A Tale of Plumbing

This past week had me thinking about "customer relations."  I often find myself on the receiving end of business, and it really doesn't take much to make or break the experience.  A few companies I dealt with recently illustrate this.

On Thursday my wife took off for a wild party at a water park, including an overnight stay, with a gaggle of Girl Scouts.  It seems the bar has been lowered for what passes as "camping" these days.  Roughing it means sleeping on a sofa bed instead of the usual Tempur-Pedic mattress, and forgetting your swim goggles is a wilderness disaster  However, disaster can strike at home as well.  As my wife backed out of the garage, she sent me a cheery text, "The water heater is leaking!  I'll see you tomorrow night!"

"Water heater" and "leaking" are two phrases that when taken together rate fairly high on the "chilling" meter.  (If they rate high on the "heating" meter as well, turn off your tank's gas supply immediately.)  I started calling around to plumbers, and in the process I made a few observations on customer relations.

First, it surprised me how many plumbers didn't answer their phone.  I suspect that some or all of them were small one-person operations, but that was all it took for me to move on to the next phone number.  If they were drowning in business (no pun intended) then it probably didn't matter, but otherwise, being available is probably rule #1 in customer relations.

1. Be Available (duh)

Second, one company surprised me by refusing to give a quote until they came out in person.  This was for replacing our home's pressure regulator, a necessary prerequisite to repairing the water heater and a simple, common, straight-forward job that should have had a standard price.  Worse, they weren't available until the evening of the following day.  No one else had a problem giving a quick quote over the phone, so that company immediately lost the potential business as well.  Lesson #2: be helpful and informative, rather than a hindrance.

2. Be Helpful

Third.  I finally got one company to replace the water pressure regulator, and later the original company who had installed the water heater to come out and inspect it.  The first plumber was friendly, open, and even suggested it was a simple job that he could walk me through if I wanted to do it myself and save some money.  The second plumber was a bit shady, quoted a price that was suspiciously high, and quickly dropped the price 30% when I expressed hesitation at the amount.  Far from hooking me, the price drop made me suspect I was dealing with a scammer.

I went back to the original, honest-seeming plumber to get a second opinion. His price came in lower than the shady plumber's original estimate, but higher than the lowered price.  I went with him anyway, because I preferred to deal with an honest person.

Customers can sense your intentions.  The technicalities of the interaction or resolution aside, the impression you leave can be far more valuable.  Think long-term: is ticking off your customer and losing their business, not to mention the negative word-of-mouth, worth sticking to your policy or proving you're right?

3. Think Long-Term