trust

The Why (and How) of Using Your Residential Caller’s Name.

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KickStart: Call your prospect by name to emphasize a key point. 

post it note with residential caller name

Ever feel like you’re on a never-ending episode of “The Price is Right”? You know, with “price shoppers” bombarding you with the dreaded, “Uhhhh, I’m just calling around… what’s your rate for this service?” Ugh! I feel your pain!😥

However, quite a few of these so-called “price shoppers” will start out with their name as in, “Hi, this is Sally Smith, and I’m just calling around checking prices…” Now a Post-It note will become your best friend!

That’s right, grab your pen, jot down the caller’s name and use it “selectively” in your conversation. Why? Because behavioral psychologists have discovered that…

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“Triple Dip” with Your Service Employee’s Achievements!

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KickStart: Trumpet your service worker’s accomplishments to increase morale AND supercharge your marketing.

Are you struggling with high turnover and/or marginal frontline employees?😥

“Well, DUH, Steve! You just described my life! I pay much more than the ‘going wage’ but nobody wants to work anymore!” Ummmm, sorry to disagree but the Very Best People DO “want to work”! But I digress…

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An Essential Residential “Stage Prop” (Part I)

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KickStart: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.” William Shakespeare

stage play for home service techniciansYou gotta love good, old Bill for pithily dissecting the human condition! And yep- Mr. Shakespeare’s quote above goes double for those of us working daily in our customer’s homes.

Ironically, long before I became a William Shakespeare groupie I’d often remind my in-the-home production employees they were “actors in our company’s Home Front stage play”.

Now very likely you personally have always instinctively recognized that you are “on stage playing a part” in a client’s home. However, here’s your challenge…

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It’s Not ONLY About the Homeowner Client!

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KickStart: The homeowner is always watching… everything and everywhere! Behave accordingly!

I’ve taught (pontificated?) extensively on the absolutely essential homeowner/service tech relationship. Basically, everything, including your family’s future financial welfare, comes down to how the client feels about your people involved in their service transaction!

However, emotions (and feelings) can be… complicated.🫢 (“Ya think, Steve?”) I’m reminded of a TV host, Art Linkletter, back in the day. Art was famous for his “Kids Say the Darndest Things!” observation. I would morph this into, “Clients Think (and Feel) the Darndest Things!” This means…

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Homeowner Cheerleaders: The Emotional Benefits

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KickStart: Homeowner Customer Cheerleaders provide a huge emotional ROI to all involved in a Home Services business.

Your business should be about much more than pure, naked gree… I mean profits! Instead…

Your residential services company should build a close emotional bond (dare I say even “love”?)😲 between you, your employees AND your clients.

Reflections: For me, I LOVED💖 creating “something of value”, a residential services company that (most of the time!)🙄 ran like a well-oiled machine. But my true focus was on “values”.

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Are You Known for Your Humility?😲

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KickStart: Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less. C. S. Lewis

I’ll admit it. When I started my first Home Services business I was a cocky, proud and yet insecure jerk!😲 (My dear wife is saying right now, “So Steve, you think you’ve changed over the last 50 years?”)🤔 Hmmmmm…

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“PMOT’s” for a Confused Homeowner

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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.)

Ella Fitzgerald stamp“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…

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Giving the ‘Illusion of Control’ to Home Service Customers

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KickStart: Asking permission creates a trusting relationship with your residential clients.

“There is no substitute for hard work.” Thomas A. Edison

Do you love to work? If so, CONGRATULATIONS! And yet, over many years of working with homeowners, I’ve learned this “git ‘er done” attitude can be a trap! Here’s why…

nervous residential customerYou (or your employees) show up at a home, eager to kick butt and “git ‘er done”! But wait! Never forget you must first recognize and work with the pesky emotions of a nervous residential customer!🙄

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Core Concepts: “Moments of Truth”

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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!)👍

complaining home service customerThen 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!😲

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