Written by As a professional service technician, you already know why customer followup emails are essential in the field service industry. But what about what to do or what not to do when performing the follow-up after the home service task has been completed for the homeowner? Below are some things to do and not to do when it comes time to do a customer follow-up.
Do’s
Do #1: Borrow Their Shoes
Not literally, but when you are talking with a prospective customer, and during the job, be sure to put yourself in their shoes to see their perspective. This way you can improve communication to make the job easier on both ends and makes for simpler follow-ups.
Do #2: Set Their Expectations
Set the expectations of your field service customers by being specific about what needs following up and set a time for when they should expect to hear from you. The biggest complaint customers have when it comes to interacting with any business is poor follow-up afterward.
Do #3: Be Honest
Honesty is the best policy and it makes for happy homeowners. If there is bad news that you have to give them, such as the job might take longer or there are more issues, they might not like hearing it, but they will appreciate the honesty.
Do #4: Always Say Thank You
No matter how minor an interaction you have as a home service technician, be sure to always say thank you. Thank them for their time, thank them for being patient, thank them for interacting with you. They will see you as a polite and well-mannered contractor and their overall satisfaction with you and their job will increase.
Do #5: Be Creative and Personal
Templates are fine when it comes to some things, but not when it comes to following up with a customer. One way to really get a field service customer to say, “Oh, wow!” is to take a creative approach and personalize your follow-up communication. This shows you were thinking about them and took the time to tailor your message to fit the situation.
Don’ts
Don’t #1: Use An Unprofessional Email
Imagine your email handle is ‘IloveMilkshakes98’ or ‘OhioGuy4U’. While you may have had that email forever, using it professionally will be detrimental to your business. This is because homeowners will not likely take a contractor with that email seriously, even if they did choose them. If the homeowner did choose them, it was most likely out of lack of other choices.
Don’t #2: Start Selling
The last thing a homeowner wants to see when they open up an email from you is to see that you are trying to sell them something else. If you want them to know more about other products and services you offer, just mention your profile page and link it.
Don’t #3: Ignore Customer Feedback
While contractors may have developed a thick skin to deal with difficult homeowners, they should still listen to constructive customer feedback. It’s okay to ignore feedback that says, “I don’t like the contractor’s hair.” but if the feedback is constructive, take the time to make the change and to see if it makes a difference.
Don’t #4: Complaints
You can’t please everybody and complaints are frequently inevitable. While some homeowners have no basis for the complaint, there are other complaints which can show you where you need to improve.
Don’t #5: Fail To Follow-Up
While you don’t want to follow-up incorrectly, what you especially don’t want to do is not follow-up at all. Or say you are going to follow-up and you never do. Both are unprofessional, but homeowners will view the first one in a more negative light as you would have never even tried to schedule a follow-up.
Knowing what to do and what not to do regarding follow-ups in the field service industry will greatly help your business and your reputation as a professional contractor. Homeowners love personalized interactions with well-mannered technicians who make them feel as though they are in good hands. With field service automation tools to help with the rest of your business, following up with homeowners has never been easier!
Ready to improve your customer follow-ups?
With mHelpDesk, you can consolidate and automate your customer conmmunication, including setting up automated text messages and emails for your most frequent communication. Schedule a free demo of mHelpDesk today!
Last modified: October 3, 2019
