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The Best Home Services Marketing Isn’t Actually Marketing

Ryan Redding • May 03, 2021
plumber hvac seo website

I’m a marketing nerd.


I love talking about algorithms and SEO and email marketing for home services businesses. But my favorite marketing topic doesn’t have anything to do with Google My Business , PPC ads, or even social media . In fact, my favorite marketing topic isn’t technically a marketing topic at all.


It’s customer service.


Here’s the truth, guys: If customers don’t like working with you, you’re not gonna make it. It doesn’t matter if you do everything “right” on your website. It doesn’t matter how much money you spend on ads. It doesn’t matter if you finagle your way to the #1 spot on search.


In fact, it doesn’t even matter if you have the most skilled, most efficient techs. If you don’t offer people a good experience, you’re toast.

How Bad Customer Service Kills Good Businesses

 Acquiring new customers is expensive. Like, stupid expensive. (And if you don’t know exactly what your customer acquisition cost is, we should talk.)

Know what’s not nearly as expensive? Keeping the customers you’ve already won.
  • Repeat business costs five times less than getting new business.
  • The likelihood of selling to a new prospect is as low as 5%. The likelihood of selling again to existing customers? As high as 70%.
  • Improving your customer retention rates by as little as 5% can increase your profits by as much as 95%. 
So what do you suppose influences your current customers’ willingness to do business with you again? 

If you said things like price, workmanship, and loyalty programs, you’re not wrong. But the most important factor is customer service.
  • 90% of customers decide whether to do business with someone based on customer service.
  • 89% of people are more likely to do business with a company again after having a positive service experience.
  • Even after a mistake, 78% of customers will give a company another try if they received excellent customer service.
  • Bonus: People are willing to spend nearly 20% more with companies who offer outstanding customer service.
So what about bad customer service? Is it that big of a deal? Yep.

  • More than half of people will switch companies after a poor customer service experience.
  • 51% of people will never go back to a company after even one bad experience. After more than one, 80% of customers head to a competitor.
  • Nearly 80% of people will back out of a sale over a bad experience.
  • On average, someone will tell 15 other people about a poor customer service experience. 
My point: Customer service isn’t just some fluffy, feel-good, Leave it to Beaver-ish throwback. It’s a shrewd strategy to bury your competitors. That said, let’s talk about what good customer service actually looks like. 

 

16 Ways to Boost Customer Satisfaction
The single most important “marketing” strategy you can have is to be a company worth marketing. Again, that means doing good work. But you can’t stop there. You also have to be good humans.

Here’s a rapid-fire list of ways to up your customer service game:
  1. Actually answer your phone. Don’t let it go to voicemail during your listed business hours. Ever.
  2. Avoid “I don’t know.” Most of your calls are from people who are experiencing a problem right this minute. If you don’t know the answer to their question, shrugging your shoulders is a sure-fire way to demonstrate you simply don’t care about their problem. So instead of, “I dunno,” respond with: “That’s a great question. Lemme check, and I’ll call you right back.” And then call them right back. 
  3. Show up on time to service calls, and look the part—but better. Think clean clothing. Washed hands. A belt, for crying out loud.
  4. Start off on the right foot. Ring the doorbell, step back a couple of feet, and smile when your customer answers the door. Introduce yourself, and ask to come in. 
  5. Keep clean. Wear booties to protect your customer’s floor, and lay your tools on a mat or towel. Pack out your garbage.
  6. Communicate. Tell your customers what you know about their issue, ask questions to get more information, describe what you’ll be doing and about how long it’ll take, and then explain what you found and what you did about it.
  7. Use your manners. These days, people are downright surly. Blame it on politics and/or COVID and/or Mark Zuckerberg, but we don’t have a ton of social decorum left in us. So going back to the basics can actually help you stand out. Say please and thank you. Don’t use customer’s first names unless they ask you to. That sort of thing. You know: Like grandma taught ‘ya.
  8. Follow through. Actually do what you say you’ll do. Underpromise and overdeliver. 
  9. Give a damn. It’s possible you’ve fixed this exact same problem at a dozen other homes just this week. It’s probably no big deal to you. But to your customer, it’s a huge deal. At the very least it’s an inconvenience. At worst, it’s a devastating expense. So just… care. 
  10. Go the extra mile. If you’re installing a new garbage disposal and you notice the sink has a drip, fix it. If Rover’s barking at the door, offer to let him out. If you notice your customer has a tomato plant, offer your favorite gardening tips. Whatever. The point is to be all-around helpful.
  11. Equip your techs with a checklist. Especially in the busy season, it’s tempting to rush through one job so you can get to the next. And when you’re in a hurry, it’s easy to forget key steps in your customer service process—like the aforementioned booties or even what to say at the end of a service call. Systematizing your process will ensure consistent, quality service.
  12. Follow up after service calls. Pick up the phone and call yesterday’s customers and make sure they’re thrilled with your services. If they aren’t, figure out how to fix it.
  13. Respond to reviews. Acknowledge every single online review, both good and bad. Use negative reviews as an opportunity to learn and get better. 
  14. Engage in random acts of kindness. If you send fruit cakes to your customers around the holidays, please stop. Why? Because fruit cakes are disgusting. But beyond that, customers pretty much expect something over the holidays. Memorable customer service is unexpected. So send handwritten notes—just because. Record a thank you video and email it over. Send a gift card to a local ice cream shop. You don’t have to go hog wild here, but spending money on little surprises comes with a surprisingly hefty ROI.
  15. Add a chatbot to your website. I know, I know: The robots are coming for all our jobs. But the truth is, customers are falling in love with chatbots. Learn more over here.
  16. Do some snooping. Do your competitors have glowing online reviews? What do their customers say they’re doing better than you are? How can you fix that?

Customer Service is Marketing

It might seem strange for a marketing guy to make such a big deal over customer service. I mean, I could just sell you Google Ads all day long, right? But I want your Google Ads to work, and so much of your online marketing success is dependent on how you show up in person. 

Wanna chat about more ways to up your customer service game? Let’s do it. Schedule a call with me.

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Ryan Redding

CEO Levergy

Author of The Book on Digital Marketing for Plumbing and HVAC Contractors

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