It’s easy for project managers to lose sight of the customer service angle of their business when more pressing and immediate demands require attention. Sure, construction managers always care about customer satisfaction, but that’s not the same as having a committed and detailed strategy for optimizing the customer experience. There are several crucial ways customer service impacts your construction business.
It can make clients more flexible.
Minor delays and honest mistakes are unavoidable components of running a construction business. Still, that doesn’t mean your customers will be sympathetic to these mishaps. If they’ve had a pleasant, transparent, and smooth experience working with you up until that point, your customers will be significantly more likely to accept project delays. But the groundwork has to be laid from the very beginning of the relationship.
Further Reading: How Project Managers Can Handle Delays More Efficiently
Customer experience impacts your reputation.
Reputation is a foundational element of a strong, profitable, and growing construction business. A negative reputation can scare off potential clients even if you’re offering the best services and rates. In addition to excellent craftsmanship and closing out a project successfully, customer service plays a large role in determining your business’s reputation. The more your company focuses on keeping clients happy, the better the industry will come to view your business.
Clients are more likely to hire you again.
Clients that have a positive experience working with your construction business are much more likely to offer you future projects. This is confirmed by real business experience, in-depth studies, and…well, common sense. Investing more time and energy into the customer-facing aspect of your company can lead to repeat business which is a great way to land more deals without much additional work. It’s also an essential key to landing repeat customers time and time again which can become a profitable endeavor quickly.
Your job gets easier.
A client having a positive experience with your construction business is less likely to bother you or other team members with questions or concerns. Although it’s important to be available for client interactions, project managers are much better off anticipating client needs and delivering on them from the get-go. Having a comprehensive customer-experience approach can reduce the number of unplanned interactions you have with clients which can disrupt workflow.
You’ll reliably meet customer expectations.
Customer experience isn’t just something that sweetens the pot for customers. It’s actually a component that the majority of clients expect from interactions with any business. When you deliver a systemic, comprehensive, and well-thought-out customer relations strategy, you’re going to reliably meet customer expectations. If you and your team really go out of the way, you might even exceed those anticipations and really establish your construction business as an outlier.
It will generate positive reviews.
A staggering 97% of consumers say that reviews impact their purchasing decisions. This means every interaction you have with clients is a valuable opportunity to potentially generate more business down the road from other clients. On the flip side, every customer project is a chance to receive a poor review and the negative repercussions associated with that. All in all, the moral of the story is to design a customer service strategy that leaves clients wanting to write a glowing review about your business as it will impact future business.
Before you can worry about developing a robust customer service experience, you need the right team members. Your team’s quality of work, interaction with customers, and ability to work as a team will have an outsized impact on how customers view your business. At Madden Craftsmen, we specialize in helping local PNW businesses find highly qualified craftsmen talent to build the best teams. Feel free to visit our employer resources page or fill out a job order today to get started.
