Common Customer Service Mistakes Your Painting Company MUST Avoid

You may have a fantastic painting company that provides excellent work for your clients. However, if your customer service skills are poor, this can undo all your good work. You could find this damages your reputation and causes a significant reduction in sales revenue.

It is vital to ensure you eliminate common customer service mistakes so you can benefit from positive online reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations. Fortunately, you can make some simple changes so your company becomes renowned for its amazing customer service skills.

Here are some of the most common customer service mistakes in the painting industry:

• Not listening to customers
• Breaking your promises
• Being argumentative with customers
• Providing slow customer service
• Contractors not turning up on time
• Overbearing sales strategies
• Undervaluing your employees
• Changing your quote

Not Listening to Customers

One of the most frustrating factors for customers is when a painting company does not listen to their needs. While you may have completed thousands of similar jobs, each customer still wants to feel involved in the process. It's important to ask questions and discuss the painting job in detail.

You may find that a particular customer would prefer you to perform the job in a slightly different way than usual. If this is the case, you need to be able to pass this information on to your staff.

Breaking Your Promises

Providing good customer service involves doing what you said you would for your client and in the timeframe you promised. A customer may have booked your services for a specific time slot for an important reason. Perhaps they have people coming to stay, a client to impress, or another contractor is coming the following week.

If you change the timeframe of your services, you may cause significant inconvenience to a customer, and they are unlikely to work with you again.

Being Argumentative with Customers

The customer is not always right, but this doesn't mean you should dismiss their perceived issues. Even if you disagree with a client, you should allow them to fully explain why they are unhappy. You can then discuss why you feel they are expecting too much from your company.

A customer may become irate and personalize the argument, but you should never get involved in unhelpful exchanges. It's important you stay professional and conduct yourself in the right manner. More often than not, customers are reasonable and will appreciate your calm approach.

Providing Slow Customer Service

More than ever, clients expect you to respond rapidly when they have a query or comment. This can be especially important when an inquiry comes into your painting office. For example, the potential customer may have sent numerous emails to different companies asking for a sales meeting and a quote.

If you do not reply quickly, a competitor may get there before you and win the business. It can be a good idea to have an email autoresponder that lets people know you have received their email. You can also put a note on to confirm you will get back to them within a specified timeframe.

Contractors Not Turning up on Time

As a manager, you may perform all your tasks diligently, and your clients are delighted with your service. However, if your contractor does not turn up on time or is slow at their work, this can lead to dissatisfaction. You can reduce the chances of this happening by using a productivity tracker and studying the results.

You may find one staff member is repeatedly late to jobs, and then you can discuss why this is. You may be able to help them get to work on time by making a couple of small changes.

Overbearing Sales Strategies

When many companies think about how to improve customer service, they often focus on dealing with inbound calls. But, your outbound sales strategies can be just as vital. It's standard practice to record client email addresses and phone numbers, and these can form part of your marketing campaigns.

However, customers will quickly become annoyed if you spam their inbox or call them too early in the morning or late in the evening. Remember to be courteous and respectful of your customers' time to avoid losing their business.

Undervaluing Your Employees

Most painting businesses highlight the importance of customer service to their staff. But, do you also let your team members know how much you value their efforts? If employees do not feel appreciated by their company, this can lead to them being unhappy in their work.

When they arrive at your client's address, the customer may notice a lack of enthusiasm and question if the contractor is committed to their work.

Changing Your Quote

Another example of poor customer service is changing your quote during the job duration. While sometimes this is acceptable, such as finding a problem that you could not have seen at the start, in general, this is bad practice. Your client may have hired you based on your quote matching their budget.

If you then change this figure at a later date, they may not be able to afford the work. This can waste a client's time and leave them disappointed with your company.

Contact BidClips Today

BidClips is a market-leading sales software provider that helps our clients build better customer service experiences. We ensure your customers enjoy dealing with your company, helping you to benefit from positive reviews that can boost your sales revenue.

Our expert team works closely with you to understand your goals and develop a customer service strategy that gets results.

To book a demonstration and receive a free quote, contact the BidClip sales team today.