Special Feature
Customer Service vs. Customer Experience P
R
E
M
I
E
R
iLandscape
TM
by Meta Levin
You have a favorite
2 0 1 8Landscape Show The i llinois + wisconsin C T
O
restaurant. You go there often. The food is good. But the food is good at many restaurants in the area. The prices are reasonable, maybe a little high, but not bad. There’s plenty of parking. None of these, however, is the main reason you return over and over again. You go there because they treat you like a king. Your favorite waiter attends to the little details: the bread in your basket is fresh and warm, your water glass is refilled and he lets you know if there’s a glitch and it will take a little longer to serve your food. The manager and sometimes even the chef stop by your table to make sure everything was to your satisfaction. In other words, each time you eat there, you have a good customer experience. And you believe that you have a personal relationship with them. And that, says Parke Kallenberg, founder of Advance Training, is the key. Kallenberg, a veteran of 34 years in the landscape industry, spoke at iLandscape 2018. Landscape contractors typically do not run restaurants, but they do have clients and customer perception of the way they are treated goes a long way toward making the decision to continue to do business with you. So, manage the perceptions. For instance, says Kallenberg, if you tell a customer that you will call before end of day tomorrow, by 3:30 p.m., your client is wondering where you are. However, if you give a more definite time, such as, “I will call you no later than 4 p.m.,” when you call at 3:30 p.m., you are a hero. “Control perception and expectation,” says Kallenberg. “Understanding the difference between what you think is good service and what the customer believes is good service is important.” 40
N
T
E
N
Ask yourself, he says: 1. Do you let clients know you are coming to their property? 2. Do you let clients know each time you are on the property? 3. Do you send pictures of finished work to clients immediately? 4. Do you use finish times, instead of start times? What happens when you complete a project on time and within budget? Do you send your customer a bill with, perhaps a little, “Thank you,” written across the top? Or do you go the extra mile? Kallenberg suggests tooting your own horn. Let the client known that you did a little something extra in the flower bed about which she was so concerned. Take photos at various points during the project and text them to her with a one or two-line update. When you make an appointment to meet a customer, make sure that you are on time. If you are unavoidably detained, call or text to let them know and offer to reschedule or call him when you are on your way. At the end of the project, take a few minutes to walk the customer around the property and point out the salient parts. Listen to the customer’s comments. If all is not up to snuff, find ways to fix it. In fact, Kallenberg recommends a survey for each customer to complete. “Even if you get a terrible rating, it gives you a chance to fix it,” he says. What do you do if your customer is unhappy? “The most powerful thing that you can do is to agree that he or she is unhappy,” he says. Don’t be defensive. Instead, be empathetic. “I understand why you are upset. Agree with the feeling.” Then try to find a way to fix it. (continued on page 42)
The Landscape Contractor September 2018