Taking notes on customers for marketing purposes...

[B&BGaryC]

What categories do you put customers in? Notes for your information so you know what to anticipate, and notes so you know what to market.

As of now we flag customers as nice customers if they are one of our favorites, and we give these people priority. We flag people as picky if they are picky. Most of the time the nice customers are flagged as picky too, so it's not a negative thing, it just helps us remember to check all the details twice. We also flag customers as talkers so we know to schedule an extra 15-20 minutes for talk time. We flag people as referral sources if they talk about us a lot to others or are in a position to influence a group of people.

I was thinking of also flagging people in the system for extra work. Make a note if they have upholstery, leather, oriental rugs, tile or stone, stone countertops etc. etc. etc. When we want a bunch of tile work we can mail only to the customers who have tile, when we want leather, mail to the houses that have leather etc.

What sort of flags would you have. I am putting a coded checkbox system down the side of our estimate sheet so we can make sure to flag every customer for potential future sales and for helpful categories. Any suggestions on categories or items for checkboxes?

 

[Royal Man]

Keeping notes that are snippy comments. Are too subjective, petty, rude on your part and a waste of time.

(A client acting picky could be due to bad training of the tech.)

Notes should be marketing related, Marketing to pet owners, parents of young children, Tile, allergy, etc...

Clients can also be ranked for their buying frequency and amount of sale.


An easy solution can be to simply mail to groups based on their past buying habits.

If you categorize your services in your database it's simple (Which means It might get done)

For instance, if they bought pet deodorizer before send them marketing related to their needs.

 

[joe harper]

I just FLAGGED ...you TWO....as IdIoT'S..... :roll:


Gary...

Did you ever live in LinColN.... :?:

Do you have ..NIgHtMaReS.. of a STRANGE MAN with a BUcKeT...
kNocKinG on the Bathroom door while you were in the TUB.................... :shock: :shock:

 

[prestige cleaner]

i like that idea, makes remembering previous cleaning go smoother for the next time...

 

[B&BGaryC]

I just FLAGGED ...you TWO....as IdIoT'S..... :roll:


Gary...

Did you ever live in LinColN.... :?:

Do you have ..NIgHtMaReS.. of a STRANGE MAN with a BUcKeT...
kNocKinG on the Bathroom door while you were in the TUB.................... :shock: :shock:

No... No! Say it isn't true! That's what those dreams are all about!

 

[B&BGaryC]

Keeping notes that are snippy comments. Are too subjective, petty, rude on your part and a waste of time.

(A client acting picky could be due to bad training of the tech.)

Notes should be marketing related, Marketing to pet owners, parents of young children, Tile, allergy, etc...

Clients can also be ranked for their buying frequency and amount of sale.


An easy solution can be to simply mail to groups based on their past buying habits.

If you categorize your services in your database it's simple (Which means It might get done)

For instance, if they bought pet deodorizer before send them marketing related to their needs.

The first screen I get when I enter a customer is a list of customizable check boxes. It's easy. You're a twit if you don't customers can be classified as good customers and a waste of time. You're a ninny if you think people can't be classified as talkers, "detail oriented" (picky) or referral sources (steve toburen's "cheerleaders")

So what if it's subjective. So is cleaning frequency. People who have a lot of change going on in their life get cleaning done more often. Once their life gets back on an even keel they may tone down on the cleaning or think that regular cleanings are a waste of time and money.

When somebody follows you around and asks questions like, "how long have you been doing this?, did you already clean that? Don't you have something in that kit over there that will take this out?, could you try that again? What's this spot here?"

They are not picky. They think you are an F-ing moron or they think all carpet cleaners are morons. These people might even be rude to you. That's not what I am talking about. Some people are "detail oriented" and it is good to know. These people are usually extremely nice because they know that they expect more than most and they feel bad for asking for more but it doesn't change their need for perfection. It is important to know this about a person. In fact these people that know they are picky will never shut up about how much they love your company if you cater to their need for perfection. To you it may be snarky, to a customer it might be offensive, but in this case they don't ever have to know about it.

 

[Royal Man]

I treat all clients the same and find no need to make notes on my client's personality traits. I'm just a carpet cleaner not a psychologist or life trainer for my clients.

An experienced salesperson will not see personality traits of clients as an obstacle but rather as an opportunity.

Maybe some more sales training will help you to develop these people skills people.

