huggytree
04-22-2012, 08:22 AM
i lost my biggest customer last Fall....i feel it was due to price...i started working for them 2 years earlier and it was due to ME being cheaper than their regular plumber....so i know price is always important....they werent the easiest to work for and payed 30 days late(but always payed)...i was happy to work for them, but my price reflected their way of doing business....
i was upset when they quit calling.....and noticed she was always 'very busy' when i tried to call her to talk about new projects..........i decided to just let it go
6 months later she called w/ a bid for a friend of a customer that i did work for......she later told me that we didnt get the job..
2 weeks later she calls me for an emergency call and needs me the next morning for a job i know nothing about....she got herself into something and her current plumber couldnt help her i guess.....well it just so happened to be a day i had a project i couldnt get out of...so she said 'ok ill get back to you then'..
in the past ive always JUMPED when she needed me in an emergency....i saw it as good customer service for a good customer....now she wants me to JUMP again for her when im not her plumber anymore.......ive had this issue before....ex-customers who keep me on their list for emergencies... i typically dont JUMP for ex-customers.....why work long hours or screw up my schedule to make a couple hundred when they are giving the 10's of thousands to someone else with poor customer service, but a cheaper price
im almost offended and feel they are just 'using' me instead of having a business relation ship with me
should i handle these 'emergency' calls for ex-customers???? even if it means time away from my family and putting off steady customers to handle their emergencies???.....my feeling is i only do these emergencies for steady customers as a perk.....
should i call her and let her know that the emergency Perk is part of being a steady customer of mine???? and that she needs to hire a plumber with better customer service again....and not just price....
she is on my flier list again...so she gets a flier every 4 months...it lets her know i want her back....
how should i handle this? i feel it may be possible to win her back....she dd not fit my typical customer model as she never wanted to become a friend...she always kept things very 'business' like......i am typically friends with ALL my customers
i was upset when they quit calling.....and noticed she was always 'very busy' when i tried to call her to talk about new projects..........i decided to just let it go
6 months later she called w/ a bid for a friend of a customer that i did work for......she later told me that we didnt get the job..
2 weeks later she calls me for an emergency call and needs me the next morning for a job i know nothing about....she got herself into something and her current plumber couldnt help her i guess.....well it just so happened to be a day i had a project i couldnt get out of...so she said 'ok ill get back to you then'..
in the past ive always JUMPED when she needed me in an emergency....i saw it as good customer service for a good customer....now she wants me to JUMP again for her when im not her plumber anymore.......ive had this issue before....ex-customers who keep me on their list for emergencies... i typically dont JUMP for ex-customers.....why work long hours or screw up my schedule to make a couple hundred when they are giving the 10's of thousands to someone else with poor customer service, but a cheaper price
im almost offended and feel they are just 'using' me instead of having a business relation ship with me
should i handle these 'emergency' calls for ex-customers???? even if it means time away from my family and putting off steady customers to handle their emergencies???.....my feeling is i only do these emergencies for steady customers as a perk.....
should i call her and let her know that the emergency Perk is part of being a steady customer of mine???? and that she needs to hire a plumber with better customer service again....and not just price....
she is on my flier list again...so she gets a flier every 4 months...it lets her know i want her back....
how should i handle this? i feel it may be possible to win her back....she dd not fit my typical customer model as she never wanted to become a friend...she always kept things very 'business' like......i am typically friends with ALL my customers