client satisfaction

Ep.151: What Were They Thinking? with Victoria Downing and Mark Harari

May 7, 2021 Business Management, Sales 00:34:01

Successful communication with new or potential customers can make or break a company’s image. 

Alongside communication, ensuring that any preconceived notions or assumptions are put aside when working with a new customer can be crucial in securing their business.

Victoria and Mark both share experiences with remodeling and trade companies that left them bringing their business elsewhere.  This is easily avoidable, and in this episode they talk about how communication plays a large part in having a successful business. 

Whether it’s poor communication or a lack thereof entirely, learn how to ensure that your business does not leave customers saying, “what were they thinking?”

Victoria and Mark talk more about:

  • The importance of being personable
  • How to facilitate good communication
  • Advice for following-up
  • And more…

Get on the Waitlist for the 2021 Remodelers Summit in Phoenix

We are very excited to announce that after more than a year of virtual conferences and canceled events, we are holding the Annual 2021 Remodelers Summit LIVE and In-person at the luxurious Arizona Grand Resort & Spa, in Phoenix, Arizona, on September 22, 2021. We will launch registration on May 19, 2021, but if you’d like to join our waitlist, we will guarantee you a spot at this event and offer you the lowest pre-sale special pricing of $500 off the standard registration fee. So, sign up today!

Sign Up For the Summit Waitlist Here

Ep.97: The Magic of Disney’s Customer-Service Strategies with Pete Blank

January 29, 2020 Business Management, Marketing, Public Relations 00:35:18

If you’ve ever visited any Disney theme park across the globe, you may think nobody does customer service and experience like Disney. Although the execution is complex, the baseline concepts are quite simple. 

In this episode, Pete Blank shares customer-service strategies from Disney with Victoria and Mark, and shows you how to apply these lessons to your remodeling company to boost your own team’s customer-service performance. 

Pete has been developing leaders and improving service levels of organizations for the past 25 years — 13 of those with the Walt Disney Co. and the past 12 in local government. He loves inspiring others with ways to enhance their organizational culture. You can learn more about Pete Blank at his website: www.peteblank.com, or on his LinkedIn page. 

Growing up near Disney World in Orlando, Pete says he knew he always wanted to work there. After a few years as a sportscaster in Alabama, Pete went to Florida and began working at Disney World. He and his wife and family moved back to Alabama and he got what he saw as a temporary job in local government, where he still uses those customer-service strategies. The biggest challenges to providing outstanding customer service and experiences are speed and expectations. Technology has changed the speed and convenience with which goods and services can be delivered. You have to align your clients’ expectations with what you can actually deliver. Pete talks about how you and your team can consistently offer the best service possible, including:

  • The difference between customer service and customer experience
  • How social media amplifies all experiences —good and bad
  • Making customer service part of you mission statement
  • Looking for what “above and beyond” looks like in the future
  • Making the experience consistent 
  • How emotional connections create relationships
  • Bringing creativity to customer experiences
  • How to measure your customer-service success
  • The power of follow-up surveys
  • And more …

Pete says remodeling can emulate the magical experiences of Disney — your clients are choosing to transform their spaces, and helping them through that can be a transforming experience for their homes and their lives.

Ep.89: Focusing on Clarity in Communication with Jeremy Steinruck

November 20, 2019 Business Management, Human Resources, Sales 00:29:33

We’re under an almost-constant barrage of information from every angle. As leaders in our business, it’s imperative that our messages are clearly understood. But it’s equally important, if not more so, that we get messages clearly. 

Looking ahead to 2020, Jeremy Steinruck is focusing on clarity in communication and cutting through the white noise.  

In this episode, Jeremy discusses how to make your communication skills better with Victoria and Mark, what it will take, and how it will help your business and your life.

Jeremy is co-owner and vice president of Axis Construction in Wichita Falls, TX, a company he and partner Jeff Miller started 13 years ago. Jeremy holds a master’s degree in human resource management, but he is most thankful for the influence of incredible mentors and friends who have shared their wisdom freely. 

