The electrical industry in the US is competitive.
Just think of how many search results you get if you Google “electricians in my area”.
With so much competition, you’ll often only get one chance to earn a prospect’s trust and win them over…
These days, customer experience is the top key decision factor.
Earning customer trust is about a lot more than capping all your wires and doing your job: it’s about being reliable and making a positive impression every step of the way.
Imagine if you went to a nice restaurant, but the staff were rude and there was lipstick on your glass.
All that work the chef put in to making great food won’t make a difference if the experience is ruined elsewhere!
The same goes for the service you provide: every aspect of it should be optimised to run smoothly, and give customers a great experience.
This is easier to do when you methodically breakdown every touchpoint to think about what works and what doesn’t. Consider what you can do to improve these things, and optimising the customer journey will become a lot more manageable.
To help, we’ve listed 4 key aspects of your customer service experience that you should consider improving:
Keep Customers in the Loop at All Times
It’s a recent development owed mostly to how technology has changed the customer journey in general.
Before the Internet took over every industry, most interactions took place face-to-face or, at most, over the phone. There was a back-and-forth instant communication where the buyer and the seller met to agree on terms of service or purchase.
Simple, right?
The internet has transformed these face-to-face interactions into online ones and, despite what you might expect, “instant” lost its meaning.
Shopping is the best example: Online shopping takes away the experience of exchanging money for an item within the confines of a store and having immediate ownership of said product.
More often than not, customers pay in advance when shopping online and this is exactly what has created the cycle of confirmations people expect nowadays.
It’s not unusual to receive notifications for an item’s purchase, dispatch, travel itinerary, delivery, and pick-up, all in an attempt to reinforce the thought that you, the customer, are in the loop and in control.
A great way to grow your electrical business and increase customer trust is by making things as easy as possible, when it comes to scheduling, confirming, and informing people of any changes.
Don’t be tempted to tell your office staff to follow the Amazon rulebook and send an email or call for every little thing.
They’ll soon be overwhelmed and either send the wrong information and, therefore, alarm the customer, or forget to send anything at all and alarming them even further.
If you’re going to take inspiration from Amazon, then make sure to also use digital tools that enable automatic customer notifications.
This way, whenever there is an event impacting a person’s booking, they get informed.
Job booked? Confirmation sent automatically!
Technician is on the way? Notification and service window sent automatically!
Both your staff and your customers will reap the benefits!
According to Customer Think:
Focusing on each individual journey will give you a better understanding of the processes and how they influence your customers. As a result, you can identify any weak links and develop a feasible strategy to improve how customers interact with your business (and vice versa).
Show Customers Who Will Attend at their Home or Workplace
Uncertainty can be offputting, especially when it comes to opening up your home or workplace to strangers.
Being put a face to a name can be a big help in alleviating any anxiety people might have about someone visiting them for a job.
Peace of mind is one of the most precious commodities and an essential element of a remarkable customer journey.
If you want to grow your electrical business and earn customers’ trust, you can create a relationship before the tech even rings the doorbell. A technician profile portal can be sent ahead of an appointment so that customers can see exactly who is on their way.
With this tool, a customer can see a photo, name, and relevant details, like a tracking link, which lets them know how soon the engineer will arrive.
It’s much easier to feel confident about “Jake Marshall” than it is some nameless employee who may or may not turn up within a 5 hour window.
Train your Techs like You’re Training Salesmen
It’s unreasonable to expect technicians to be naturals at selling too. This is why helping them hone these soft skills is essential.
A polite, knowledgeable, smart-looking tech can make the difference between barely breaking even on a job and making a good profit.
A trained tech will know that most people will go for the average option when given choice. After all, not everyone can afford the most expensive solution, but no one will want the cheapest one either.
A good salesman also understands the value of projecting a professional image.
Using software, particularly as a tradesmen, will confirm that you know what you’re doing and shows that the company invests in staying up-to-date with digital tools, not just fancy cable crimpers.
Growing your electrical business requires investing in tools that make you more efficient and that help you stand out from the competition.
Be Prompt and Organize Your Documents
What’s worse than having to do paperwork? Having to deal with delayed documents and errors, of course!
And since this is paper, there’s no “undo” button once it’s sent out. It’s not just your admins that dislike the amount of paperwork that comes with having to manage an electrical contracting business, but your customers too!
Commercial partners, in particular, need safety certifications on hand and regular inspections to prove they’re fit to run their business, so delays and errors are an clear sign that you’re simply not a trustworthy electrician.
The bigger the contract or the residential project, the higher their expectations will be!
This includes your overall behavior as a business. A high-worth customer will pay close attention to details that an average person looking for someone to install a plug won’t and earning their trust, even before you do any work, is all the more vital.
This is why sending them timely documents, letting them know who is coming to assess the work needed, and building a relationship, is essential.
People buy from people and it’s much harder to switch electrical contractors once there’s a mutual respect at play.
However, all this sounds good in theory but how can your admin staff deal with the added workload? You’re almost hiring 1 admin for each technician and that’s no way to grow an electrical business if the revenue the latter brings has to pay for both their wages.
This is why using a technician profile portal, automatic confirmations, digital invoices and many other tools that are readily available—even for the least “techy” manager—is vital if they want to grow their electrical business.
Start Growing your Electrical Business with Software
All-in-all, what’s more trustworthy than a company who can prove that they’re keeping up with the times?
Explore how Commusoft’s electrical contractor software can support your business, helping you generate more revenue and achieve sustainable growth.
Schedule a call to learn more.
In the meantime, if you’d like to have an easy-to-follow guide in hand to grow your business further, download our free template of electrical generator proposal!
English (United States) 
English (UK)