Spring finds me on the road quite a bit. Personal travels with Nina, onsite consulting, and facilitating Remodelers Advantage Rountable meetings brings me to different hotels across the U.S. and the world. The housekeeping varies a lot from hotel to hotel. Often, every day finds the same routine being followed. It’s nice when that happens, as I find it creates a sense of hospitality.
Recently, we had an extended stay at a hotel for a personal trip. The first four or so days, the housekeeping was consistent. Things were organized in the same manner from day to day. You knew where to find items like the garbage receptacle or clean glasses.
Then the circus started. Every day it seemed there was a different person doing the house work. Sometimes there were no glasses, other times there was one. We found ourselves playing “Let’s find the garbage can” day after day. And so on. We spoke with the front desk a couple of times. They were as frustrated as we were.
Why am I telling you about this? The same thing can happen with a remodeling company.
Sales (the front desk) makes promises to the client about what is going to happen and what the experience will be like. A lot is not articulated, so the client assumes some things will be the norm, like consistency.
Production (like the housekeeping staff) sometimes is not aware of the promises made by the sales team and make different assumptions than the client and/or provides a different experience depending on who is on the job that day.
What happens to the client’s impressions of the company? It gets less positive as the days pass.
What do they tell their friends about working with the company? That they wish they felt like they made a different choice because they wanted consistency, not a circus.
Make sure all who work in your company know what the experience of the client is supposed to be, step by step, and day by day. Nailing that will get you more work. Missing the mark will not. It’s not rocket science, but it is hard to pull this off. Get focused and keep improving.