Contractor In Charge shared this article.
The call flow is one of the first things that need to be established within a plumbing companies’ answering service. Lynn Wise, Contractor In Charge’s Founder, and CEO emphasizes how much it helps to provide a framework for customer service. She makes sure that the most important aspects receive the highest priority. Lynn also ensures that every pertinent part of customer service is included within the call.
Without those fundamental aspects, an answering service can fall short and customers may end up going elsewhere.
Make sure to include all the key elements
A call flow has a certain amount of information that needs to pass between the customer and the answering service in order to be effective. For each call, you will want to include at least the following:
- A friendly and informative greeting
- Discovery of the customer’s core issue
- Overview of the potential solutions that can be offered
- Any additional services of interest to the customer
- Additional information gathering
- A closing statement
Image credit: Marcus Aurelius
Greeting and discovery
Lynn Wise, Founder, and CEO of Contractor In Charge notes that a warm, friendly, and professional greeting is a good way to open the door to a customer or potential customer who needs a plumber’s services.
ProcedureFlow also mentions the importance of keeping things positive:
” A warm and welcoming greeting is a great way to start putting the customer at ease, letting them know that they’re in great hands. This greeting usually thanks the caller for calling, states the company name, introduces themselves, and asks how they can help the caller.”
The next crucial step is getting down to business and discovering what issue the customer needs help with. Have a call flow chart that includes a first question, as well as basic, follow-up questions for a variety of common plumbing concerns. This is the point at which the employees answering your phones will need to be able to reasonably correctly ascertain the problem. Because of this, it is important to include training that covers not just answering the phones or answering emails, but basic plumbing knowledge as well.
Solutions and additional services
After discovering the problem, Lynn Wise, Founder, and CEO notes that it is time to offer solutions. Again, a flow chart will help at this stage. It should include the plumbing services available so that they can be offered as a solution to the customer. Once a solution is agreed upon, the next step is to suggest other services that may be of interest or value to the client.
Image credit: Dominika Roseclay
A closing statement that leaves the door open
Finally, it is time to wrap up the call. We recommend following the same plan that successful companies, such as Contractor In Charge, utilize. Make certain that your call flow emphasizes information collection at this stage. Common information to collect includes contact information, an address, and the best times for a plumber to come by.
After that, it is standard to let the customer know what the next step is, tell them how to contact you if further questions or issues arrive, and offer any final practical advice that may be helpful before a plumber arrives on the scene.