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Communicating With Customers
By Phil Nilsson, Green Industry Consultant
One of the most common mistakes in business is in communications - the lack of it that is. The contract is signed, work begins, it gets completed, then you move on to another job. The focus is on operations and getting the work done. Customers get lost in the shuffle. They are important at the start, but fade into the background ever so slowly in an attempt to replace them with yet another customer. Sometimes the only indication to the customer that a company still exists, is the invoice in the mail, which is a cold, impersonal reminder that it's pay-up time.
On the theory that the average business gets about 80 percent of its business from referrals, it is important to find ways to stay in touch with your customers. The problem is finding the time, which is a question of priorities. Do you spend your time dwelling on past customers or finding new ones? Both, and at the same time, is my advice. Most companies do this via constant advertising, such as television, radio, newspapers, billboards and packaging. Use advertising as the link between the past, present and future. Fast food is a good example. You wouldn't expect to receive a hand written personal note of thanks every time you ate at Burger King, but you would expect a continuous flow of marketing to get you to come back. It's all relative, but have you ever written a personal letter of thanks after completing a $10,000 landscape job?
To see the importance of staying in touch and where to place special emphasis, analyze your customer list. Which customers were the most responsible for your success? Total sales can be broken down by dollar amounts per customer to get a ranking. From the top customer to the bottom one, you'll gain perspective for those customers that made the greatest impact on your bottom line. Now the question is what to do about it. You need to communicate with them somehow.
One way is by following the advice of the nation's leading marketing experts. They claim that allocating time and money by percentage works. Of a company's total advertising budget, 60 percent is spent on existing customers, 30 percent is spent on high potential customers and the remaining 10 percent is spent on everybody else. This allocation recognizes that time is money, as well as money being money. If you made quality control checks, such as saying thank you by phone or spending time on location, you would have spent money doing that. It counts. It's included in the ratios. Why the 60 percent allocation to existing customers? It can generate repeat business and referral business. It's tough to grow a business without repeat business, and finding new customers is expensive.
To allocate time and money is to have a fixed amount in mind or a budgeted amount. How much do you spend? Opinions vary on this. Some say spend a percentage of sales, but I think it's tied to particular needs, and what you're trying to accomplish. I like to back into the numbers after analyzing needs. What needs to be done to maintain or increase sales? Think in terms of minimums not maximums. Using the 60-30-10 method, you assign dollar amounts ahead of time and use them as limits to not exceed figures based on what you can afford. But if you don't advertise at all, or promote consistently, you may be looking at a very slow rate of growth. Growth aside, you advertise so customers get reminded that, yes, you're still in business and ready to serve their needs.
Okay, we've set the stage for the importance of staying in touch. Here are few ways to do it:
Newsletters are an inexpensive, but efficient, way to stay in touch. Buy them ready made because they are very time consuming to create.
Quality control phone calls work because they let your customers know of your concern. Do them at regular intervals throughout your season.
Billing inserts help to soften the blow of an otherwise unwanted invoice in the mail. Use helpful educational materials, such as garden tips and watering instructions. Insert small promotional pieces for landscape "add-ons," or insert a hand-signed greeting card tied to a holiday occasion.
A personal visit and walk through is not only a good idea but is often required by larger accounts. Try lunch appointments, golf or an advertising specialty handout gift to add a personal touch. Everybody likes something for free.
Work in progress reviews let you interface with clients at the job site. A review is a golden opportunity to make a friend, which, hopefully, leads to more business. If they like you as a person, that can always help you in the future.
Solve a problem for your customer. While at the jobsite, take notice of the surroundings. Is there a problem brewing? Is there a dead tree, a safety hazard or kids’ bikes left in the driveway? Go out of your way to be helpful, and you'll probably be repaid tenfold. It's more about people than tangible things.
Pay attention to customers as people, not customers. If there's one thing that is universal, it's paying notice and being friendly. Listen carefully. Talk to your customers. Speak on a personal level. Listen more than you talk. Customers are more likely to do business with their friends - someone they can trust - not their enemies.
Communicating with customers is really about reaching out to people. What can you do to be friendly, helpful and courteous? Everything you learned in Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts applies. Being well liked has enormous power. To make a friend of your customers, you need to be a friend first.
While that may sound a little "corny," it's the truth. Friends communicate with friends best. That's all you need to do.
All rights reserved copyright 2003 2004 by Nilsson Associates
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