Spread the good words

Editor’s note: Chad Diller wrote this when he was marketing coordinator for Tomlinson Bomberger Lawn Care, Landscape & Pest Control. He is now account manager with Landscape Leadership, a sales and marketing agency for the green industry. This article pertains to his time at Tomlinson Bomberger.

If you’re a remarkable company, your clients are going to sing your praises from time to time. Positive comments will make their way into your inbox, mailbox and voicemail throughout the year. Does your company have a process to maximize the power of these comments?

If someone has something valuable to say about your team or company, don’t be afraid to use it. Get every ounce of worth out of those comments. At Tomlinson Bomberger, we learned over the years that the kind words of a happy client are an opportunity to inspire our team and validate our brand claims in a marketplace flooded with competitors.

Gather feedback.

Does your company struggle to gain positive feedback? After taking a hard look at your operation, you may realize that you need to be proactive to get positive client feedback. Clients are far more likely to communicate dissatisfaction than to sing your praises. The key to getting that kind of feedback is to deliberately ask for it in the right place at the right time.

One of the processes Tomlinson Bomberger put in place is to survey clients after certain projects are completed.

We send postage-paid survey cards with a space for the client to add specific comments. In addition to mail correspondence, one of our team members calls to ask questions about their satisfaction. Our company also uses a prominent Net Promoter Score inquiry on all invoices and statements. The question asks the client, “On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend our company to your family or friends?” Many times the client will also write a comment.

There are also many times clients send positive comments via email or tell one of our team members over the phone.

Our team knows that when a client tells us they’re happy, it’s time to spread the word. Emails are forwarded, invoices are copied and online reviews are passed along to those involved.

Promote the feedback.

Don’t be afraid to get maximum usage of client feedback. When a comment comes into our organization, we make a point to share it with our whole team.

Unique comments are displayed on a monitor in our crew room. Emails and notes are read aloud at company meetings.

The feedback gets filed into the client’s record in our database, and a copy goes in the personnel file of the team members responsible. A team member that inspires regular positive customer feedback is worth rewarding.

Be proud enough of positive feedback to share it publicly. Become known as an organization that celebrates the successes of a team that makes each client feel like a rarity instead of a commodity.

Anonymize the client in the review and post it online, mentioning your team members by name, even tagging them on social media when possible.

It’s amazing to see how followers will react to these kinds of posts. Just be sure to make the focus on praising your team and thanking your client.

Whether using it online or in printed materials, sharing client feedback can help your community see how you feel about having a team that focuses on amazing clients.