Do You Appreciate Past Clients When They Call You Again?
Every phone sales call is important, but some are more important than others. Give your loyal customers the appreciation they deserve.
KickStart: Help your long-term clients FEEL rewarded (and appreciated) for their loyalty to your company.
So, ARE you "warmly welcoming" returning, past clients now? You’re thinking, “Of course I do, Steve! I love ALL my residential customers!” 💖
Understood.👍 And true, we seriously focus on booking that nervous 1st-time caller in my “Winning over your caller at much higher prices!” seminar. NOTE: This is our industry’s single biggest challenge!
After all, your residential service business hemorrhages profits every time your CSR “fails to convert” a caller and then avoids responsibility with the tired excuse, “They were just another lousy price shopper”! 😮
NOTE: Want to achieve an almost 100% phone closing rate? Then check out my “Winning over your caller at much higher prices!” course to DRAMATICALLY increase your phone bookings! Click HERE to learn more or to register online! But meanwhile…
Warmly welcome and treasure your loyal, long-term clients!
Here’s why…
Your returning previous clients A) need little or no marketing, B) have been “pre-priced”, C) have also been “pre-trained” during your last visit on what to expect from your tech(s) and most importantly…
Properly handled, D) a long-term client will become an ongoing annuity of “downstream income” due to their future work and their enthusiastic referrals for your services!
However, NEVER take your long-term clients for granted. Nowadays, customer loyalty is very fragile. Basically, you’re only as good as a client’s last “service experience” with your company. So HOW can you create “sticky relationships” with your clients?
1. Help returning loyal clients feel “special”.💕 For example, your phone script should quickly verify if your company has worked for the caller before. If they say “Yes, you were here just last May...” then warmly reply, “Welcome back!” 💖 This concept should be ongoing in your client relationship. For example…
💡ProTIP: Even with long-term clients ALWAYS make an Immediate Quality Check Call right after the tech leaves to make sure everything has been “up to snuff”. (I have no idea where this "snuff" expression came from!)🙄
RESOURCE: In my “Winning over your caller at much higher prices!” course,, I share a complete system for your very own Immediate Quality Check Calls. Click HERE to learn more…
2. Recognize special dates. One residential services company I’ve worked with sends a handwritten Thank You 💖 note every year on the anniversary date of their client’s first service. It starts out with…
Dear Charlotte,
We thank you for being a loyal client with Sunrise Services for 12 years! Please enjoy this special Loyal Client Anniversary Gift… (include a $10.00 or $20.00 gift card to a local coffee, ice cream or candy shop)
NOTE: Be sure to track how much the last gift card you gave each customer was- you don’t want to accidentally "cheap out" on your loyal clients next year! 😯
3. Send regular mailings, track their history and their current spending. For example, do you send yearly reminders of your services? You should. After all…
💡ProTIP: 63% of the customers who don’t call you again for their next service is because they can’t remember who they used last time! (This is a true statistic!) 😱
The challenge? Your Business Infrastructure systems (or more likely your techs!) can break down. So then your client doesn’t feel well-served or appreciated. (It has happened to me!) 😡
The insidious danger here? No one calls you about the issue so you never learn about it! Instead, most of these folks are “Passively Dissatisfied”. They don’t have the emotional wherewithal (who does?) to make a scene or even tell you about their issue. They’ll just drift away and even worse, you don't even realize it!
☠️DANGER: After your previously loyal client has been MIA for possibly years you might finally ask, “Whatever happened to Sally Green? Seems like it has been a long time since I heard from her…” (FYI, Sally has moved on and is GONE FOREVER!) 😥
So, track your database. If you’ve serviced a residential client for years like clockwork and then 18 months go by without hearing from them don’t freak out. After all, they may have replaced the item you have been servicing.
But for sure it is time to it is time to reach out to your past client and gently probe. You can send a nice card starting out with, “WE MISS YOU!” And then the copy says, “It’s been 18 months since we last worked with you. We’re focused (obsessed?) with our job quality and just want to make sure…
Me? I preferred a more direct approach and especially with clients that I knew personally. So very tactfully start out with your over-the-phone Courtesy Question…
“Good morning, Mrs. Jones! This is Steve Toburen with Sunrise Services. Am I calling at a good time? (Wait for response) Mrs. Jones, I was reviewing the files of our best clients’, like you, and I noticed…”
Remember, this may be the most profitable call you’ll make this month!
Steve’s TAKEAWAY: Help your long-term clients feel treasured and yes, even loved, ❤️ by implementing routine systems into your company to recognize their loyalty. Meanwhile...
My very best wishes going forward!
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