Leave Your Clients With a Memorable Customer Experience
Our pros share 3 tips that have brought them success
1. Keep Communication Lines Open
A good customer experience should continue even after you’ve closed the deal. Sending regular updates and keeping communication lines open will help avoid misunderstandings and ensure the project goes well.
“We keep an ongoing dialogue with all of our clients during their design, renovation and all the way up to the final days of their project,” Frankie Castro of Square Footage in Ajax, Ontario, says. “Further, we schedule regular site visits at the clients’ homes and have our renovation team take pictures of the site every night, which ensures that both the design and renovation aspects of the project are up to our standards of quality. We are constantly communicating with our clients and making sure that they are completely satisfied.”
A good customer experience should continue even after you’ve closed the deal. Sending regular updates and keeping communication lines open will help avoid misunderstandings and ensure the project goes well.
“We keep an ongoing dialogue with all of our clients during their design, renovation and all the way up to the final days of their project,” Frankie Castro of Square Footage in Ajax, Ontario, says. “Further, we schedule regular site visits at the clients’ homes and have our renovation team take pictures of the site every night, which ensures that both the design and renovation aspects of the project are up to our standards of quality. We are constantly communicating with our clients and making sure that they are completely satisfied.”
2. Listen and Validate
There are bound to be bumps along the way on any project. When dealing with an unhappy client, taking the time to understand the concerns and finding a solution can get the job back on track. If you have the ability to fix the problem, do everything in your power to make the correction in a timely manner. Clients will appreciate you making the extra effort to take care of them.
“The most important thing to do when things don’t go as planned (and this is construction, so things do happen!) is to address whatever it is quickly,” Susan Klimala of The Kitchen Studio of Glen Ellyn in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, says. “The solution needs to be top priority to get the job back on track. Communicate the problem to the client, along with the plan of action and the anticipated timing. The most difficult issues are those that are no one’s fault. I always have a conversation with my clients prior to the job even starting and explain that having a small contingency fund will make these events way less stressful and the project way more enjoyable.”
There are bound to be bumps along the way on any project. When dealing with an unhappy client, taking the time to understand the concerns and finding a solution can get the job back on track. If you have the ability to fix the problem, do everything in your power to make the correction in a timely manner. Clients will appreciate you making the extra effort to take care of them.
“The most important thing to do when things don’t go as planned (and this is construction, so things do happen!) is to address whatever it is quickly,” Susan Klimala of The Kitchen Studio of Glen Ellyn in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, says. “The solution needs to be top priority to get the job back on track. Communicate the problem to the client, along with the plan of action and the anticipated timing. The most difficult issues are those that are no one’s fault. I always have a conversation with my clients prior to the job even starting and explain that having a small contingency fund will make these events way less stressful and the project way more enjoyable.”
3. Leave on a Good Note
Send clients off with a thank-you note, customer satisfaction survey or small gift to show you value them even once the project is complete. “If I photograph a project, I usually have a lovely professionally designed flower arrangement made in a vase to go with the look of the rooms being photographed,” Sabrina Alfin of Sabrina Alfin Interiors in San Francisco says. “I leave the arrangement and vase for the homeowner as a thank-you gift.”
Send clients off with a thank-you note, customer satisfaction survey or small gift to show you value them even once the project is complete. “If I photograph a project, I usually have a lovely professionally designed flower arrangement made in a vase to go with the look of the rooms being photographed,” Sabrina Alfin of Sabrina Alfin Interiors in San Francisco says. “I leave the arrangement and vase for the homeowner as a thank-you gift.”
Wrap-up meetings are another great opportunity to say thanks. “At the end of a project, we have a meeting with the client to make sure they’re satisfied with the way the project turned out,” Iris Davis-Quick of CG&S Design-Build in Austin, Texas, says. “We make a postcard that they can keep to thank them and we put a before-and-after photo on it. It’s a cute little sentimental thing that they get really excited about. It reminds them of what their home looked like before, and they can see the difference side by side.”
Tell us: How do you keep clients happy during a project? Share your tips in the Comments.
Watch our webinar and learn best practices for fielding incoming leads and closing deals.
Next: Are You Ready to Hire? | Pro Resource Center
This story was written by the Houzz Industry Marketing team.
Tell us: How do you keep clients happy during a project? Share your tips in the Comments.
Watch our webinar and learn best practices for fielding incoming leads and closing deals.
Next: Are You Ready to Hire? | Pro Resource Center
This story was written by the Houzz Industry Marketing team.
Below, our pros share how they maintain their clients’ satisfaction.
Pros share their best practices for handling incoming leads. Watch our webinar!