All It Took Was a Bad Review is a fictional short story about a real phenomenon happening in the Home Services Industry.
Imagine this…
John and his wife, Joanne, the characters in our little fable here, just bought a new AC unit for their home. But, John was also expecting to have a ductless mini-split installed in his garage.
When John got home from a long day’s work, there was no mini-split.
“Joanne…” he asks. “Where’s the ductless mini-split I asked them for.”
“Hmm… not sure” she said.
John called the company back on his wife’s cell phone asking why he’ll have to spend the upcoming weekend working in a hot, stuffy garage instead of a crisp cool one.
“We don’t have that request in our system” they replied.
Furious, John left a scathing Google review for the company claiming they don’t listen and don’t care. Someone saw the review and called in to cancel their appointment…
Someone else with a similar experience in the past saw the review and decided to add their two cents: “Awful company to work with!” One star.
A local journalist desperate for a good story saw John post about it on Facebook, and the headline for the neighborhood paper practically wrote itself:
“Local AC Company Fails to Deliver on Promises, Community Members Distraught“
The next day, the board is practically wiped clean. All that’s left is a maintenance visit to Mr. & Mrs. Jones, the elderly couple who won a free AC from the company ten years ago.
How did it come to this?
It’s quite simple, really…
All it took was a bad review.
John and his wife called the company together on their first interaction. John expressed his desire for a ductless mini-split, but they didn’t schedule anything quite yet. They wanted to “shop around.”
Joanne called alone the second time to set up an appointment for the main unit, but no mention was made of the mini-split for the garage.
The CSR who set it up didn’t follow up about the ductless mini-split and neither did the Technician.
This teeny-tiny miscommunication was all it took for a chain of disastrous events to ensue.
Dramatic?
Maybe…
But how many tens of thousands of dollars in lifetime customer value have you lost because a simple miscommunication drove away a one-time customer?
It’s these little details of our service that matters most to customers. The little details are what nag them and frustrate them for years to come.
Get your communication right. Clarify expectations with your customers and make sure there is ZERO DOUBT for:
- the Customer
- the CSR
- and the Technician
Define and understand what the customers wants better than they can define it themselves. In the age of immediate and perfect customer expectations, it’s the only way to build true loyalty:
Define what people truly want and deliver it beyond they highest expectations.
It’s imperative.
If you need communication coaching for your team, schedule a free consultation with our team here: