Chapter 10 ;Gaining Commitment and the Installation

 

Chapter 10

Gaining Commitment and the Installation

 

 

When the presentation is designed to follow the customer reasons to buy agreement is a natural progression of that leads to a natural conclusion of consent. It makes emotional sense and is backed up with logic. Will this mean the customer will move towards any and all of the suggestions or solutions that you have made.

 

Absolutely not there is a budget to discover, the customer must believe the solutions are important to require their attention. This is designed to manufacture a budget for preventive measures in the future. Very rarely do people budget for their service industry issues. All of the sudden the issues pop up and the money is spent. I think this is my responsibility to help my customer budget for their potential product failures. The customer may want to take care of it all today when it fits their budget or they may split the preventive measures up over the next 12 months. A lot of this will be determined by you the service trade professional. How important are these issues to you? Will you follow up in 1 month, 3months, and 6 months? We have made a statement suggesting the customer will deal with these issues in the next 12 months. You must follow up with your solutions. When your solutions are not important enough to you to follow up with the customer you lose credibility and trust in the future.

 

 

The customers have committed to a few of the repairs and now you are ready to start the installation and or repairs. By all means protect the customer’s home with some type of protection laid down on the floors and inside any cabinets. Wear your floor savers to protect their floors and never set tools on the counter. Now is the time to concentrate on completing the tasks at hand.

 

Once the repairs and or replacements are complete it is critical to take your customer and show them what you have done. Let them work each and every thing you have done. It will also give you a 3^rd go around to make sure the work you have done is indeed leak proof and ready for the customer to use or abuse. This also insures your customer that they have made the right choice to use you and to get the work done. Once the walk through is complete it is not the time to collect for the work.

 

Make sure you receive the proper autographs on your paperwork. Put on the paperwork the form of payment whether it is check cash, or credit card. Write the warranty on the paperwork. It does not matter if it is already on the paperwork write it anyway. This gives the customer extra confidence you stand behind your work.

 

Depending on the amount of time you have will determine how much time to spend talking with your customer thanking them for suing you and making a fantastic decision today. Set up a time in a month to give them a call about any remaining items that require your attention in the future. When you set the time make sure that you follow up on that day.

 

Before you leave ask the customer what they like best about today. This is a really good time to ask them for 2 things. Those things are a reference letter to show another customer. Frequently the customer will ask what you want in the letter. I ask them to write what they felt, what they found, and what was the determining factor to use me today.

 

My next favor to ask is if they know someone that could use my services and if they know someone who would want the type service they received. Now the customer knows what they can do for you and typically they are happy to do something for you. Normally the service guy does not inform the customer what they could do for them.

 

Said your goodbye’s and get on your way to the next happy customer. However your job is not complete with this transaction just yet. Sometime in the next 7 days pick up the phone and call the customer. This phone call is to discover if everything is ok and working as you have promised. It is also to reconfirm the customer made the right choice

 

We still are not quite complete with this customer.  Once a month thank you cards should be sent to your customer. You can send a coupon with a business card. It is also recommended that you hand write a little something on the card that made a connection with the customer and you. Personalize it. If relatives are visiting ask how the visit went. I have gone as far sending flowers to the customer, a book or magazine that is of interest to the customer, if they have pets a calendar of the pet is always a special inexpensive gift that they will remember. If you see one of your customers at lunch buy their lunch. Always show gratitude to the customer for being a good customer and they will always be good to you. Another great way to show appreciation is to send work to your customer or a way for them to network with other people that can help grow their business. There are numerous ways to show your customer how much you care. Too often the service industry is too eager to take the money and run without giving something back to the customer. Let the customer know you are there for them. Do not forget to follow up with the other preventive measures you have given to the customer. During slow periods they are a fantastic resource for you and your company.

 

Now you have the basic Steps for Success and a plan to be successful. Start implementing the strategy and watch your value to the customer and your company grow to unbelievable heights. Become that superstar rock star service plumber, HVAC or electrician in your company. Be the trend setter and example that sets the bar at your company.

 

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