinking, “Steve, I’m not marrying my homeowner clients! I don’t care about a ‘relationship’. Honestly? All I want is to a) do the job, b) get paid and c) get on to the next job!”

I get it but SORRY! It just doesn’t work that way!👎 To be truly successful in any Home Services business you MUST focus on each homeowner’s relationship with you AND your workers! Here’s why:

How to (gently) Promote Online Reviews!

by Steve Toburen

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?)😁

Marketing Services to the Neighbors- Part I

by Steve Toburen

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…

Home Service Customers Appreciate ‘Personal Space’

by Steve Toburen

KickStart: Set up routine procedures to avoid intruding on a home owner’s Personal Space.

Most people try and keep a ‘physical bubble’ (personal space) around themselves. (As Jerry Seinfeld reminded us, nobody likes a ‘close talker’!) And of course with the pandemic’s constant drum beat of ‘social distancing’ this personal space is even more essential!

Now, you and I instinctively factor in other’s personal space. Heck, I didn’t want my clients getting ‘too close’ to me either! But do your front-line workers in customer’s homes respect your client’s personal space? Who cares? You should and here’s why!