Learning to be a better communicator is possible, even if it’s not in your native skillset. Jeremy says the first part, for him, was getting rid of his “head trash.” He had to get rid of limiting beliefs, only hang on to ideas that could be proven true, eliminate his assumptions of what someone else believes, and not let any of those things influence his decisions. He talks about how to get past that, and boost your communication and listening skills, including:

  • The basic rules of engagement
  • Facing fears
  • Placing yourself in someone else’s comfort zone
  • How to plan your conversations
  • Understanding you can’t convince someone else
  • Asking questions to get to others’ needs
  • Setting goals at the beginning of the conversation
  • Communicating with intent
  • The four things to do before having a tough conversation
  • And more …

Two of the biggest barriers to effective communication are distraction and selfishness, and Jeremy says that recentering and concentrating on your core values will help you get over them.

Ep.76: [Unscripted Back-Up] Managing Your Customers with Chip Doyle

August 14, 2019 Business Management, Production, Sales 00:38:02

It’s time for another Unscripted Back-Up. It’s a chance to revisit some of our best and most informative episodes. They’re jam-packed with information you can use — so if you missed it the first time around, here’s your chance to catch up.

This is one of our most popular episodes, and digs in to a part of your remodeling business that few people really consider — managing your clients. 

If you — and especially your designers — aren’t managing those customers you’re wasting time and losing out on potential profits, says Chip Doyle.

In this episode, Victoria, Mark and Chip discuss how to speed up the hand off from design to production. Effectively managing client expectations, setting clear goals and deadlines, and guiding clients intentionally, gets you out of having projects park in design and selections. 

Chip has been in the sales industry for 29 years, and training with Sandler for nearly 17 years. He’s a sought-after speaker and co-authored Selling to Homeowners The Sandler Way. Chip has a licensed training center and trains companies of all sizes in Pleasant Hill, CA, helping them reach their full potential, exceed expectations and continue to grow.

Empowering designers to guide, and ultimately lead, clients through the design process can increase your profits by 25 percent. Some of the ways to get there include:

  • Cutting design time in half, without cutting corners
  • Giving designers the right role models
  • Managing “genius attacks”
  • Setting clear meeting goals and timely next steps
  • The importance of deadlines — for clients
  • Getting projects through that would otherwise stall
  • The traits to look for in a designer — toss the DISC assessment
  • And much more …

Need More Help?

If your designers, project managers, and other customer-facing team members need guidance on how to deliver excellent client services effectively, Chip is leading a course, Client Management Training for Designers & Architects, to address it all. It’s not a sales course, it’s specifically designed to give your team members the skills they need to get selections and designs past the bottleneck and into production, while creating and excellent customer experience.

Ep.70: The Most Important Part of a Remodeling Project with Robert Kauffman

July 3, 2019 Business Management, Sales 00:24:14

So many things go into a successful remodeling project — the design, the materials, the actual build — but what’s really the most important part? It’s your client. 

Remodeling a home can change your clients’ lives. Robert Kauffman says the secret to a successful remodel is working upfront to get to know your clients to the greatest extent possible.

In this episode, Robert shares his story with Victoria and Mark, and how and why he gets to know his clients so well. Getting to know your clients takes asking questions — and listening to the answers. 

Robert is the owner of Kauffman Design Services in Atlanta, GA. He’s worked with architectural firms, as a remodeling contractor, and currently as a remodeling designer. He has never taken for granted the trust it takes for clients to open their lives up to him. 

On his first remodeling project, Robert realized that digging for answers from clients helped him understand how the clients wanted to live in their home. Each client has a unique story, Robert says, and getting them to open up to tell it is vital to understanding their real goals. He talks about how to get the answers you want, including:

  • His book of 1,000 questions
  • Why asking what people do in their bedrooms isn’t creepy 
  • How different people use identical homes
  • Guiding clients to direct the project
  • How family dynamics affect the questions and final designs
  • Observing the non-verbal clues and cues
  • Putting all the details together at the end
  • How long it takes, and how to do it
  • And more …

The more you understand your clients’ lives, and how they live in the home you’re remodeling, the better your projects will be.

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MASTER NAVIGATION

This website is part of the Remodelers Advantage Network.

Visit our other properties: