A profitable green industry business is founded on working relationships. Every time you bid a job for a customer and they accept, they’re trusting you to come through on what they think your end of the deal is. So to avoid building toxic relationships with customers who really don’t mean to be a bother, make sure you communicate what your process is to cut down on surprises.
- Be upfront with how you handle accounts – Although you want to keep your customer service at its highest level, you cannot be everywhere at once so be sure to let customers know what your workload is like and that you will address problems on a priority basis with an emphasis on efficiency across all accounts.
- Use contracts – If you have the ability to put on paper what you’re doing for your customers and how much you’re charging, do it. Make it easy to see what they should expect by the end of the season.
- Make yourself available – You may not be able to fix their problem right away, but when something comes up customers want to know they can get a hold of you or your office. Peace of mind is key. If they know that you are aware of the issue they can sleep better.
- Tell them how you will handle unexpected problems – Situations come up. We can’t plan for every mistake or hurdle in a project, but what you can do is make sure your customers will know what to expect when a problem does arise.
When running my own irrigation company, the process for dealing with these mishaps was pretty basic:
- Identify the problem
- Notify the property owner of the issue
- Present possible and most effective solutions
If you’ve got a good handle on these techniques and you’re still running into issues with a handful of high maintenance customers, it may be time to say goodbye. The loss of morale and productivity these customers often bring to the table can be too taxing on the positive culture you’re trying to promote.
- Say no – If a customer is trying to pressure you into a job under circumstances you can’t deliver on, tell them no. You have to protect the rest of your business, generally, one sale isn’t going to make or break you. If you promise the moon and only get to Kansas you can bet your ass that the touchy customer is going to be a handful, so avoid the mess and be realistic with what you can accomplish. There is enough pressure on your staff already to produce high quality work. Rushed work, 9 times out of 10, is of poor quality.
- Decide what requests are valid and which are ridiculous. At my field service software company we’ve had to make the rare decision to let some customers go. One example was a customer who requested to automatically “Time In” techs to work orders when they were within 25 feet of a property. As this is not NASA, we declined the request and all hell broke loose. The sky grew dark and the world began to crumble to this individual. In that case it was quite an easy decision to let them go. Sometimes the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze.
- Another example is those customers who have issues but don’t bring them to your attention. Our support staff is eager to assist customers when issues come up, they know our customers rely heavily on us to keep day-to-day operations moving, but if we are unaware of the problem, we can’t begin to form a solution.
It’s up to you as the owner to decide what you’re willing to put up with. For some of you, it may be A LOT, and that’s great that you’re willing to wade through the shit to further your business. Just remember, it doesn’t have to be that way and it is up to you to make the call when enough is enough.