Most customers won’t leave a voicemail but it’s still important to have a good one. In your voicemail message, you can emphasize the speed at which you’ll reply, or give the customer an alternative way to get started like going to your website for a booking link. Below, we’ve included voicemail templates you can use both for your voicemail message and leaving a voicemail.
It’s very important that you send your customers reminders when it comes to appointments, because it reduces the risk that the customer will cancel or reschedule the appointment. Plus, as an added bonus it makes you look more professional. This also helps to set expectations from the get go, that way you can avoid making your customer feel like they have to sit around all day waiting for you to show up. As a general policy, you should send your customers the following reminders.
If the appointment was made more than a month ago, it’s a good idea to remind your customer so the appointment stays top of mind. That way they won’t accidentally schedule something for that day and will also lower your chances of their rescheduling.
It’s a great policy to reach out to your customer 24-48 hours before the actual appointment, just in case the customer hasn’t marked the date on their calendar. In an email – you can tell them how to prepare for the visit, like putting pets up.
The morning of, be sure to update your customer with expected arrival time and whether or not it has changed. If possible, always send a SMS/text message reminder, which has a 98% open rate.
Send your customers a notification to let them know you’re on your way to them, after you’ve left your last job. Be sure to include your ETA to avoid the common customer pain point of long appointment windows. Some apps, like FieldPulse, will even let you send customers a link to track your location.
After each appointment, you’ll want to send a follow up message to your customers with a summary of the services performed and a copy of the invoice. If you have FieldPulse, you can even include a link to accept payments or link customers to their self-service customer portal so they can view all the work performed, check payments, and even book new appointments.
In this email, you can also include a job satisfaction survey, and reviews or referral requests or send these requests out separately. This is optional – but attaching before and after photos of the job and work completed is an excellent policy. Be sure to also attach paperwork like warranty information, and how to maintain the system.
When it comes to getting feedback from your customers, there are several ways you can go about doing it. We’d recommend that you start by creating a job satisfaction survey. While building a job satisfaction survey may seem like a daunting task, it’s actually quite easy to do. Here’s a few examples of some of the questions you should be asking:
When it comes to reviews, Google reviews are by far the most important. Past that, you’ll want reviews on platforms that generate the most leads for you like Yelp, Angi, etc. Don’t be afraid to remind your customers to leave a review, because the likelihood is that if you don’t remind them, they won’t go out of their way to do it. Space out your reviews, because otherwise platforms will see them as spam – which is why it’s best to ask immediately after a job instead of sending a mass request to customers.
If you’re feeling gumptious, you can set up a referral program that rewards customers for referring friends and family to your business. This can be easily done through a referral code. With a field service management app like FieldPulse, you can make note of who referred the customer on their profile, and link to the referral program document.
It’s not always easy to get a link to your google business page, but this tool can help pull up a link so customers are taken straight to a form to fill out.
FieldPulse is one of the easiest ways to consolidate your customer communications. With FieldPulse, you can give your customers the power to view all of their jobs, estimates, invoices and payments as well as make work requests, check appointment details, and make payments directly from the client portal. You can also automate the time-consuming parts of your day with email and SMS templates, for situations like reminding customers to approve estimates, pay invoices, and even schedule their next service.
Easily set up custom triggers that send communications when job records are created, job status is updated, prior to a job’s start date/time, when invoice status is updated to ‘paid’, or when a payment record is created which can be automatically sent, prompts confirmation prior to sending, schedules based on timing or with confirmation. On top of all that, you’re also able to see when your emails were delivered, as well as the time and date on which they’re opened.
NiceJob integrates with the FieldPulse app and can help automate your review process. This app will also help you build your search engine rankings, and is especially helpful for websites like google where reviews can make or break your ranking and how many sales you get. With NiceJob, you can send review reminders, automatically share reviews on social media, craft social posts that generate 3x more engagement than the average review, and more!
When it comes to contacting your customers, keep the conversation short and to the point. Texts will most likely be read, but it’s best to use email for more detailed communications. Any conflicts should be handled over the phone when possible – if talking to customer through email or text, always ask if you can call
If possible, never put your clients on hold. This is easily avoidable, and your customers will thank you. If it’s absolutely necessary to put them on hold, always ask if you can put them on hold, give them a clear time they’ll have to wait, or ask if you can call them back. Reinforce to them that you want to make sure they have your full attention and make your client feel important.
Keep in mind that if you leave your customer a voicemail, there’s an 80% chance it won’t be listened to. But, if it’s absolutely necessary to leave them a voicemail, be sure to include your name, your company’s name, the purpose of the call, and your phone number. For bonus points, follow up with a text message or email letting them know you called.
You’re well on your way to craft an impeccable customer communication experience. We won’t deny it, setting up everything is a lot of work. However, the time you invest upfront in this process will pay off tenfold in the long run of your business. Don’t worry about getting everything perfect on your first go. As you continue to use the system, you’ll begin to identify weaknesses that can be addressed, factors that should be further emphasized, or new methods to implement.
