The Web Marketing PowerProgram

Godfather II was on an old movie channel, running as background noise, when I heard a couple of familiar lines:  “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”  And the old standard:  “This is the business we have chosen.” 

Nobody’s suggesting you get your business model or life mentors from characters in the Godfather series.  But there are a couple of things these phrases bring to mind. 

First, in times like this, you’ve got to keep your friends (a.k.a. customers) close.  And your enemies?  Well, let’s call them “competitors,” shall we?  Watch what they’re doing marketing-wise to lure away your friends.  Don’t be blindsided by someone else’s aggressiveness, when your friends are simply waiting for reminders that you care about them and their family. 

Second, the business that you have chosen is one that provides valuable and many times life-saving services to improve a customer’s comfort and well being in the home.  How well you convey this message depends on how well you employ “customer service” in everything your company does.  However times are changing, the basics are still in force: 

Be responsive to customer requests – and to their concerns.  Treat incoming calls and requests for service and estimates like the golden opportunity they are.  Schedule a call quickly and at a convenient time for the customer. 

Once you’re in the home, make it your goal to identify and solve your customer’s problem.  But as you present their solutions, be sensitive that they’re as concerned about spending money on repairs and upgrades as anyone. 

Make sure you impress on them the value of your service.  Also, in times of risk, the “risk-reducers” of warranties and guarantees, testimonials from satisfied customers and anything else you can use to bring reassurance will help the customer cross the purchasing threshold. 

And then, by all means, follow up.  A customer that stays satisfied after the sale is one who refers you to friends, calls on you again and lets you know by their continued trust:  you are the company they have chosen.