I have written before about the art of enticement and the importance of having an inviting and impressive showroom. The showroom allows potential customers to experience the look and feel of the company’s door and window offerings and really helps to get them into the buying mood. But how do remodeling contractors get prospects into their showrooms in the first place? You might be surprised about the power of referrals.
One cannot underestimate the power of referrals. When asked where they get their best leads, many remodeling contractors will tell you that referrals and repeat customers rank within their top three when it comes to lead sources.
This means that staying in touch with customers after the sale can prove to be very beneficial indeed. One of the best techniques I have seen for taking advantage of this is to offer a customer a reward for a referral. Give them cards that they can mail in with names of friends who may be in the market for new doors and windows. You can offer the homeowner who provided the referral a discount off their next remodeling job in the form of “remodeling bucks” for each referral that results in a sale.
The power of referrals just goes to show why it is paramount to take care of each customer through the entire sales process and well after the sale is completed. Checking back with them a few weeks after your products are installed shows them you are truly interested in their complete satisfaction. If a problem does develop, it is always in your best long-term interests to take care of the customer to ensure their complete satisfaction, even if it means going above and beyond the terms of the warranty. Spending extra dollars on complete customer satisfaction may pay off more than spending those same dollars on radio or television ads.
Wait, did I dare say “Go above and beyond the warranty?” Yes, I did, so I will give you a word about warranties.
Warranties are usually written by the legal staff and are sometimes structured to do a better job of protecting the manufacturer as opposed to the customer. They oftentimes do this by limiting the liability of the manufacturer if a particular customer is trying to take advantage of the manufacturer. For example, if a homeowner expected a window system to last well beyond its intended lifespan, the manufacturer could site the warranty, which may be 20 years for example. Or an IG unit may fail, and the warranty may spell out that the IG unit will be provided at no cost, but the homeowner must pay the labor portion for the actual replacement. However, if problems develop only a few years after the doors and windows are installed, perhaps the manufacturer or remodeling contractor may decide to take care of some of the costs that may otherwise be excluded by the warranty to ensure complete satisfaction for the customer.
This level of customer service can pay huge dividends down the road in the form of rave reviews from that customer to friends and family which will then result in additional business. That customer will sing your praises to every friend and relative they know. Their family Thanksgiving dinner or backyard barbeque can end up being a commercial for your company!
So, when it comes to gathering leads, be sure to keep in touch with past customers and make it easy for them to remember your name and number. This is why some companies still send out free calendars every year end, so the company name has a shot at being taped to a wall or attached to a refrigerator with magnets. If you provide positive customer experiences, then they will call you to order more doors or windows the next time the need arises and tell their friends about your company as well. Rest assured, if you do your part to make sure that they are thrilled to have done business with you, then they will surely come back for more of the same and will lead their friends and family directly to your showroom.