From your customer's perspective, your office team is critical. They take the call from the customer, arrange the best schedule, dispatch the best technician and manage all of the billing.
A smooth-operating team is essential to customer retention and your company's success.
Building the right team. The wise contractor builds an office team with the capabilities to help his business grow. Individuals with past experience in accounting, finance and insurance are helpful, but It's not merely about computer and office skills. The magic ingredient is the ability to connect with customers over the phone while surviving in a fast paced-environment.
Training the team. Spend time with new hires sharing with them the common symptoms and issues that customers call with. YouTube videos can be a good way to better understand the types of problems technicians tackle. The goal is familiarity with the issues to diagnose, not a full knowledge on how to solve them. The phone team needs to be able to say "is it also doing this" or "here's where you can shut off the water."
Handling calls with empathy. Good office teams learn how to balance the influx of calls (multiple lines ringing at once) with caring and empathy. Customers are calling with problems. They're upset. They're perplexed. They want a voice that cares and that shows concern. A great phrase to use when listening to customer problems is "I'm sorry to hear that". It acknowledges that you can't solve the issue on the phone, but lets the customer know you care.
Connecting with customers. Be sure that the phone team thanks customers for connecting with your company. This reassures clients that they've made a wise choice. It's also helpful to email a survey or include comment cards to get feedback on how well you're doing.
Having great technicians isn't all that's needed for great service. Get your office functioning smoothly to have a great spring start.