huggytree
06-21-2009, 02:24 PM
I always believe in treating my top customers right....
if i score a very large/profitable project i take them & their spouse out for a $75 a person steak dinner
Sometimes I take their whole family out for a fishfry and do a family to family get to know each other (i find this a great way to make things MORE than just business)
I just took a customer ,his wife & 5 year old son to a amusement park for the day w/ my family (i also have a 5 year old boy).....i paid for everything we did...we rode rollercoasters together, our kids went on rides together..by the end of the day our sons were holding hands and running to the next ride. I had fun ramming him and his wife on the bumper cars....
The best thing i can do (and the hardest) is to find them work... ive passed customers to them whenever i can...i try to spread it around...these days its rare, so i do restuarants and amusement parks instead.
creating a friendship and not just a customer is the key to me holding onto most of my customers through this recession while most contractors are price shopping...i have barely lowered my prices while most plumbers are down to cost just to find work...im working 10 hour days for the 4th week in a row.
I had a supply house take me and my wife out to a special dinner a while back. it was a 'special' thing w/ a chef who cooks just for you(in front of you). he explains the special things he does to make his cooking better. My wife talked about it for weeks. The chef was a 'chef of the year in Milwaukee' several years in a row...very expensive im sure....This supply house has been screwing things up lately and the dinner is NOT in my decision process on whether to keep them or not....somehow it wasnt a personal experience for me....the wife says it was for her though.
i think the 'your family & my family' events i do makes it into a personal thing. not just business.
what special things do you do for a customer?
if i score a very large/profitable project i take them & their spouse out for a $75 a person steak dinner
Sometimes I take their whole family out for a fishfry and do a family to family get to know each other (i find this a great way to make things MORE than just business)
I just took a customer ,his wife & 5 year old son to a amusement park for the day w/ my family (i also have a 5 year old boy).....i paid for everything we did...we rode rollercoasters together, our kids went on rides together..by the end of the day our sons were holding hands and running to the next ride. I had fun ramming him and his wife on the bumper cars....
The best thing i can do (and the hardest) is to find them work... ive passed customers to them whenever i can...i try to spread it around...these days its rare, so i do restuarants and amusement parks instead.
creating a friendship and not just a customer is the key to me holding onto most of my customers through this recession while most contractors are price shopping...i have barely lowered my prices while most plumbers are down to cost just to find work...im working 10 hour days for the 4th week in a row.
I had a supply house take me and my wife out to a special dinner a while back. it was a 'special' thing w/ a chef who cooks just for you(in front of you). he explains the special things he does to make his cooking better. My wife talked about it for weeks. The chef was a 'chef of the year in Milwaukee' several years in a row...very expensive im sure....This supply house has been screwing things up lately and the dinner is NOT in my decision process on whether to keep them or not....somehow it wasnt a personal experience for me....the wife says it was for her though.
i think the 'your family & my family' events i do makes it into a personal thing. not just business.
what special things do you do for a customer?