Great Communication Always Wins
In this issue of the Executive Report, we continue our look at how to provide a superior experience for your customers. I want to focus this time on ways to elevate your communication to delight your customer and stand out from your competition.
If you go online and read customer complaints about various companies, you usually find that poor, lacking, or unthoughtful communication is at the core of most complaints. However, with effort and the right people on your team, you can set yourself far above everyone else in this arena. Frankly, the bar is low, but you can set it so high that your competition will never come close.
In thinking about your company’s communications, always focus on what will please the customer. This goes beyond just spreading information. Instead, communicate in a way that satisfies your customer’s need to be informed and lets them know that you care about them. Here are a few tips:
- Nothing shows a lack of attention to detail on your company’s part more than poor grammar, confusing wording, or misspellings. If they can’t trust you with the small things, how can they ever trust you with the big things like caring for their home?
- Creating a monthly e-newsletter with tips to engage your prospects and past customers will assure them that you are a long-term partner, not just a one-time contractor.
- You will never regret having a professional appointment setter on your team who communicates clearly and purposefully. Besides gathering information and selling the prospect on the need for a personal sales consultation, this person will send out confirming texts or emails as the appointment approaches (this process can be automated) and pass on information about the salesperson, like a photo and the car they will arrive in.
- We will talk more about this in a future issue, but something for your salesperson to focus on is “permission-based selling,” meaning that in each step of the sales process, they ask the prospect to continue, waiting for an affirmative before moving on.
- Great communication after the sale and leading up to the installation is critical. Touching base here can prevent buyer’s remorse. Assuring a customer often leads to referral business. Keep the customer informed of the timing of their project.
- Every company has its own policy on contacting the customer after a sale, and I understand the reasoning. However, if your salesperson contacts the customer after the sale, it can boost referral rates.
- A fast, professional response to any surprises that crop up smooths over conflict. The only thing customers hate more than surprises is a surprise ignored until it becomes a major problem.
- Ongoing communication after the job is completed to check in and make sure things are going smoothly while asking for a testimonial and referrals is very wise.
Every business will have its own opportunities for stellar customer communication. Think through your company processes and your Customer Experience to determine how and when you can best delight your customers through clear communication that is accurate, informative, and engaging.
Todd Miller has spent his entire career in the metal building products manufacturing industry. He is president of Isaiah Industries, an organization recognized as one of the world’s leading metal roofing manufacturers. Todd is currently Vice President of the MRA (Metal Roofing Association) and a Past Chair of MCA (Metal Construction Association). Through his website, he strives to raise the bar on standards and practices to provide property owners with the best possible products for successful roofing projects.
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