A Little Advice

Status
Not open for further replies.
Texhunter....If your job description requires written communication with clients, you need to work on spelling, and grammar. Use spellcheck and ask for help on grammar (is there a grammar check??) You might be the smartest guy in the world as far as electrical work but if you tell a prospective client that you have "ran jobs...." instead of "run jobs" you will sound like a hillbilly (Appalachian American) and lose some credibility.


The problem comes in, when the referrals are the bottom fish customers, then your referred customer expects a real deal, uaually below your cost.
Click to expand...

That does happen. When they say "do you have a business card?", I say....uhhh...no, but I'll send you one.


My experience on referrals has taught me that you never know where that next big one will come from. We did a $39 service call our first year that turned into a 80K account. A few years later, a $65 call turned into a 300k account.
 
Last edited:
satcom said:
Yes it is an open market, anyone change what they want, a good example is a few years back one of the posters on this site, sent me a PM, telling me the new guy up the street from us was going to eat our lunch, and everyone elses lunch, we din't belive it because he was charging 2 to 3 times the rate of everyone else. Now two years down the road, the new guy, has expanded his business and many of the local guys that were charging less, are out of business or going out.


Muel, just remember the guys that are PM ing you and warning you, are the same ones that are afraid the charge themself.
Click to expand...
Where did that come from??

Staying on topic..

Sounds like the other guys (local guys charging less) were not providing the level of service the customers wanted? Then the new guy added value to his level of service and cleaned up....About half or our town has those type of customers. They are up scale clients and have higher expectations..the other half, is folks that dont have that much money and are more frugal.

In reference to the 90% and 10%..

The fact is some markets have enough customers to have a endless amount of calls, and very little repeat customers. They are a slave to your service

And then some are the oposite. And yes it is America and you can charge what ever you want, and thats great, and I think you should.

When I hire service, I personaly want the level of service that is professional, timely, experienced, and resolves the problem, and I dont mind paying more for it, because I know it will pay off.....

Some customers dont care with in reason what the cost is, if they get what they want, when they want it, and its professional, and then there are some that shop, and tell their neighbor that they liked that guy, or they didnt. Is this not the truth?
 
I beleive the ratio of referral is something like 2 out of 5 people will say a good thing about a product or service and 3 out of 5 will complain.
 
cadpoint said:
I beleive the ratio of referral is something like 2 out of 5 people will say a good thing about a product or service and 3 out of 5 will complain.
Click to expand...
Actually, in my area, and maybe others as well, it's different. People will say kind things if they're due. If they have a complaint, they'll likely never verbalize it. You'll just never work for them again, without a clue as to why. This is where QC calls from office staff a couple days following the job can be helpful.
 
Might depend on your customers. Male, female, both, age, location, industry.

I speak for myself, My heat pump went out. I called the company with the sticker on my AC they were out of business so I call my buddy the AC guy he told me to call so and so. I called them told them I need my AC fixed before I melt. Next day they come out and fix the AC. I pay about $300 for an hour of service. I now lay in my 60 degree home in my underwear having a coke and a smile. The moral is I think the guy know I wanted my AC fix I didn't care about a super duper filter or a sales pitch just an explanation what was wrong. If he would have tried to sell me a maintenance package I would have told him to get out of my 60 degree home. However I think gender, and age plays a big part if you can sell more product.
 
khixxx said:
Might depend on your customers. Male, female, both, age, location, industry.

I speak for myself, My heat pump went out. I called the company with the sticker on my AC they were out of business so I call my buddy the AC guy he told me to call so and so. I called them told them I need my AC fixed before I melt. Next day they come out and fix the AC. I pay about $300 for an hour of service. I now lay in my 60 degree home in my underwear having a coke and a smile. The moral is I think the guy know I wanted my AC fix I didn't care about a super duper filter or a sales pitch just an explanation what was wrong. If he would have tried to sell me a maintenance package I would have told him to get out of my 60 degree home. However I think gender, and age plays a big part if you can sell more product.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the vision of you, the underwear and the coke! LOL jk
 
Tex, I don't know how much you are going to have to say about who works for you but your people make the difference. In the last year I have seen several guys fired for the following reasons:
1.Made the customer feel they were too incompetant to understand what he was doing. After many complaints from customers he was let go.
2. One guy tried to make electricans out of the customers, thus he talked to much. The customer got charged for all his hours but he only 'worked' half of it.
3. 'The guy was a slob' to which the customer usually added, 'every time he moved he groaned like he was giving birth!' It was not the reason he was let go but it played a part in the decision.
4. The guy was an idiot. He had been an electrician for at least fifteen years but could not figure out switched recepts., 3-ways, 4-ways, or why devices had to be straight.

These complaints came from residental and commercial customers. Each one of these guys cost the company contracts/jobs. If your employees are bad it reflects on the company.

Gene
_______________________________
Remember - Speed Kills and it may not always be you.
 
mdshunk said:
Actually, in my area, and maybe others as well, it's different. People will say kind things if they're due. If they have a complaint, they'll likely never verbalize it. You'll just never work for them again, without a clue as to why. This is where QC calls from office staff a couple days following the job can be helpful.
Click to expand...

BINGO, thats what Im talking about
 
Ebow i think what you have just described is a lot of what happened in the company and that is what needs to be cleaned up and getting the jobs done on time. I really want to say thanks for all the input from everyone.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top