I own several investment properties and generally find that some trades are great and so reliable and others just want to take you for as much as they can get, since you are at their mercy.

This article is about the potential of building goodwill and setting yourself up for additional business and future success. Sometimes you have to give a little to build that trust so that at the end you get a lot of additional business.  Think of all the specials you see in all the stores that are called lose leaders.  They are meant to get you in there and then you end up spending more than you expected.

In this specific example I called a handyman to replace two toilets since I was across the country and couldn’t do it myself.  I figured he was 2 blocks from where the house was and it would cost me less since he didn’t have to travel far.  I got one of my property managers to get the two toilets for me from the local Lowes so that it was ready for this handyman to install.

When he got there, he said he could only install one toilet since the other one was beyond his scope and needed a plumber.  Fair enough.

He finished installing the toilet and he said the quote he gave me was a package deal for the two toilets so he was going to have to charge me a minimum $80 fee for showing up and then some additional charges that came to $180 to install one toilet.  The initial quote was $235 for the two toilets.  I felt it was still fine even though the math didn’t work.

As soon as he finished he was quite concerned about the money since he didn’t know me and wanted me to etransfer it to him right away. I was in the process of already putting it through within 10 minutes of first text and I get another text asking me if I had sent it.  I advised him that i had and asked him to send me the receipt or even a picture of it.  He said that he would send it later since he was busy.  Three days later I still didn’t get the receipt and I had to send him a follow up reminder.

Before he finished the work I asked him if he could measure the clearance for the toilet since he was there already for the call since the other one didn’t fit in that space.  No answer.

In this case this handyman could have built my goodwill with him by taking the following actions:

1. Perhaps see the work before quoting, especially when he was 2 blocks away and I had specifically asked him to make  sure the $235 would be a flat rate for the two toilets so that there were no surprises.  He assured me that it would be. When he got there he said he couldn’t do one and he would still charge me $180 for just one toilet.
2. Make sure that he addressed all my questions before being so concerned about collecting his money even though he didn’t even completely finish the job yet.
3. He should have instilled trust in his services by being firm about being paid but assuring me that he had done a great job at the house.
4. An above and beyond action would have been to send me a picture of the completed work.
5. Finally he should have thanked me for my business and said that he looked forward to doing more work with me.

This is something that I feel organizations and small business should also keep in mind when dealing with customers in whatever capacity.

To summarize, what you need to do to create a memorable experience and receive repeat business is:

1. As much as possible, make sure you are fully versed with your pricing so that there aren’t surprises for your customers. If you know there might be issues and unknowns, then say so and clearly state what additional costs it could entail so that your customers could budget accordingly.
2. Make sure that you listen and address all the questions that your customers may have before going into your own agenda.
3. Build loyalty and trust in your business by going above and beyond to what your customer may expect from your line of business. In this case, it would have been sending a picture of the completed job, something that I would have not expected but that would have wowed me.
4. Finally make sure you don’t forget to genuinely thank your customers for their business! Sometimes businesses feel they are doing their customers a favour and even forget that they are the reason that you are in business in the first place.

Hope this provides you with some thoughts to move your business forward by focusing on the customer experience.  It’s the little things that make a big difference or as we call it in the industry, the moments of truth.