It’s expensive to gain a customer. That’s because other painting contractors want those customers, too. Some painters (especially those big franchises) spend tons of money trying to get people to recognize their name in cities across the nation – sending coupons or mailers to their houses, buying Google ads, and in some cases even buying TV or radio commercials.
It might make sense for franchises that can spread out all of those costs across the entire country. But for most painting contractors, it’s taking profit out of every job you get.
Great Customer Service is the Best Business Hack in the World
It also requires plenty of up-front cash – cash that most painting contractors don’t have laying around to buy business like this. Fortunately, if you’re providing fantastic customer service, you don’t need to. If you’re just starting your business, you might need to work hard to get your first customers, but once they’re there it’s not hard to provide service that far exceeds expectations.
Patiently explain options to customers and give them choices on when and how to get the job done. Make sure you’re answering their questions when you’re talking with them. Earn their confidence before the job, and make sure they’re even more confident in you after the job is done.
When customers feel like you provided honest service and took their needs and requests into account, they won’t need a coupon book mailed to them to remember who painted their house. If you go out of your way to help them meet a deadline, or work around their schedule and leave the house spotless, they’ll turn into loyal customers that will call you whenever they need painting work.
Even more importantly, these won’t be passive customers – they will be active ones. That means you can rely on them for referrals and online reviews, especially if you ask them for the favor. Both of these things will bring you new customers, but they don’t cost a dime. All you have to do is to keep knocking customer service out of the park.
Don’t get complacent!
It’s easy to focus on customers when you don’t have many of them. It gets a lot harder when you’re already booked and a job is running behind. You’ve still got to make sure your service is top notch – even phone calls with customers you don’t have the time to help.
A great reputation can be destroyed even more quickly than it was created. An unfriendly response from your business can turn into a one-star review whether you perform services or not. Negative word-of-mouth and poor reviews will have immediate impacts. It might be the off-season before you notice that your referral business is slowing. If this happens, all of those expensive ads might start looking like the only way out. It is much cheaper to keep the focus on customer service, even if it reduces the number of customers you can serve!
To learn how ProPainter Websites can help your business thrive, call us at 919-424-6121 or email us at Team_PPW@ProPainterWebsites.com.