How businesses are keeping clients happy out in the field
For businesses that have a lot of clients out in the field, or a lot of casework, there are many concerns and considerations which are always going to be a vital part of all that. It’s important that clients are kept happy and that they receive the kind of experience they are hoping for, because that is best for them and it also means that the company itself is going to have so much more success as well. So on the whole, you need to make sure that you are doing all you can to keep your clients as happy as possible out in the field.
In this post, we are going to discuss some of the ways that businesses are doing that. All of the following are going to be well worth thinking about, and will help to ensure that those businesses continue to serve their clients well, and that they have the best chance of success going forward.
Punctuality
One of the simplest and most important things is to ensure that we are being as punctual as possible for clients. Whether visiting them in the home or in some other setting, being on time sets a good precedent, and it ensures that people are much more likely to actually appreciate the service. On the other hand, when there is a lot of trouble with timing, it already paints a business in a poor light, and it can mean that there is going to be difficulty with the client from the first moment.
It might seem as though being punctual is simple enough to achieve, but a lot of things get in the way of this. Much of that is actually out of our control. So the solution is often to under-promise – give a timeframe which is a little wider and more likely to be fulfilled, rather than a specific narrow timing. This is often the best way to make sure that clients are seen on time, and they will be so much less frustrated when this approach is followed on the whole. It’s a really simple change in procedure that can make a huge difference to levels of satisfaction when dealing with clients out in the field.
Managing workload
This goes hand in hand with being punctual, because as long as you are managing your workload properly, you are much more likely to get to the next client on time. So a big thing that a lot of businesses are having to focus on is knowing how to manage workloads for employees, and this can be somewhat trickier with field work than it is when everyone is in the same workplace like an office environment. Nonetheless, there are some steps that we can follow in order to succeed here too.
Generally, it’s about having some kind of technological assistance in place which everyone in the business who needs it has access to. That can be something like BuildOps field service software, for instance, which can be used to organize who is doing what and when, and can be used to make sure that all work is done on time and in the manner it needs to be. That kind of software can prove invaluable, so it’s something that a lot of businesses are needing to think about getting hold of right now, if they don’t already have it in place.
Beyond that, workload management is all about having both a micro and a macro view on things that are going on in the business. If you can achieve that, you are going to find that clients are so much happier with the whole process, and that employees are less stressed out. It really does help things along nicely.
Focus on honesty
Honesty is perhaps the most important quality that a business can showcase towards clients out in the field, because it levels the playing field and shows that they are being upfront with them. That proves to be important if anything doesn’t quite go to plan, because the client can then believe you when you say that you are doing everything you can to fix the problem. There is really no good reason not to be fully honest with clients at all times, so this is something that should be considered a vital and essential part of the process of dealing with those clients.
Of course, in order to make sure that this is paid attention to, there should be a focus within the business on its importance, and it needs to be talked about. Managers can’t actually be there all the time when employees are out dealing with clients, but they can provide frameworks and then trust those to the employees, and of course can usually gauge from the feedback whether or not people are being honest.
All in all, honesty is just the best approach to take when dealing with people, and it’s going to help keep things simple and just as they should be. So businesses that deal with people out in the field need to consider this as an essential part of the process.
Building rapport
There is a lot to be said for trying to build rapport with clients, because the more effectively it is done, the more likely it is that those clients are going to be fully happy with the service. In fact, building rapport is a very simple thing, and the kind of thing that can come naturally to a person if they are simply relaxed and engaging with clients in a normal, friendly and human manner. The main thing to bear in mind here is that rapport is what gets built up when two people recognise in each other a lot of the same qualities or preferences – and these can almost always be discovered in two people, no matter how different they might seem at first.
But even before that, and much simpler, it’s just about being friendly and upfront, and being personable. If managers can train their employees to do that, it’s going to go a long way to improving the experience for the clients, and it’s really amazing how much this can help overall. So it’s something to think about as an addition to everything else that happens on the job.
Be communicative
Keeping the lines of communication well and truly open at all times is another really important way to keep people happy. It’s all about showing that you are there for them, and the more effectively this is done, the more that clients really feel they are getting a service they can trust and be happy with. It’s quite amazing what a difference this kind of thing can actually make, in fact, and being communicative with clients is important in so many circumstances that it would be unwise to ignore its importance.
A lot of this comes down to being transparent and honest, which we have discussed above. But it’s also a matter of replying to requests and queries promptly, and doing what one promises in terms of delivering solutions to problems that may arise. When this is done, it’s going to mean that clients trust the business a lot more, and that is obviously going to be hugely relevant in keeping them happy in the long run as well.
Focus on needs
Keeping the clients’ needs at the forefront of everything you do – that could be an ideal definition of customer service, and it’s certainly one that we should focus on trying to achieve as much as possible. If this is done in a business out in the field, it’s going to mean that the clients are so much more likely to appreciate the service, and that they will genuinely feel that they have been taken care of, which is the feeling that you will want them to have above all. But to do this requires that they are being listened to in the first place, so that you can discern what their needs are.
With the right training, employees should be able to do that, and it should become a normal part of their job that happens automatically. Once that starts happening, it’s going to lead to a huge change in how things play out, and your business is going to start having so many more happy customers in no time. It’s amazing how much it can really help things along in that sense.
Deliver more
All in all, this is all just about delivering more. As long as the client is getting more out of the business and the service, they are going to be happy. This is a kind of focus that should really be maintained as well as possible, because it will make a huge difference to how your clients are going to feel. It’s absolutely the kind of thing that should always be possible to achieve, however, so make sure that this is kept in mind as much as possible as well.