Three Tips For Improving Your Customer Service

When you run a business your customers can make or break you, so it’s crucial for entrepreneurs to try to keep their clients as happy as possible.  There are some people that are just natural people pleasers, and having the urge to make others happy can be a valuable skill for every businessman.  Custom Smart Homes builds homes, but our customer service advice can be applied to any industry.   Wanting to make others happy is an admirable trait, but sometimes it can be easier said than done.  There’s nothing more difficult than trying to stay calm when you’re dealing with an angry and agitated customer, but if you remember to keep a few things in mind you won’t have a problem keeping your cool.

Find common ground

Have you ever heard of the concept of implicit egotism?  In layman’s terms, it’s a psychological concept that states that people generally like other people more if they have something in common.  If you can find a way to relate to your unhappy customer, your empathy can common traits can help you keep a customer.  If you have an unhappy customer that has a family, mention that you understand as a parent and family member how important it is for them to have exemplary products and services.  

Use positive language

“It’s not what you said, it’s the way that you said it.”

How many times have you heard that phrase during a disagreement?  The tone of our voice and our choice of words can profoundly affect how people react to us, so make sure that you keep things positive when you’re dealing with angry customers.  Avoid using words like “don’t”, “can’t”, “won’t”, and other words that have negative connotations.  Instead of saying that you can’t ship a certain product until the end of month, explain to the customer that the soonest that you’ll have the product will be by the end of the month, and that you’d be happy to place an order for them. 

Don’t rush

You obviously want to resolve the customer’s probably as quickly as possible, but if you rush to find a solution your customer may feel like you’re just trying to get them out of your hair.  Never assume that you know exactly what the problem is, even if they mentioned it to you before.  Always let them say whatever they need to say, and respond to their words accordingly.  Also don’t make the mistake of dealing with an upset customer when you’re busy with other tasks.  Even simply taking a call when you’re talking to them can seem disrespectful.

Tips On Communicating With Your Home Builder

At Custom Smart Homes we know what you need to have in order to build the home of your dreams: a good plan, a good group of home builders, and a good sense of communication and cooperation.  Custom Smart Homes ratings are high because we keep the lines of communication open with our clients.  Like with most projects in life, building a home is much easier when home builders and clients are on the same page.  Sometimes people have trouble accurately expressing their needs to their home builders and they end up with a home that doesn't look like what they pictured in their mind.  If you're going to be building your dream home soon, make sure you follow these tips so you can ensure that you get the home you've always pictured.

Have your ideas ready

This may sound like its obvious, but a lot of people contact home builders with half formed ideas in mind.  A good home builder can help you bring your ideas into reality, but they're going to need direction from you so that they can do it.  If you see examples of certain room designs and floor plans bring them when you meet with your potential home builder.  Pictures will give them a much better understanding of what you're looking for.

 Find a builder to match your style

You're going to want to hire a home builder that you know can give you the home that you want, that's why you should try to find someone that has a portfolio full of houses that match your style.  Don't be afraid to ask for references from past customers and examples of their past work.  A professional home builder shouldn't have any trouble showing you what you need to see. 

Carefully consider your budget

It's surprisingly easy to under estimate your home building budget.  Material prices can rise, property prices can soar, and your home building group may need more money than you thought to finish the project.  Make sure that you have a rough estimate of a budget planned out before you visit your home builder, and make sure to bring up the price when you meet with them.  If you do, the home builder will have an easier time estimating if your plans can match your budget.

Three Things To Avoid When Trying To Get Ratings and Reviews

Sometimes the sleekest ad campaigns and marketing techniques are no match for good PR from your customers.  At Custom Smart Homes reviews and ratings play an important role in improving our services and getting other potential customers.  There are a lot of businesses that try to get their customers to write ratings and reviews, but there are some seemingly helpful things you can do that end up doing more harm than good.

Avoid Over Using Incentives

A lot of businesses offer their customers something in return if they write up reviews and rate their business.  This may seem like a good way to get your customers to offer their opinions, but if you want genuine reviews you should avoid relying on incentives.  There are quite a few of your loyal customers that would be more than happy to write a review for your business, and their answers won't be affected by whether you're giving them free things or not.  A free item or service once in a while can be a great way to drum up some reviews, but if you rely on it too much you won't get the kind of genuine reviews and ratings that you want.

Avoid Pushing Yelp

Yelp is one of the most trusted consumer review and rating sites around, and there isn't a business owner in 2013 that doesn't want to have a Yelp profile that's full of positive reviews.  You may feel tempted to encourage your customers to go on Yelp and write a positive review for your business, but having your customers sign up for Yelp to post one review can hurt you in the long run.  Yelp spam filters usually remove reviews that are posted from inactive accounts, so your customers will be doing work for nothing.  If you have some regulars that are dedicated Yelpers trust them to do it on their own.

Avoid Posting Responses Right Away

Promptness is an important factor in customer service, but you should let a little time pass before you or an employee responds to a negative review or rating.  A lot of rating and review websites operate like a forum, and anybody is free to register and offer their opinions about a poster's review.  A lot of businesses have their own accounts on these websites so that they can publicly respond to their customers who have given them negative reviews.  If done properly this can be an excellent way for you to show your customers that you care about their opinions, but if these are written in the heat of the moment you may not come across as you'd like to.  A little bit of time can do a lot to help take the emotion out of a situation and provide a lot of clarity on the best way to respond.

Two Effective Customer Communication Techniques

Communications technology is evolving a rapid pace, and some businesses can have trouble trying to keep up with new advancements.  When you're working in the construction business proper customer communication is key, and at CustomSmart Homes we do our best to keep our clients informed and encourage them to come to us with any questions they may have.  People always have questions during the building process, and whether our clients want to know more about our building process or want to know more about the green technology that'll be used in their new home, we're ready to answer them.  Custom Smart Home reviews reflect the effective communication techniques we use with our customers, and other businesses could benefit from using some of our techniques.  If you think that your customers could benefit from new communication techniques, try using some of these methods.

E-mail Updates

Confirmation e-mails have been around for a while now, people can expect to see the inbox flooded with messages that let them know that their orders have been shipped and that their bills have been paid.  E-mails to customers need to have more information aside from letting them know basic information.    Tracking numbers for retail products are a must; and customers should know about any delays or other things out of the ordinary they should expect.  Businesses should also get into the habit of e-mailing their customers weekly updates when they're working on long term projects with their clients.  A few sentences about a project's progress won't just give your client's an informative update, it'll also help reassure them that their work is being done well and on time.

Post Project/Product Reports

Following up with customers after they've done business with you is an effective way to ensure that your customers are satisfied with your services.  You could add a page devoted to customer feedback on your company's website, but if you want to learn about your customer's experiences you need to make more of an effort to get them.  Have someone on your customer service staff spend time calling past customers to ask them a few questions about their experience with your company.  Customers will like that you're showing an interest in their opinions, and receiving a call from an actual person instead of a brief e-mail asking them about their opinion shows helps drive home that sentiment.