Jim's Group CEO, Jim Penman on how to provide better customer service.

When we actually speak to the client, what are we trying to do? What's our aim? We're trying to get to see them, we're trying to make an appointment. Basically. On the whole, we're going to try not to give price on the phone. Like an hourly rate. Why not? Hourly rates are a really bad idea. On the whole, we prefer very strongly not to give hourly rates. Why do you think that is? It doesn't actually say much about how much you're going to get done, does it? So it does tend to cause complaints. A client, you said you're going to be there for two hours and you quote the price and the client thinks, well, I should have got this done, this done, this done. So they're very likely to be unhappy. The other reason we don't like hourly rates is because people want, tend to want a low hourly rate. And that is not our, that's not our place in the market. Our aim for you, and I'm not saying in the first week or month, but our aim for you, which is achievable for every single division, you should be able to make with time, at least 60 bucks per hour, at least. And most franchisees are actually beyond that these days. You can't do that. People, on the whole won't accept Audi rates that high. They think you're going to be working for 30 bucks an hour or something ridiculous like that. It's not where we are. They sound a lot. In fact, by being efficient and by doing the job based on a quote, we can actually get a much higher hourly rate. So for both those reasons, because of the fact it causes complaints and because it's very difficult to get a decent hourly rate, we don't like how LE rates. It's also very risky to give an even an estimate. If you have to, you can have a go at it. But believe me, when you turn up, people will say, oh, well, it's just a. It's a really immaculate, you know, lawn and nothing's wrong with it. You go there and that hides full of bones and dog droppings. I mean, it happens all the time. I know they complain because you raise it, because you raise the price, because you have to. So you might have to give an estimate, but try not to try and stay away from hourly rates for those, those reasons. So we need to turn up to give a quote. And here's another very important thing. Never give a precise time. Don't say, I'll be there at 11 o'. Clock. Why not? You can't do it. You cannot be that precise. You need to give, at the very least, you need to give a two hour time scale. So instead of 11 o' clock between 10 and 12, don't say after 4:2 because the client will take that to mean between 4 and 5 past 12, say between 4 and 6 or 4 and 7 or whatever you can stretch to be as broad as you possibly can. Minimum two hours. It's just not feasible or possible to be that accurate about time. The only time you can be a little bit more accurate is first thing in the morning. But even then you've got a lap of traffic and so forth. So precise times are very, very dangerous and they cause a lot of complaints if you give them. So at least a two hour time slot. We're on our way or the day's going on, we've got a bit delayed. Let's say we got an appointment between say 2 and 4 in the afternoon. We don't think they're going to be able to make it. What do we do? We call the client. If we can't get through, we text the client. We always text the client. If you can't reach them directly, don't leave it till half past three. That will get the client very annoyed. You know, you need to be telling them like half past one, two o' clock when it's become clear in advance so they don't have to stay home. So plenty of warning. Ring them, they can't get through, text them. We arrive at the client's property. What happens if the client's not there? Ring them, you can't get through, text them. All right, we're getting there. It's a lot easier to learn the lesson here than have a complaint or a lost client because you didn't text. And believe me, this happens a lot happens every day. I see jobs, lost clients, complaints coming through because somebody rang but didn't text.