In almost any business, the main focus should be about building great customer relationships. It can go really far in the construction industry because getting repeat business provides a great base and a steady income. As a business owner quality of work goes hand in hand with building great customer relationships.
There will be no opportunity to do so if you build that relationship, but deliver poor work. There are obviously several other key factors in having a successful business, but these two are what will make or break your business, in my opinion. So through this blog I will entertain three ideas that will hopefully help your business succeed and grow!
Make customers your top priority
Be sure that you can meet with your customer face-to-face throughout the entire process. Know your Customer Expectations ahead of time to know what you’re walking into. Whether it be your building a new home, re-finishing a kitchen or an addition, it is incredibly important. Being able to portray that they are of the upmost importance, will help build a relationship. Get to know them a little bit, find out what they like and don’t like, and what their preferences are when it comes to their home. Be sure to tell them a little bit about yourself too. If they don’t know who you are and what experience you have, they will be left wondering did I make the right decision. Always make sure that you have some allotted time in the day if they ever need to sit down and speak with you about something. It will go a long way.
Communication is Key
Establish a plan that allows you to stay in contact with the customer. The communication does not need to be constant, but available if a situation does come up. Customers will always have questions that need to be answered, and a good way to be prepared is compile a list of frequently asked questions from previous jobs. This will increase efficiency when communicating with the customer so you can get back to work and finish the job on time.
Another key component to the communication concept is calling after the job is done. This is just a way to show the consumer that you do care about the end result and what they think. It is also a great way to get feedback on things that you did well, and things that didn’t go so well. Thus helping you perfect your craft, and building a great customer relationship.
Do what you do best
At the end of the day, quality work is what the customer ultimately wants. In my opinion, it is one of the biggest things when there is going to be a lot of investment into something that they want. So do what you do best. Delegate work to employees as appropriate to what they are good at. For instance, if you need electrical work to be done, and don’t have someone or yourself that is good at it, sub-contract it out to ensure quality work will be done. Yes you have to pay some money, but it goes a long way with a satisfied customer. All pointing back to building good customer relationships.
So you may be left with a question something like, “Even though I had built up a great relationship, and did quality work, the customer won’t need my work for a while, so was the effort put into the relationship worth it?” The answer is 100% yes! They may not need you to do more work in the immediate future, but some of their friends will need something. Thus they communicate to their friends that you did quality work, put the time and effort in to make sure they were satisfied and recommend you as an option. Word of mouth marketing is what they call it. It is free marketing that you do not have to pay for and is often thought as one of the most effective ways to market your business. People rely on reviews of different businesses and trust their friends when they say something was either good or bad. So focus on the customer, communicate exceptionally well, and do what you do best. The relationship will be great, and customer retention better. Oh and yeah, you will get more business too!
Sources:
http://www.constructionbusinessowner.com/marketing/october-2014-6-steps-develop-loyal-customers
http://customerthink.com/building-customer-relations-how-construction-firms-do-it/
English
Español
Français
Deutsch