Quality control might sound like industry jargon and tough to wrap your head around, especially when you’re juggling so many daily tasks. But it’s incredibly important and easier than you think.
Let’s dive in and demystify it, making your business shine even brighter!
1. Keeping Customer Service Top-notch
Customer service isn’t just about answering phones. It’s about ensuring every interaction leaves a positive impression. How do you ensure this?
- Feedback Surveys: After each job, send a quick feedback form. It can be a short questionnaire or even a single question: “On a scale from 1-10, how was our service today?”
- Mystery Shoppers: Once in a while, have someone you trust pretend to be a customer. Get their honest feedback on how they were treated.
- Regular Training: Monthly or quarterly refresher courses for your customer service team can make a huge difference. Remember, happy customers lead to repeat business and referrals!
2. Ensuring Field Quality: Office to Outdoors
The backbone of your service isn’t in the office; it’s with those hard-working techs out in the field. But how do you make sure they’re doing their best?
- Spot Checks: Randomly visit job sites. This keeps everyone on their toes and helps you directly observe the quality of work.
- Tech Checklists: Before they wrap up, have your techs complete a quick checklist. This ensures all steps of the dispatched service have been covered.
- Customer Feedback: Again, customer feedback isn’t just for your office staff. They can provide valuable insights into how techs are performing on-site.
3. Handling Callbacks with Grace
First things first, the word ‘callback’ can sometimes lead to a mix-up. For many in the industry, a ‘callback’ often signifies the necessity to return to a customer’s home to fix or revisit an issue linked to an earlier service provided.
This is particularly common when there might be post-service issues or follow-up tasks. However, in a broader communication context, ‘call back’ can also simply denote the act of returning a missed phone call from a customer. It’s essential to clarify these definitions within your team and with your clients to prevent any potential misunderstanding or miscommunication.
Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s admit that nobody likes callbacks, but they’re a reality in our line of work. That said, handling them well can turn a potentially negative experience into a positive one.
- Set Clear Policies: Define when a call back is free and when it’s chargeable. Ensure all staff are aware of this. Here are some circumstances where a callback might not be free:
- Beyond Warranty or Guarantee Period: Many service providers offer a warranty or guarantee for a specified period after the service is completed. If a callback request falls outside of this period, there might be a charge.
- Different Issue: If a customer calls back regarding a new issue that wasn’t related to the original service, it could be treated as a new service request and thus might not be free.
- Negligence or Misuse: If the issue arose because of negligence or misuse on the customer’s part after the initial service was completed, then you could potentially charge for the callback.
- Agreed-Upon Terms: Sometimes, the terms of service might explicitly mention certain conditions or scenarios under which callbacks would be chargeable. However, these conditions or scenarios must be clear to both your techs and the customer.
- Fast Response: Try to address callbacks within 24 hours. The quicker you can resolve an issue, the better.
- Feedback Loop: After handling a callback, ask the customer for feedback. Was the issue resolved? Were they satisfied with the response?
4. Document, Document, Document!
If you’re not documenting, you’re missing out on learning opportunities. But where to start?
- Digital Tools: Use simple CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools to log every customer interaction, from the first call to job completion and any callbacks.
- Regular Reviews: Weekly or monthly, review the logs. Look for patterns. Are there common complaints? Praise for a specific team member?
- Share with the Team: Every month, share key insights from your documentation with the team. Celebrate the wins and learn from the misses.
There you have it, wonderful business owners! Quality control isn’t about nitpicking or pointing fingers. It’s about continuous process improvement and ensuring our customers get the absolute best every single time.
How Pink Callers Can Help
Feeling overwhelmed with all of these? Pink Callers Customer Service Rockstars (CSRs) can man the scheduling and customer service front while you handle the more important stuff. You do what you do best while your CSR handles:
- Phone Services: Answer all inbound calls & make associated outbound calls & tasks each week.
- CRM Input: All leads are placed into your CRM.
- Email Monitoring: Receiving and responding to all Emails.
- Tools & Communication: Trello for all your information, and Slack to connect your team.
- Management & Oversight: Training and support of your CSR by a leadership team.
Reach out to us today to learn more about how our CSRs can help you grow your business, and stand out in the industry. Call us on (888) 325-7465 or fill out the Contact Form to find out how Pink Callers can help your Home Service Business.