The Sunroom Builder’s Guide to Professional Customer Service
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
Customer service is more than just responding to questions and complaints. It’s making people feel heard and understood. It can make or break someone’s overall perception of your company, even if their sunroom is finished perfectly. It impacts the reviews they will post online and the recommendations they will give to their friends and family. Here are four ways to provide professional customer service for your sunroom building business.
Know How to Respond to Customer Service Complaints
Whether you’re responding to a complaint on the phone, via email, or in person, always use positive language. For example, if a customer is frustrated because the tile they wanted is on backorder, try saying, “The 12-inch slate is going to be here in three months, but luckily I have two other similar tile samples to show you which are in stock right now.” This is much nicer to hear than, “You can either wait three months or pick a different tile.”
Also, notice how the positive answer above was very solution focused. Alleviate your clients’ worries by letting them know how you plan to fix a mistake or make a negative situation better.
Show empathy for unhappy customers by recognizing you could have done something better. Take responsibility rather than pushing blame around or acting like it’s not a big deal. At the very least there’s usually a miscommunication at the heart of every complaint, and you can always apologize for that.
Uncomplicate Your Construction Process
If your customer feels this whole sunroom building process is too complicated, or if your disorganization makes it seem complicated, it will definitely put a bad taste in their mouth. Make it easy for them to contact you and respond in a timely manner. Communicate often about your schedule and when workers will be at their property.
Organize your pre-construction process so they can make all the necessary decisions at your initial meeting (this will avoid having to play phone tag to get answers to questions you forgot to ask in the first place). Organize your documentation so you can find everything when you need it, and ensure the customer has copies of the documents they need also.
Seek Feedback About Your Customer Service
You might not know all the ways you can improve your customer service experience until you ask your clients how you did after their project is finished. When everything is said and done, send one last email asking for feedback that would help you to improve your business’ customer service. If they had a stellar experience using your company, ask them to leave a Google or Facebook review.
Offer Contractor Financing
Nothing says professional customer service like providing your customers with the best contractor financing. When you partner with HFS Financial, your clients will find the perfect sunroom loan for their needs, and you’ll be able to start construction faster because they can receive their non-stage funding more quickly. It all starts with a simple 60-second application. Remember, at HFS Financial, “You Dream It, We Finance It!”
