What To DO With Upset Customers..

Man I had a doozy today...

A good close customer to me went nuts today. I had to stop and listen to the concerns and knod my head. Listen to their argument while keeping eye contact the entire time.

Complaint: My A+ Trim carpenter screwed some crown molding up and made a mess. Come to find out he got real busy and subcontracted the job and his sub screwed up. Marked up freshly painted walls, smeared fingerprints on new doors..The works.

I had to just sit and take the lashing like a man.

Here is the steps I used when getting a good lashing:

1. Keep Calm: My body language during the lashing was arms down and not aggressive what so ever.

2. Listen: Maintaining eye contact and nodding my head showed engagement and I was listening.

3. Response: Maintain control of the situation and explain how you will rectify. I like to take personal responsibility even if its not my direct fault.

4. Commitment: This mess will be cleaned up by tomorrow and I will make sure everything is taken care.

I saw a switch in their face and body language when I took these steps. I maintained the job and was able to gain trust back.

Please add your story below?
Justin

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Can You Get A Crew Together?

I love getting the calls every week from prospects looking for me to get a crew together. Typical conversations dont start with "Can you get a crew together?". This past week I decided to have some fun with the person on the other line. Here is the conversations:

ME: "Hello, this is Justin how can I help you"

Bill: " Hey Justin, my name is Bill and I got several properties were looking to rehab and I wanted to know if you have a crew or can put a crew together?"

ME: "WOW, Bill where did you get my information?" "I would love to help you, tell me more"

Bill: Goes on and on about investors, and addresses, and working with tight budgets, etcccc...(Minimum 7.5 minute explanation)

ME: "So, who referred me to you?"

Bill: "I got your info online and I like the name of your company, are you interested in these project?"

If you have been in business for decent amount of time you have come across this type call. They have no clue what you do and really have no interest in knowing about you or the value you bring to the deal. I am not interested in going through the hiring process for someone I dont know. Testing strangers out on customers I have never worked with before. Supervising multiple jobs and being pulled away from existing customers. What do people really think about what I do? Do they devalue my trade so much that they think I wave a magic get er done wond and the project comes together..

I usually let them off with I am too busy or I am just not interested. I decided to see how far Bill wanted to go with this. I meet him today and will follow up with everyone next week.

How do you handle this, tell me your story?

Comments welcome.

Are You A Commodity Contractor?

Are you a commodity contractor?

I was recently asked my niche in the local market. I explained what I do better than anybody else. Then I proceeded to explain why I do it better than anybody else.

The prospect I was talking with called 8-9 companies and told me they all sound the same. The ones that did call back, I cannot differentiate between any of them.

I simply told the prospect, I cannot help them. You will waste your time and everybody else searching through these commodity contractors.

I had an AHA moment just then.

DO you have that awkward moment where the prospect asks "What company are you with again"?

Sometimes I want to hang up the phone and other times I say my name and company.

If you cant create a distinct difference between you and other contractors, you are a commodity contractor.
How do I know if I am? Here are some examples:

1. If you constantly lose jobs to price. COMMODITY
2. If your marketing is exactly the same as competitors. COMMODITY
3. If you strive to be the lowest, and brag about all your jobs. COMMODITY
4. If your telling your team to wait and cash their checks...DRUM ROLL....COMMODITY

If your stuck and cant figure out how to get out of the rat race, I can help call me.

If your ready to increase leads and profits, email me.

If this sounds like your business. Call me or email: Justin 727-644-0160 or heavenly.foundations@gmail.com

Customer Experience...Survey Says

The Survey Says....

Growing up I watched the game show Family Feud every week. The host, the late Ray Combs was a stand up comedian who did a great job saying SURVVVEY SAYS making the dramatic point and then revealing the final answer for the contestants, who found their fate. In business today your going to get 1 of 3 on your survey, and find your fate.

1. You will have a raving fan.

     You were a Rock Star from beginning to end. What you sold, got delivered on time and within                      budget. You communicated everything and followed up like a champ. We all want these raving fans,              but overall experience says this doesn't happen as often as possible. Over the next week I will be                  focusing on making raving fans and what raving fans look like.

    2.   You will be UH...OK.

   You were a rock star in the beginning and ended OK. The customers expectation wasn't met 100%.            Your a good person but, OK Contractor. You wont get referrals, but you got paid. The mediocre                customers experience will end as the wet ink touches the check.

   3.   Disappointing

  You started out a rock star and went down in flames. The customer is upset and telling everyone about         you on Facebook. The old saying of upset customers telling 10 people died with the digital age. Now,           if someone is upset 100's if not 1000's find out.

The best advice that I could give would be to start surveying in your business. I know when my customers aren't extremely happy and I can feel the tension in the air. I have been blessed with a gift to sense tension and can eliminate whatever is making them feel that way. I prefer to use digital surveys through survey monkey but, every once in while I will go old fashion and meet with the customer with pen and paper to find out whats going on.

How does your survey look?

5 Tips When Selling Outside Your Sweet Spot

We have all been there when the phone rings and your talking to a prospect and everything is going great, the scope is ideal, Start date is perfect, and location is outside the sweet spot. The thoughts run through your head....UH....I...DONT KNOW.

How do you handle this?

I have both good and not so good experience working out of the sweet spot.

I weigh the options really good before submitting proposal:

1. Who will I be working for? Existing customers referrals might get me there, new customer non referral questionable.
2. Will this interrupt any other jobs? How many additional resources will be needed to make project deadlines? In addition, will this effect other jobs in progress and on calendar?
3. Do you have connections outside your sweet spot? Supply houses, Tradesman, and Equipment are the biggest obstacles that I came across when working out of area.
4. Supervision. This is what I failed to account for. My usual route did not include the long distance ride. When on site questions needed to be answered I had to rush, leaving other local jobs to answer the questions.
5. Completion Schedule. How much more time do I need to allot for? I missed some deadlines and over extended my team and resources to complete in a timely manner. I barely salvaged the job and my referral partner was not excited about my performance.

In the end you will need to decide if this project is worth the price you might have to pay. The referral partner relationship that will be tested if you don't execute.

The above picture shows my sweet spot and two jobs that came up yesterday. Both profitable and got me thinking. 

The first thing I did was start making calls to see if I had connections in the area-Answer NO. 

Second was Google suppliers and equipment in the area-Answer YES

I had a talk with my senior team members and went over scopes. I personally did not accept either project once I weighed the top 5 questions. 

Give me your thoughts on how you handle these sales situations?