PRO TIPS: Customer Service Advice for Landscape Business Owners!

There we go. All right.

When you're ready. Okay. You might have to cut some of the stuff out because I haven't, like, thought about this. I just quickly typed some stuff this morning I thought I'd share. Okay. You ready? Yep. Hi there. This is Liz again from Augusta. Some of you asked for a little bit more of this content, so I'll just share a couple more things. After dealing with thousands of customers and you find out some love you and some hate you, so just be what you are. But I thought I would share a couple things with you today. So something about customer education is very important. So there's people that, to them, landscaping is really big and foreign. Let's say they're a banker or they're an opera singer, and they've never done hard labor in their whole life. We had one lady one time that Mike did an estimate with, and she was an opera singer, and she walked around in her Stilett heels and everything through the yard and throughout their project. She didn't understand landscaping, and so she would ask for this and that and it. And when that happens, they don't know. They're just, you know, I saw this on Pinterest. Can we do this and that and everything. So sometimes you need to explain things to the customer and give them an education on how it works. Not with an attitude or anything, but just because they don't know. And if you were asked to go on stage and sing opera with her, you wouldn't have a clue what you were doing either. So it's important to not look down on them, but make sure they have enough details and that they're educated. For example, somebody wants a pad that they can pull their trash can from their house to the road, and they're asking you for drain rock. Well, if you are smart and you don't want a bunch of issues, in the end, you're going to tell them that drain rock is not the best product, that maybe they need some packed limestone. And if they want a dog run and then they want packed limestone, then you're going to explain to them that they probably need drain rock and it's better on their dog's paws and there's drainage for them. So in. In all aspects of things that get you frustrated with the customer sometimes, if you just explain how it is going to roll and how it should roll, they're comforted by the information, knowing that you're the professional and you know what you're talking about.

Another thing that's important is to detach. So let's say you're in the middle of the day and a complaint comes in and you think, oh no, it's going to be just like that other time and you automatically get emotional and mad if you just step back and realize that probably just one little phone call with a reasonable individual this time is just going to fix it right up and there's not going to be an issue. Just try to step back and not compare it to the other times. Even. Even with the same person.

I speak to on behalf of property managers that sometimes a property manager you'll find calls and you're their best person ever. You're their go to person. They get their advice from you on all landscaping and everything and all projects and anything their tenants ask. And then all of a sudden one day they call you and they're screaming and yelling and crying and Augusta has let me down and be completely unemotional but empathetic in that moment. Knowing that you've had a previous relationship with them that's really solid and they really like you and your company and your guys and everything and just understand that they are caught between tenants that are yelling at them to address something immediately and owners who have them on a budget and telling them they can't go over a certain amount, but they're getting stuff demanded here, all of that funnels in and gets dumped on you. So you have to be able to have situational awareness and also to detach and be able to comfort them and help the property manager resolve their problem for the tenant and for the owner. Another thing to point out, if you have a lot of if you get customer complaints, also remember when you're talking to somebody who's completely fired up that our industry is lawn care and landscape and there's nobody bleeding out on the battlefield and it's usually going to be resolvable. Most of what we deal with, 99.9% unless there's some big accident or something. So just keep that in mind that just comfort the client that you can figure it out together and that it is resolvable. Another important thing is to prioritize and execute and not get overwhelmed by the minutiae of what's going on at the office so that you can service your customers. And when you come in in the morning, you're like, oh my goodness, what do I do first, quickly go through them and see if there's an immediate need for the day where you have to call a customer back right away and deal with a fire that you have to put out, flag them different Colors So that way you don't have to read through them all and just start jumping in and answering them. And then you can answer any complaints or concerns right away for jobs that day. And then later on, okay, I can get to this one tonight. And there's just no emotion. You have your system down and you're just getting through it. Train your team at your team meetings with different scenarios. So let's say all the guys are running into the same problem. What do we do when the customer asks for a leaf cleanup and we're only there to mow as a team? At your team meeting, you tell them what verbiage to use and then it's standard all across the board. We're mowing the leaves that are in your grass. We'd be happy to give you a leaf cleanup estimate.

Sometimes you do need to fire your customers. And an example of that would be is when every single visit, it's your minimum MO for 25, 35 bucks. And they call every single visit and want somebody to come back well on paid for performance. There's not much money going out to you or to the crew. And if somebody comes back every time, your source of income is never going to be substantial. Always doing callbacks. So we've had customers that I had to let them know that we could no longer service their property. And the verbiage that I used was we can't seem to, we keep, we keep disappointing you and we can't seem to meet your needs adequately. You might need a personal gardener. And in those times I've actually given them names of people that are like single guys or gal crew that can go out and take care of them a little better. And I mean, I had the customer call, was very upset. I love you guys. I love your team. And I said, but we can't see seem to make you happy. And he was very upset. And so I said, if you have projects in the future, we can do, you know, big projects. And I try to make it very positive for the future. Some people just need a person that can call on their cell phone. And as your company grows, you just have to establish the boundaries. And if they can't handle that kind of thing and they do need a person, they can call on their cell phone day and night, then help them look elsewhere and find someone. You also help the small landscaper guy and you also ret.

Rapport with people in the community. And that way they will call you when they have their big property cleanup that your little, their one little guy can't manage. And so it makes a good reciprocity all the way across the board in your community.

There's one thing that I think might be helpful for a lot of your guys as well as for you when you go for an estimate. We had a client one time, and he was going to have work done at his property. His wife had dementia and she had always done the gardening. And so he was very apprehensive about us coming because he didn't know how she would react. So she was in, you know, maybe stage two or three of her dementia. And so when the guys would come, she was safe enough to still be at home. But to suddenly see people on her property and not understanding what was going on, you never know what they're thinking and what's going to happen. And so we actually had, we kind of prepped all the guys and we let the customer know it's okay, we're going to talk to the guys how to be with her. We'll try to send the same guys, but she would be in the window and she'd be peering out at them the whole time and not knowing what was going on. So a lot of times when you see somebody with dementia or like you're, you drive up, you get out, and maybe you're there to speak with the husband, but somebody, whoever the customer is, has like a look in their eyes, like a little bit fearful. So what you want to do is make sure you don't do a full frontal walking towards them because they feel very intimidated and they might, you know, back up and kind of be scared of you. But if you come up to them kind of sideways, your body language is sideways, then it, it's less offensive and obtrusive to them. You're not in their space. Your, your, your hands are open and you're not coming. You don't want to stand like this, or you're just open to them. So, so you don't know how they're ever going to react. Even if they're a recurring customer, as they get older and their dementia increases, you want to just be sensitive to that. And if they become a recurring customer, make sure you have a point of contact with their family. So your crew is with them every week, and as they see them deteriorate, you can communicate with their family. There's so much more I could share today. If you have specific questions that you'd like us to address, feel free to, to let us know and we'd love to help you out. Have a great day.