Inspection: communication with the client
Technical note on inspection: communication with the client, with a focus on diagnosis, prevention and criteria applicable to professional pest management.
It is common to see that some pest control companies offer services or answer questions over the phone without knowing the place where a pest problem is supposedly occurring. Even if the person consulting is a person with sufficient knowledge to guide us about the pest that worries you, it is necessary to be able to know the complexity of the place, how the problem arises on the ground, what are the circumstances that are triggering it and other factors that will allow for an adequate diagnosis, an accurate budget and, finally, a job with good results.
Therefore, carrying out an inspection is essential to be able to know and resolve the needs of our clients. But there are other situations that also deserve close attention. In carrying out services already contracted, our operators or technicians are regularly visiting clients, buildings, factories, supermarkets and others, but in an unexpected moment a strong complaint arises or a client directly decides to change supplier and, without further explanation, hires another company.
Obviously the customer is dissatisfied because we are not providing good service. We have failed and we lose a client. What has happened? We have not been able to take advantage of the visits of our operators to remain alert and carry out the pest control tasks necessary to achieve the agreed control objectives.
Each visit to a client is an opportunity to carry out an inspection that allows us to evaluate the results of the actions implemented, to verify if new opportunities for pests arise, to establish the degree of client satisfaction, to find new business opportunities or to carry out actions to strengthen client loyalty. We must train each member of the company so that each visit to a client becomes an inspection that provides information beyond the fulfillment of routine tasks.
More than once clients complain about not knowing their supplier, since they normally only interact with the operators. You often hear: “I don't know your boss's face.” It is important that the owner of a company, or a manager or director, make a visit from time to time, which may be simply a courtesy visit or may be of an audit nature. These visits outside the usual routines of services, collections and other procedures, strengthen the supplier-client ties, significantly facilitating communication, the business relationship and, above all, strengthening the client's trust and loyalty.
When an operator is visiting a client, he must carry out the planned tasks, but he must also observe the state of order, maintenance and cleanliness of the establishment, evaluate the degree of cooperation on the part of the client and his employees, and evaluate to what extent the client may be satisfied or dissatisfied with the service we are providing.
Every time a technician or an operator of a pest control company is in a client's establishment, they must be aware of the importance of observing and reporting on many things that little by little are changing both in the sense of favoring the presence and activity of pests and of strengthening ties with the client through improvements in service.
Personnel changes, installation of new equipment, structural modifications, development of new products and many other circumstances occur that may mean new challenges, new problems or the need to rethink operational strategies already implemented. If we do not detect and evaluate them in a timely manner, we may be exposed to failure, that is, losing a valuable client.
A price increase is a good opportunity for the manager or owner of the pest control company to make a visit to the customer in which he can evaluate the degree of satisfaction with the perceived services, can offer improvements in the service and, in turn, will be in a friendly position to present any price changes that are necessary.
There are situations that cannot be dealt with by a simple email or message via operators. When the client receives the email he only manages to get angry and deny the increase; Maybe they will not only reject it but ask for quotes from the competition and thus we will have created the possibility of losing them as a client.
The initial inspection, courtesy visits, routine operational visits and audits are all opportunities to strengthen ties with customers and to identify and satisfy all their needs. They are all inspections that allow us to have complete and updated information about our clients, they help to know their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with what they receive from our company and thus we can reinforce the strategies that allow us to strengthen their loyalty.
The proper planning of each visit, having all the necessary tools and carrying it out with enough time, being able to access all the environments and equipment, must allow a correct evaluation of the present or potential pests to plan a successful work plan.