People say it is an art, but it’s not really is it. It is something very, very simple. Especially now given the plethora of ways we are able to get in contact with each other. Yet, in an age of super-communication, this now very instant task still seems impossible to master by some double glazing companies.
It was only recently that I was speaking to a customer where they told me of their difficulties in managing to establish a decent communications channel with a previous double glazing company they had used. They only wanted to report a minor issue, but when no phone calls were received after a prolonged period of time, their patience ran out. Needless to say they didn’t give that company any more of their business. I constantly rack my brain as to why companies continue to do this.
If you are a window company with an office, showroom and staff, how hard can it be to run a working after sales department? At our place, we pride ourselves on running an incredibly tight ship when it comes to remedial work. We are blessed to have an absolute genius of a service engineer who is worth his weight in gold. But the system we have is slick. If someone reports a problem, their complaint is usually recorded, booked and dealt with in less than 3 days if the issue is straightforward. We have even own business in the past because people in our area know we are a company that deals with problems should they arise. And that in itself speaks volumes. Winning business because we deal with service calls – how bad must others be?
Communication is one of the utmost foundations of a good double glazing business. Our reputation portrays an industry that never contacts customers when they need to. It seems such a non-issue when there are such bigger problems in the industry right now. But the lack of quality communication to it’s customers is what is doing so much damage to so many double glazing companies out there.
The problem of communication isn’t just restricted to the consumer. B2B sometimes has major problems with communication. Given the numerous ways to get in touch with installers, I still hear of far too many instances of issues arising simply because of a forgotten phone call or email that was never sent.
Communication doesn’t have to be an art, but it could be if you wanted it to be. It is becoming more widely accepted that the more creative communication is, the more engaging it will be. Take the rise of e-marketing for example. I see so many more funky and fresh looking emails in my inbox now that I do genuinely spend time to look at. So if we’re going to contact people, lets try and do it in a way that grabs their attention. But get the basics right first.
