When customers come in or call us about a wrap project, they typically have many questions. It’s not what they specialize in, and wraps aren’t inexpensive, so clarification of questions is expected.
A big part of customer service is proving your knowledge and experience. A customer wants to know we’ll take care of them. Do I know everything about wraps? Of course not. But I do have a solid base of knowledge and the install experience to back it, which means I can provide the customer with answers to their questions or find the answers if needed.
“I can tell you know what you’re talking about.” We hear that a lot. It’s not bragging; it’s customer service. It’s our job to know what we’re talking about. Quite often, when we’re explaining something to our customers, it’s while we’re standing over their car. I’ll visually show them how we’ll stretch over a corner, tuck in the vinyl, or trim in a particular area. I’ll point out where there may be a seam or where we’ll have to cut around a hinge or other obstacle. I want them to visualize what they’re getting so they’re comfortable working with us.
If you’re going to sell wraps, you should have a solid understanding of the wrapping process — what parts you’ll need to remove, how you’ll work around obstacles, how the artwork will lay on the vehicle, and how long you’ll need the car. It would help if you also had ready answers on material features, media and installation warranties, and proper ways to take care of the wrap after it’s finished.
Once our pool was replastered, the pool company stuck a sheet of paper to our sliding glass door and texted a photo of it to my phone. It said we needed to start filling the pool at nine o’clock that night and to call them when it was full. It also had a bunch of information on chemical balances and that we had to start brushing the pool twice a day, every day for a week, or there would be staining on the bottom of the pool. Uh, OK.
We rush-ordered a pool brush from Amazon because they didn’t say anything about brushing ahead of time. We called our pool maintenance guy and asked him about all this chemical balancing, which he said would be nearly $400 for him to do. It turns out the pool plaster company did this, but that also wasn’t explained. We also had to ask about when we could put the pool sweep back in, why there was staining around the drains when we had followed instructions, and why there was still silicone all over the tile border they were supposed to have cleaned.
We felt like the company assumed we had the knowledge we didn’t and did a poor job explaining the aftercare. Despite promising early customer service and good communication after we didn’t hear from them for two months, the project ended on a bit of a sour note because of the lack of professional communication.
If we had to do it all over again, we would have sought even more quotes, and I won’t offer up a positive review or referral to them. It was a lukewarm experience.
That’s not what I want my customers to receive from our company. I want them to come in feeling that they’re being heard, that we follow through on our promises, that we’re knowledgeable and experienced, and that we will take care of them again on the next job. Because that’s the point — to earn the repeat business and to grow our business.
