Landscape Solutions in Nashville, Tenn., knows that providing quality support and service to its customers will ultimately lead to customer satisfaction and company success.
“We typically do larger-scale jobs, where we’re working with these customers for several months at a time, so establishing a good relationship with them goes a long way throughout the life of the project,” says Cliff Jones, founder of Landscape Solutions, which is a full-service design-build firm, focused on residential clients.
Jones elaborates on how the company achieves its high level of customer success.
Stay true to your word
First and foremost, Jones says it’s important that landscape companies do what they say they’re going to do.
“We try and gain their trust right off the bat of doing what we say when we turn the estimate over to them or when we’re going to start the project or how we’re going to start the project,” Jones says.
To further build the foundation of trust, Landscape Solutions holds a preconstruction meeting on the project site with all the subcontractors, and it will ask the homeowners to come if they'd like.
“Before the project starts, we have open communication with our team and with the customer,” Jones says.
If, for some reason, crews run behind, Jones says they always communicate that in advance to the client.
“It’s the communication and courtesy of our staff,” Jones says. “Customers also talk about how our crews are always nice. It’s also an easy thing, but we try to look clean and presentable on-site, and our crews all wear the same shirts on-site. That goes a long way.”
Communication is key
To further assist with transparency and communication, Landscape Solutions recently implemented Company Cam, an app that assists with taking project photos to send to the customer.
“They can go in and look at the progress that we did on their site, even though they see it in real time,” Jones says. “They love having that trail of the project.”
Jones says that the addition has not only worked wonders on the customer side, but also on the employee side. For example, a crew member can do a walk-through video and create a to-do list to explain to other crew members exactly how the work will be completed.
“This gives them a detailed visual so they can go back and reference it on the jobsite,” Jones says.
A final key to customer communication, Jones says, is responding to customers and potential customers in a timely fashion.
“We have an in-house policy that we always respond within 24 hours, but honestly we try to do it within eight hours,” Jones says. “The faster you can reply to people, the less they can stew over a problem. They appreciate you calling back quickly.”
Keep them engaged
When the company is not actively working on a customer’s site, it still makes an effort to keep them engaged.
Taking a page out of the old-school book, the company sent out flyers for the first time this year detailing an upcoming service offering, which Jones says was very successful.
Otherwise, the company uses e-newsletters and social media to interact with customers and potential customers.
Overall, Jones says social media like Instagram is particularly impactful. However, he adds that the posts should be timely, and it’s important that the account posts frequently and consistently.
“We have someone who handles our social media behind the scenes, and she posts at least once a week, if not two to three times a week,” Jones says. “It could be something as simple as Earth Day or it could be one of our projects. It’s something that keeps the customers really engaged.”
