As I talk to PROs throughout the year, they voice a common message about breaking through a jumble of competitors without lowering prices. “We sell on great customer service” is a frequent response. At some point in the customer relationship, business retention relies more on quality, dependable service than offering the lowest price, they say.
But building a loyal customer following comes with costs, too. There’s sending the crew out a few extra times to make sure every restroom placement is just right. There is answering the 10 p.m. call Saturday night to replace an overused unit at a busy special event. There is hand-holding, on-site meetings and overtime pay for technicians, and that all cuts into or through your profits for the day, week or month.
But the work and expense are necessary if you truly want to stand out and make it easier to sell your services to a broader audience, says Brian Greenberg, an entrepreneur and author of the recent book The Salesman Who Doesn’t Sell. Greenberg is an advocate for small businesses doing all they can to generate positive online testimonials to jump-start what can be a frustrating and drawn-out job of selling services to new customers.
“Investing in customer happiness is a long-term business strategy that is troublesome for many businesses to conceptualize,” Greenberg says in a recent Q&A story promoting his book. “It is difficult to invest today for a potential return in the future, and it can be unnerving to lose money on a transaction in order to protect an intangible asset such as your reputation.”
You know what Greenberg is talking about. Remember that small special event you served last year, the one 20 or 30 miles out of town and using a dozen restrooms? You charged a profitable price for the units and service, but each time your crew had to make an unexpected run to the location to address concerns, you could count the extra dollars as they were pulled from your wallet. In the end, you were almost upside down on that one, but at least you made the customer happy and that really mattered.
You’re in this business to make money, but Greenberg says sometimes you have to take a loss to make tremendous gains in the long run. Don’t be mistaken; he’s not advocating for undercutting on price and neither am I. He wants you to build the type of loyal clientele that will make it easier to rent your restrooms to many more new customers. And the key to becoming the salesman who doesn’t sell is relying on those overjoyed customers to give you five-star reviews and glowing testimonials that prospective customers will read online and act on.
PART ONE: GOOD SERVICE
You know how to provide great customer service. You tell me all the time. You follow tips like (1.) answer the phone 24/7, (2.) have uniformed drivers deliver clean equipment using clean trucks and (3.) always follow up and make sure the customer had a good experience. Good service is a simple idea, but it requires hard work and monitoring your crews to make sure they always put their best feet forward.
Greenberg’s expertise comes in where your great customer service left off. How do you transform that positive customer experience into winning reviews of your product? He offers three keys to land those reviews and make them work for you:
1. Secure reviews for your website and third-party review sites.
“People have an aversion to asking for reviews from customers. It is an uncomfortable part of the conversation if not handled correctly,” Greenberg says. Where the ask is concerned, timing is everything. “The best time to ask for a review is after the service is complete and the customer is entirely satisfied and happy. From my experience, customers appreciate the question and it shows to them that you care about their happiness.”
For PROs, the time might be right after the first week or month of service at a construction site or the week after you pick up event restrooms. First, call the customer and ask if they have any feedback on your service and probe them for details. If you have a good rapport with them, take the conversation further.
“There is no need to be pushy about it. Plant the seed and let them know you will send them an email with a link to where they can post feedback. It’s as simple as saying, ‘Is it all right if I send you a feedback email?’ After the customer confirms, you have a commitment,” Greenberg says.
Make it as easy as possible for the customer to follow through. You know from experience how frustrating it can be to find and navigate the web when you are the consumer. So you need to send direct links to post their reviews. Have them place a review on your company website first, where you can control who sees it. If the review is positive, then send the customer direct links to third-party review sites like Yelp, Google My Business or the Better Business Bureau.
2. Leverage those online reviews with potential new customers.
Get over the feeling that posting good customer reviews on your website is “bragging.” Remember that posting these reviews will make future sales easier, and that should be a great motivation for anyone who dreads the sales process. And truth be told, many folks got into the portable sanitation industry to serve people, not sit at a desk making sales calls.
“I have found that the last thing a customer does before making a purchase is a Google search for your company name followed by ‘reviews’ or ‘complaints.’ People want to verify that you run an honest business,” Greenberg says. “By leveraging your online reputation, you have built trust and conveyed accountability. This is the cornerstone of becoming a salesman who doesn’t sell.”
3. Automate the sales process and involve your team.
Once you have posted a few positive online reviews, you’ll thirst for more. And Greenberg says the key to keeping new reviews in the pipeline is asking everyone around you to pitch in and to systemize processes that will make the job easier.
First, how about offering bonuses to the receptionist, your drivers or anyone on payroll who asks for and procures a great review? Hold a company meeting where you explain how important these reviews are to the growth of the company. Take the time to review your customer service protocols — how you answer the phone, take care of the trucks and restrooms, wear uniforms and address clients in the field — to make sure you can live up to the reviews you seek.
Then Greenberg suggests making your frequently asked questions and terms and conditions pages simple to navigate and understand. Ensure it’s easy for potential customers to ask you questions through the website or social media. He suggests using email software like ActiveCampaign to send automated messages or develop other systems for keeping in contact with customers.
“Establishing an online reputation is like building up assets that produce dividends,” he says. “Every time you contribute to your assets, you are building a foundation that will continue to bring in revenue for the long haul.
“If you run your business with a focus on customer happiness and you properly leverage the social proof you build up, over time your business will grow exponentially. Customers will begin to come to you, rather than you trying to attract customers.”
BOOTS ON THE GROUND
No doubt about it, a good deal of the success of a portable sanitation business relies on hard work in the field. Your performance is gauged every time a user swings open the door and hopes for a good restroom experience. That’s a given. But what you do to take advantage of a hard-earned reputation is important as well. Spend some time building those five-star reviews and see if you blow up the internet with new customers.
