kiss-resized-600Recently I had to get my transmission rebuilt. You see, I simply love love love my Durangos. My fourth one to date and one thing I know I can count on is at about 160,000 miles I will be rebuilding my transmission. So when I walked in to Fred’s shop (yes the names have been changed to protect the innocent) – I was shocked. A clean reception area where the coffee was actually made on the same day! OSHA SIGNS (heart be still…) stating only trained employees beyond certain points. Looking into the bays I swear I could eat off the floors. I started pinching myself thinking I was having one of those safety dreams again…  I was awoken by a pleasant voice greeting me making me feel welcome – not like an interruption.

My entire ordeal with Fred and his company could not have gone any better. My Durango and I are back together covering New England as we once dreamed we would. Yet something was missing. This emptiness inside. This wondering what I might have done to upset Fred started nagging at me. We had such a good time together. We got along so well. Yet something was still not right…

Then it hit me. I never got my KISS at the end of our time together.

You see he did everything absolutely perfect. His operation made me feel I came to the right place. Their work was done on time as promised and with no price surprises. When I picked up my baby to take home, I paid my bill gladly and left.  Did I have to keep to certain speeds for a few hundred miles?  No information on how to take care of this new item. Not a word on coming back at 12,000 miles to check for seal leakage. Will I ever hear from Fred again or was I used???

I go by his shop all the time as I head out to the highway wondering if he even remembers my name…

Can you see yourself as Fred in your customers mind? Sometimes we focus on first impressions and on producing our work the best we can and then drop the ball. Off to the next customer without barely stopping to think of how the customer is feeling at that moment. We nail the tough stuff and fail to see what is missing.

Your customer is about to lose his or her safety blanket. You are gone and might they be feeling a bit overwhelmed from the entire project? Thrilled to get their home back alone but perhaps worried a bit about what to do with their new space? How to take care of it? What type of cleaning products work best with it? Have you ever paid for something and wish someone sat down and reviewed how the item works best, what type of maintenance it requires and how to clean it?

Have you ever bought a computer or phone lately and been offered to purchase a service warranty?

Hopefully by now you are getting it. You provide services that are sometimes too complex for customers to take care of without training or in some cases might need YOU to do it on a periodical base. Other industries know this. I’ll bet your clients would appreciate their chance to rely on you to provide this for them – and believe it or not, they expect to pay for this.  Taking an hour or so to explain how to take care of your work, clean and maintain it proves they hired the pro they thought they did in the beginning. Remember how profitable referral work is? Think this might keep them talking about how GREAT you really are to their friends? How many of their friends had contractors who saw this as part of their responsibility?

SO yes my friends, KISS them to show them you really are the pro they thought you were.

Kisses,

Peter