John Bleasby
Is your communications process ‘Designed to Fail?’
Canadian ContractorYour company’s communications might work internally, but does it work for your customers?
It’s all well and good to have a communication process within your company that allows various crews the flexibility and information they need to be efficient. However, if it leaves the customer out in the cold, it is far from ideal.
Case in point:
When I was ready to have my 3000 square foot driveway paved, I went with the recommendation from my landscape contractor, whose opinion I greatly respected. They were the best, he said, and wouldn’t use anyone else.
The next day Mark came by to give a quote. He owns the company with his son Julian. Mark’s price was right in line with my expectations. They would do the work ‘in four or five weeks’. He gave me his mobile number.
After three weeks, I called Mark. ‘We’ll be there the week after next, probably Friday.’
Welcome to voicemail/text hell
On the Monday morning before that Friday I called Mark’s mobile. Voicemail. I sent a text. No reply. Later that day, I called the company’s main line and left a message. An hour later, a guy named ‘Doug’ called me back, claiming he does all the scheduling. ‘Mark just goes where he’s told. But we do have you scheduled for Friday. We’ll call Wednesday or Thursday to confirm.’
Thursday morning, I called Mark for a confirmation. Voicemail. I called Julian’s mobile. Voicemail. I called the main office and left a message. Doug called me back around noon.
‘Are you still coming tomorrow?’ I asked.
‘Who are you?”
‘John Bleasby’, and gave my address.
‘I don’t have anything scheduled for you. Who did you talk to?’
‘You, on Monday!’
‘I never talked to you.’
‘You told me I was scheduled for Friday.’
After a bit of back and forth Doug admitted ‘Oh, I think I had you confused with someone else named ‘John’ in (nearby town). I don’t have anything down for you.’
The customer who never was
Eventually he agrees to call Julian. Julian calls me back to say that Doug is just a salesman and that in fact he, Julian, does all the scheduling. But Julian also has no record of me, my contract, or my job either. He promises to call his dad, Mark. I call Mark also, leave a message and send a text.
The next morning, Friday, the day the driveway was supposed to be paved, Mark called to explain: Apparently, Mark, Julian and Doug each have their own customers and do their own scheduling. Mark had my contract in his briefcase; he was just waiting until they had more work in my area before coming over. That would be next Thursday or Friday, one week later than first promised.
Mark continued, saying their system of three people each operating their own book of business was very efficient and flexible. I was worried over nothing, he said. ‘All you had to do was call my mobile and leave a message!’
What Mark, Julian and Doug failed to understand is that a system that is efficient for them is clearly not efficient for the customer. What could be worse than not getting call-backs, and then being told by two company representatives that they know nothing about you or your job?
Customers will communicate, even if you don’t
Out of interest, I looked up Home Stars in my area. Sure enough, the only rating for this company was ‘Zero Stars’, with the added comment that a driveway project booked in May had not been done by September; the customer had given up and placed the job elsewhere.
Word gets around, one way or the other!
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