Winning customers and ensuring return business is bread and butter stuff for construction companies, and if it were just about delivering a project in time and within budget, there wouldn’t be much to choose between all the companies out there offering the same service.
What really sets a company apart is their reputation – and this has been the same since the beginning of time.
As people, we tend to buy from people we know, people we like, and people we trust. Before the internet, we would speak to potential companies ourselves to get a feeling for who they are or ask for personal recommendations from friends. Now, we have the internet – so search engines and reviews are replacing the old ways of finding a company to work with.
Your current customers will decide whether or not to work with you again based on the way they feel when the job has been completed. Have you met their expectations in terms of quality of work? Have you made the process open and honest for a good experience? Did you complete the job to meet the expectations of the customer?
All this feeds into your reputation, and, as mentioned, it isn’t enough these days for you just to complete the work as directed.
To enhance your reputation, you need to work on customer satisfaction – and there are a few ways that you can do this as you are collaborating with a customer.
- Clear communication
- Transparent expectations
- Collaboration with clients and customers
- Quality workmanship
- Timely completion
- Offering support throughout and even after the project has been completed.
Asking for Reviews
When you complete a job, you should always ask for a review. This can be left via Google or sent directly to you – but the more reviews you have, the more likely other customers are likely to be able to develop some sort of knowledge and trust in your company.
You can put your reviews on your website, or on social media – copying them straight from the source is always a good idea. A great example of this is through looking at customer Steelmaster review as you get a sense of the quality of work they provide, the longevity of the product and how the business itself interacts with these reviews and uses them to their advantage to improve their own inner workings.
Use Reviews for More Views
Social media is an excellent place to promote your business, and you can use reviews as talking points to demonstrate your expertise and customer service.
They can also be used to promote new services and products, bring more people to your website, and really show that you are a company that can do what you say and can be trusted.
Respond to Reviews
Whether good or bad, responding to a review is a great way to enhance your reputation.
Obviously, negative reviews can be tough – more about these later – but getting straight in there to reply shows that you are human and can improve your image even after the negativity shown. Good reviews should also be responded to, even if it is just to say thank you.
The Negative Review
You should be prepared to receive negative reviews – you cannot please all of the people, all of the time – but instead of panicking and trying to get rid of the negativity, you can use it.
If a potential customer looks at your reviews and sees that they are all positive, they are more likely to think that there is something fishy going on and that you are somehow manipulating the results. Leaving negative reviews might seem counterintuitive, but they can make a real difference in how your business is perceived.
The way you change the review from negative into positive is all about the way you respond. Taking the time to understand the complaint, apologize, and take action to make things better – out in the open – leads to better respect from the customer with the problem, and more trust from the potential customer too.
Remember that behind your brand are the humans who work there – and that is who the customer wants to see, want to get to know, and want to trust to look after their project.
