Customer service… it’s not just for retail employees
Having a bad leak in a pipe when company is supposed to spend a week at your home or having your furnace quit working during a snow storm can cause a lot of stress for customers, which tends to lead to, well, a lack of joy. As a service company we are being allowed into a customer’s home to fix a problem during a stressful time in their life, and because of this we have to provide superior customer service. Obviously customer service isn’t just a thing to provide during stressful times, but must be practiced any time there is interaction with a customer. It could be over the phone, in person, or even in email, but you have to be there for the customer.
For us, usually the initial contact with the customer is via them calling us because they are need of a repair or wanting a quote for something new. We don’t just answer our phones with “Hello, how can I help you?” or “Beloman”… we start the conversation with a peppy “It’s a great day at Belo, this is ____, how may I direct your call?” We feel that it sets the tone that we WANT to help and will do whatever we need to, to make the customer at hand happy. Another small gesture to our customers at first phone contact is answering on the first ring so they won’t be waiting for ages before someone picks up. When every second counts, those couple of seconds we saved by picking up the phone as soon as it rings can be a relief. Our dispatchers will set up an appointment for you as soon as they can and if anything is available sooner, they’ll let you know.
Briefly before the appointment is set to occur (say you have a 10-12 time window, for example), our dispatchers will call to inform you the technician or plumber is on their way in the next 20-30 minutes. If the technician is running late on their previous job, dispatch will call the next customer and let them know they are running behind. Obviously nobody likes someone running late, but they sure do appreciate being updated and not left hanging if it does occur. We could be like companies who just don’t keep the customer informed, but we don’t.
A big part of customer service for us is going the extra mile at the customer’s home. That includes wearing shoe coverings so dirt isn’t tracked in and using drop clothes to cover the floor. These are little things, but they go a long way in the impression they leave on the customer. We hear time and time again how courteous and hardworking our technicians and plumbers are so we know they’re leaving a positive impression. Customers will call in raving about how good someone was with their dog or children while they were out at the home… Doggy belly rubs aren’t part of the job, but they sure are appreciated by Fido and Fido’s humans! We remember customers and call them by name if they stop into our office. It’s the little things that count.
After the problem is fixed and payment is received we don’t forget about our customers. We make sure to send them a little thank you for choosing us, just to show that we care and that you, the customer, does matter to us. For those who had us install a new system, we’ll give you a call a few weeks later to ask how it’s working for them. It really is the small things that Bel-O does that sets us a little higher on the customer service chain than other companies. Small gestures go a long way when a customer’s interaction with us starts with them freaking out and ends with a smile.
Beloman is here for all of your heating and cooling, plumbing and pest control needs in the St. Clair, Monroe and Madison county area. For more information on our services please visit our website or call us at (618) 509-9995.
