Grow and Expand Your Service Business

Identify Your Customers’ Needs
Do you know who your customers are? Do you know what they want from your services? Your service business has a name to live up to, and the best way to do that is to perform at superior quality levels everyday. Your customers should come to expect the extraordinary.

Look for methods that may improve your service. Give your technicians permission to wow your customers and showoff their skills. It may take them longer to get the job done. It may cost you more, but the pay off of an impressed customer will be far greater.

Communicate Regularly With Your Customers
You have to know the person you’re working for, your customer. They’re ultimately your company’s boss. Your customers are the ones who are responsible for reviewing and evaluating your company’s work and performance.

Are they satisfied? Are they thrilled? What more do they want from you? What, in their mind would make you extraordinary?

You should ask your customers if they are satisfied with your work and if there are any areas that your company can better serve them. This tells your customers that you are not only glad that you have their business for one service call, but that you have a real interest in their needs. This real interest is how you turn that one-time job into a life-long customer.

Get Your Employees Involved in the Vision
Some of your employees are more dedicated than others, but it is your job to get them committed to the level of service you want to offer. Some are more motivated than others, but by sharing your mission and vision with your employees, and by encouraging them to always go above and beyond for your customers, you will be leaps and bounds beyond what many of your competitors are doing.

Market Your Business Aggressively
If they don’t know about your company, they won’t call you. If your name is not there when they go searching for your service, you won’t get permission to try to sell to them. There are a multitude of marketing channels to reach your potential customers and your existing customers. Use as many as produce results for your company. Experiment often.

Use creative methods to promote your business in order to stand out from the crowd. Items such as postcards, flyers, brochures, key chains, business cards, etc. can position your company to maximize sales and earn more money.

Consistently Seek Out Referrals
Your customers are the best source of references and referrals when seeking out new business. Ask for referrals from happy customers as part of your regular post sell practice. If your customers are really happy with what you’ve done for them, they’ll gladly refer your services and offer testimonials.

If they decline to give you a testimonial, reference, or referral, they were not thrilled by your service. Therefore, if you want that referral, your company will have to earn it by doing something extraordinary.

Written by Jonathan Frei
Featured in July 2010 Newsletter