 

[B&BGaryC]

I treat all clients the same and find no need to make notes on my client's personality traits. I'm just a carpet cleaner not a psychologist or life trainer for my clients.

An experienced salesperson will not see personality traits of clients as an obstacle but rather as an opportunity.

Maybe some more sales training will help you to develop these people skills people.

Did you read what I wrote Yoakster?

I see picky customers as a very valuable opportunity because we can finally give them the perfection they are looking for. I know this is something most my competitors can't do. In order to keep from getting frustrated I imagine when I ask a question on mikeysboard I am walking out into a field and asking a question to a 1 1/2 story tall pile of retards. It helps me understand they type of response I get.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Profitable/Unprofitable

Not really fair to judge someone based on 1-2 hour experience, for all you know they could have just found they have a serious life problem. Nor would i care, 10% of the people you meet in this world are a little off.

 

[joe harper]

I treat all clients the same and find no need to make notes on my client's personality traits. I'm just a carpet cleaner not a psychologist or life trainer for my clients.

An experienced salesperson will not see personality traits of clients as an obstacle but rather as an opportunity.

Maybe some more sales training will help you to develop these people skills people.

DAVE......

A little TheRaPY...could'nt HURT your "sItUatIoN".... :idea:

Every since you had your "MARY KAY" post... :roll: (sorry brian)
Even your FREE ADVERTIZING garbage.."Holds NO water"...

"STEP AWAY FROM THE BaTh-TuB.....SIR" :!: :!: :!: :!: :!: :!:

Maybe you could help the "NAMBLA SITE" get some rEffEraLs... :shock:

 

[B&BGaryC]

Your gut will tell you a lot about customers. Every time your gut tells you that you should walk away and you don't you regret it.

That aside, I think the general consensus is DO NOT make notes on your customer based on how they treat people.

That leaves the question of what would be profitable to take notes on?

Dave mentioned to take notes on pets. Do you check dogs and cats or just pets?

Dave also apparently keeps track of whether they have young children. While that is probably even more important than if they have pets, I think keeping track of that information might make customers a lot more uneasy than just being labeled picky or nice or a talker.

I think taking a note if somebody is a referral source would be good so you could send updates about your referral program. I don't think that's arbitrary or emotional.

Definitely make sure to mark if they have tile and grout, leather, granite countertops, oriental rugs etc.

What about upholstery? do you figure if they don't have leather they have upholstery? What about draperies?

 

[Royal Man]

My experience is that homes with young children clean more frequently and have more reasons to clean than most clients.

(Kind of like homes with pets can have more reasons to clean.)

I've had hundreds of clients that were very good clients when their kids were in the spilling age that clean far less when the kids go to college.

 

[ACE]

You really tend to overthink things Gary. Start your own company or stop sweating the details.

 

[joe harper]

My experience is that homes with young children clean more frequently and have more reasons to clean than most clients.

(Kind of like homes with pets can have more reasons to clean.)

I've had hundreds of clients that were very good clients when their kids were in the spilling age that clean far less when the kids go to college.

"THIS IS AMAZING".... :shock:

Pick out ANY of .....Dave's post....And read it OUT-LOUD... :idea:

THEY ALL SOUND THE SAME...



"GIVE IT A REST"... :roll:

 

[joe harper]

You really tend to overthink things Gary. Start your own company or stop sweating the details.

AMEN...!!!!!!!

Sorry if I was RUDE to you Gary...

BUT......"I WAS ON THE PHONE"....

But you got my pOinT....right..?.... :shock: :mrgreen:



ps...Send me a "BILL"...if there was any dAmAgE to your "DJ equipment".... !gotcha!

 

[Shane Deubell]

Profitable and Unprofitable

and list some ideas to turn one into the other, who cares if the person is wacky or a jerk. Your job is to make money.

 

[Royal Man]

My experience is that homes with young children clean more frequently and have more reasons to clean than most clients.

(Kind of like homes with pets can have more reasons to clean.)

I've had hundreds of clients that were very good clients when their kids were in the spilling age that clean far less when the kids go to college.

"THIS IS AMAZING".... :shock:

Pick out ANY of .....Dave's post....And read it OUT-LOUD... :idea:

I'm from the midwest I don't have an accent.

THEY ALL SOUND THE SAME...



"GIVE IT A REST"... :roll: