Date Your Customers: How to Create Positive Customer Relationships| CorkCRM

Create Love with contractors and customers while building professional relationships for life

Relationships are tricky no matter who they are between. There are do’s and don’ts and general rules you should follow to keep both parties happy. In a contracting business, building and maintaing a successful relationship with your customers can be very similar to dating them. If you want to keep your customers satisfied and avoid potential problems, simply apply the same guidelines you would use in a relationship.

Be Clear
Unclear expectations can cause problems, maybe not right away, but definitely down the road. If your significant other has been set on getting a house in the country someday but you’ve always envisioned living in the city, well, that’s not going to be a fun conversation a year into the relationship. The same is true when working with a client. Problems begin to arise when there are unclear expectations about a job. Whether it’s regarding the length of the job, the types of products being used or which areas the job encompasses, setting these expectations up front can save a lot of headaches,and a possible break up, down the road.

Communicate
“I thought you were picking my mother up from the airport!” Uh oh. Communication is important across the board, in relationships and definitely in delivering excellent customer service. Don’t wait until mom is stuck at the airport, or something else goes wrong, to begin communicating. Keeping the lines of communication open from the very beginning can create an easy rapport with the customer and make it that much easier to resolve an issue if it arises.

Address Issues Early
Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t, even if you really want to, curb complaints until later. Trust and patience will grow between you and the customer if you show them that you won’t hide from problems and will actively work to solve them in a timely manner. If you can’t solve the problem right away, talk through it and give them a time frame. You may not have the issue resolved by morning, but at least you won’t end up in the dog house.

Don’t be too Intense
As in any relationship, using the “L” word too soon can put an immediate end to a good thing. Come on too strong from the beginning and your partner, or customer, may begin to back away. In the world of contracting, using the words “liens” or “lawyers” too soon can give your customers the impression that you expect there to be issues and are prepared to respond drastically. Instead of threatening this, educate your customers on your process of problem solving and assure them you will work with them, not against them. Because once the “L” word is out there, there’s no taking it back.

Date your customers<
Woo them. Bring them flowers. Ok, maybe not flowers, but you get the idea. You want your relationship with your customer to be a healthy and productive one, and just like any relationship, that can take work. Actually, flowers couldn’t hurt….