October is a perfect time to let your customers know that giving you their business was a wise decision. With landscapes and
lawns looking great, can you think of a better time to confirm your value? Why worry about it? Don't the beautiful landscapes
speak for themselves? Sure. But reinforcing the obvious is smart business. Customers need to hear that doing business with
your company was the right thing to do, especially if you want their business again next spring.
October training can make all the difference. Train your team to talk with customers. When communicating one-on-one doesn't
make sense, leave a nice note. If you have a non-English speaking field team, do it from the office by phone but get the message
out now.
Telling your story
More and more operators in our industry are learning that there is measurable added value in communicating with clients. The
fact that we know what to expect doesn't ensure our customers will. I recall one particular tree/shrub customer, a man complaining that after a year on our tree/shrub service he saw no difference
in appearance of his plants. Since "nothing has changed," he wanted to drop the service. I had to explain that no damage and
continued healthy, vibrant growth was the expected and intended outcome! "If the program was not working," I explained, "You'd
have drooping, dead or dying plants." I still recall his response: "Oh, I guess I didn't think about it that way. I'll stay
with the service."
From a trainer's point of view, ongoing customer communications are vital. When we spend so much money winning customers and
so little keeping them, we fail to take advantage of an important training benefit.
October training checklist: - Create the message. Managers do the planning. Bullet point exactly how you'll emphasize your value to customers and outline
the messages you will have the field/office team deliver.
- Set aside training time. Don't load training on top of a full day. Spend 10 minutes every day for a week.
- Train all team members who interact with customers in the field or in the office.
- Role play major benefits points you want delivered to customers.
- Demonstrate ability to write customer leave-behind notes emphasizing values and benefits.
- Use pre-written comments for non-English speaking staff.
- Verify process in the field, on the phones.
- Provide follow up daily coaching as required.
Do effective communications help keep customers? Yes. Is training required to make it happen? Yes. As always, it's up to you.
— The author is founder of Grass Roots Training in Delaware, OH. Contact him at hoopes@columbus.rr.com
or visit http://www.grassroots-training.com/.
