We spend a lot of time around here talking about how to get more people into your sales funnel and how to convert them into paying customers.
For those of you just joining us, let’s have a quick recap. The sales funnel for home services businesses (also known as the conversion funnel or customer path to purchase) is how people go from:
knowing zilch about your shop
to knowing you exist
to deciding you’re the right people for the job.
From a marketing perspective, the top of the funnel (TOFU) is all about making people aware you exist. The middle part (MOFU) is about piquing interest and then convincing people you’re the solution to their problem. And at the bottom of the funnel (BOFU), the goal is to get someone to give you money.
At that point, you’d think you were done. And you’d be wrong—because there’s still the verrrrrry bottom of the funnel, which hardly anyone thinks enough about: Loyalty and advocacy. That’s when people decide to keep coming back to you time and time again and they start telling everyone they know about how great you are.
Given that it costs five times as much to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one, this often neglected piece of the sales funnel is a big, big deal.
So how do you make sure people don’t just drop out the bottom of your funnel and never return? You shift from wooing them toward a sale and start wowing them after the sale. Yep, you invest time, energy, and even money in your current customers, just like you do your prospective ones.
5 Simple Ideas to Wow Home Services Customers
Thankfully, it doesn’t take a ton of time, energy, and money to wow your clients. Mostly what it takes is thoughtfulness. Here are five easy ideas.
Offer ricidulously excellect customer service.
When your tech shows up a customer’s home, they should have two goals: Do the job right the first time and leave a lasting fantastic impression.
For this, we’ll go back to customer service 101:
Show up on time.
Don’t park in the driveway.
Look clean and professional.
Introduce yourself and ask, “May I come in”?
Protect your customers’ floors: Wear booties and lay your tools out on a mat or towel.
Tell your customers what you’re looking for, explain your findings, and answer their questions politely and patiently.
Add any bit of value you can: “I noticed your sink was dripping a bit, so I tightened that up for you.”
Clean up before asking for payment.
Make sure they know how to reach you if they have any questions.
Follow-up with customers after service calls.
If this feels like a “duh” suggestion, congratulations: You’re already way ahead of the curve.
I’m astounded by the number of shops who do a job, get a signature, take a check, and skeedaddle for good. Don’t do that.
Instead, the day after the service call, pick up the phone and call your customer. Thank them for their business and check in to see how your tech did. Did they show up on time? Were they courteous? Did they clean up after themselves? Did they explain the work they did? Is there anything they could’ve done better?
If your customer doesn’t pick up the phone, leave a quick message: “Hi, Mr. Jones. This is Susan from HVAC Pros. I just wanted to thank you for your business and make sure you were 100% happy with Angie’s work on your system yesterday. If you have any questions, or if there’s something we can do to make your experience with us even better next time, please let us know. Thanks again!”
Make things right.
If you find out your customer is not 100% thrilled with the service they got, do something about it. If necessary, send a tech back out to finish the job. If the error was more intangible—like your tech had an attitude that day—offer something for free: “Oh no! I can see why you were disappointed, and I’d like to make it right. Could I offer you a free maintenance check on your system in the spring? I’ll put a note in the system to follow-up in May.”
Surprise and delight—not over the holidays.
If you’re in the habit of sending holiday cards or gifts to your customers, that’s not the worst idea. But your efforts might be getting lost in the shuffle. The key to truly wowing customers is to make thoughtful gestures when they’re least expecting it.
A friend of mine loves her dogs—I mean loves her dogs—and she uses Chewy.com for all her pet supply needs. One completely random day, she got a package from Chewy.com with hand-painted portraits of her dogs. (And yes, they were really hand-painted. She asked Chewy to put her in touch with the artist so she could commission more work from him!)
So, here’s my question: What’s your shop’s “hand-painted pet portraits”? It doesn’t have to be something quite so extravagant (although it totally could be!). Think about things like:
Send a hand-written note to say thanks for their business. Bonus points for including a coupon.
Mail a birthday card.
Make a donation to an organization your customer cares about in their honor.
Record a brief “thank you” video and send it via email.
Pay Attention
To be honest, it’s tough to wow people you don’t know all that well. So train your techs to pay attention to what matters to your customers, and then make notes in your CRM so you can personalize your interactions with them.
Do they have a dog? Make a note to bring dog treats next time.
Did they mention their daughter will be graduating this year? Make a note to send a card in June.
Do they have St. Louis Cardinals memorabilia laying around? Make a note to use a Cardinals notecard when you send a thank you.
Did they talk about their upcoming vacation? Make a note to send them some links with the top-rated restaurants at their destination. A
has done this with great success!
Yes, it takes time and creativity. But remember, keeping customers is cheaper than getting new ones.
Customer Service is Marketing
When it comes to growing your shop, it’s not all about Google Ads and SEO—although we’re super good at those things. It’s also about simply taking good care of people. Wanna talk more about customer service and marketing? Let’s do it. Schedule a call with me today.