Would you walk into your customer’s home, their inner sanctum, without knocking and asking for permission? “NEVER!” you say? Hmmmm…
Yet my guess is every day you (and your employees) are just ‘barging in’ on people without even ‘knocking’! Think about it…
How many times have you called a client, said “Hello”, started rattling off questions and the customer has to interrupt, “Uhhh, excuse me but can you call me back? I’m on another call.” What happened here?
You just walked into your client’s private, mental and emotional space without permission and made yourself at home! This is a HUGE negative Moment of Truth! Therefore…
On every outgoing phone call to a client automatically open with a ‘Courtesy Question’.
Normally a very simple ‘Courtesy Question’ is best. After clearly introducing yourself just ask this seven word question: “Am I calling at a good time?” Or a more informal question (usually with a repeat client) could be, “How’s my timing for this call?”
98% of the time your customer will reply, “Sure. Go ahead…” Wonderful! You’ve just been invited inside!
Occasionally they’ll say, “You know… I’m in the middle of something but how can I help you?” Fine- you’ve just been told to stay on the front porch and “state your business”! Great! Don’t you want to learn this up front instead of having your knuckles rapped later?
And very, very occasionally someone will reply, “You know- this just isn’t a good time.” Then you can answer, “I understand. May I give you a call tomorrow morning?” So much better than just ‘barging in’!
NOTE: I’ll share 100’s of phone tips like this one in our 3-hour, online SFS: Winning over your caller! LIVE seminar. Click HERE for upcoming dates and more information…
Commercial HINT: Before calling a busy Property Manager why not TEXT them a Courtesy Question, “Can I give you a call now re:…?” This getting “Permission to Proceed” creates a big positive Moment of Truth!
Restoration HINT: Adjusters want to confidently turn the loss over to you and… FORGET IT! Yet they also want to be kept “in the loop”. So why not set up a password-protected “in the cloud” Shared Folder for each loss that lets you share photos, monitoring sheets and other job notes? Your adjuster will receive an email (or text) every time you update the Folder which lets them access the loss information without you… ‘barging in’!
Steve