Chapter 11 · Part 4: Fulfillment & Finance
Customer Service
You're a stranger in their yard.
This chapter follows one visit from the customer's side: the waiting, the knock, the surprise halfway through, the last ten minutes and the two days after. Get those right and they book Your Window Washing Co again, and tell people.
Start the visit01
Most customers can't judge your work. They weren't trained in it, and the parts that matter most are often the parts they never see.
02
So they judge everything around it. Whether you showed up when you said. Whether you protected their yard. Whether you told them what was going on.
03
And they remember the end. A great job followed by a mess on the floor is remembered as the mess. The last ten minutes count double.
Through their eyes
The line is how uneasy a customer feels at each moment of the visit. Silence pushes it up. Turn on the messages you'll send and watch it settle.
How Dana feels
0 of 7 moments covered
1. Booked · Dana is thinking
"Did that actually go through? I don't even know what time."
Text to send
Hi Dana, it's Your Window Washing Co. You're booked for Thursday. Here's what to expect: we'll text the day before with an arrival window, and 30 minutes before we pull up. If you can, unlock the gate, move cars off the driveway and keep pets inside. Any questions, reply here.
Sending these by hand works for your first customers. Field-service apps send the booking, reminder, on-the-way and follow-up texts for you.
Before you touch a tool
Customers can't see a perfect technique, but they can see covers going down before you start. Tap each piece of the kit as you lay it down.
0 of 5 laid down. Cheap to buy, and the first thing customers notice.
The walk before the work
Most complaints start with a surprise. Two minutes at the start removes most of them, and the photos protect you if a customer later blames you for damage that was already there.
- 1
Walk it together
Two minutes, before any tools come out. The customer comes with you.
- 2
Say what you'll do and how long it takes
In plain words, with a finish time they can plan around.
- 3
Point out what's already there
Look for cracked concrete, dead patches, loose boards, broken heads and stains. Show them, and take dated photos.
- 4
Agree what "done" looks like
One sentence you both say yes to. That sentence is what the walk-through checks at the end.
The surprise
You're partway into Dana's job and find rot under the surface that the quote didn't include. Fixing it properly adds half a day and materials. What do you do?
When it goes wrong
Every business has a job go wrong eventually. Handled fast and honestly, it's often the job a customer tells people about, for the right reasons.
Tap the five moves in the order you'd do them.
You broke a sprinkler head
- 1
Not placed yet
- 2
Not placed yet
- 3
Not placed yet
- 4
Not placed yet
- 5
Not placed yet
Your on-the-spot limit
Decide now how much anyone working for Your Window Washing Co, you included, can spend making something right without a phone call. Small problems get fixed while the customer is still standing there.
$100
Fixes, discounts or extras up to $100, decided on the spot. Anything bigger, call first.
The last ten minutes
Never pack up and drive away. The final walk-through and the cleanup are what the customer remembers, and what they mention in the review.
The last impression. Tick each one before you leave.
Ask everyone
A day or two after the job, check in first. Then ask every customer for a review, the same way, with a link that takes them straight to it.
Find it in your Google Business Profile under "Ask for reviews".
The review ask
Hi Dana, thanks again for choosing Your Window Washing Co. If you have a minute, an honest review helps other people in your area find us: [your Google review link]
The rules that keep reviews honest
Ask every customer
Google's review policy doesn't allow asking only the customers you think are happy. Send the same ask after every job.
No rewards for reviews
No discounts or extras in exchange for a review, and never for a good one.
Check in before you ask
The two-day check-in catches small problems while you can still fix them, before they become a review.
Don't stand over them
Send the link after you leave. Asking someone to review you while you wait at their door is pressure.
Bad reviews
A reply to a bad review is read by everyone deciding whether to call you. On the left, what you'll feel like writing. Scroll to turn it into what to post.
What you want to write
"That's a lie. You were never home when we said we'd arrive."
Keep scrolling for the fix
What to post
"Thank you for telling us. We missed the arrival time we gave you, and that's on us. I'd like to make it right; please call me directly at the number on our page."
What you want to write
"Other customers loved it. Maybe the problem is you."
Keep scrolling for the fix
What to post
"I'm sorry the result wasn't what you expected. I'd like to come back and look at it with you, at no charge. Reply here or call us and we'll set a time."
What you want to write
"Here's the full story: on March 3 your husband said..."
Keep scrolling for the fix
What to post
Keep details, names and the customer's private information out of public replies. Two or three calm sentences, then take it offline.
What you want to write
Saying nothing and hoping it sinks down the page.
Keep scrolling for the fix
What to post
Answer every review, good and bad, within a day or two. People reading reviews look at how you answer the bad ones.
Redos, refunds and saying no
Decide once, while you're calm, what you'll redo, when you'll refund and what you won't do. Then the hard conversations are just reading the promise.
If something isn't right, tell us within
When a redo isn't enough
What we won't do
- Work outside the written scope without a change order
- Damage that was there before we started (we'll show you the photos)
Our promise · Your Window Washing Co
If it isn't right, we make it right.
- Tell us within 14 days and we'll come back and fix it, at no charge.
- If a redo isn't enough: a redo first, a refund only if the redo fails.
- We'll always protect your yard, walk the job with you before and after, and tell you about any change before it costs you anything.
- What's not covered: work outside the written scope without a change order; damage that was there before we started (we'll show you the photos).
Difficult customers
Most customers are easy. A few aren't, and the signs usually show before the job starts.
Price only what's in writing. "Happy to quote it once I've seen it."
Ending it politely
Hi, it's Your Window Washing Co. Thank you for the work so far. I don't think we're the right fit for what you need, so I'd rather point you to someone who is than let you down. Today's work is finished and here's the final invoice. I wish you all the best with it.
Finish what's been paid for, keep it short, and keep it in writing. If anyone ever feels unsafe, leave and deal with the rest by phone or email.
Your plan
Each line ticks itself as you go, and shows on your business plan.
- Messages at every moment of the visit
- Protection kit on every job
- Change orders in writing before extra work
- A recovery plan and an on-the-spot limit
- Walk-through and cleanup before you leave
- Follow-up and a review ask for every customer
- Your service promise written down
Question 1 of 3
You scratch something small on the job. What's the best first move?
Next · Chapter 12
Loyal Customers
Every customer you just learned to look after is someone who can book you again. Next: turning one job into many.
Chapter 11 · Customer Service
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Chapter 11 · Customer Service
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