Every company I know of says they offer quality service 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. Upon completion of the sale, not one of your competitors is going to say, “It will be difficult to get a hold of me — I put all warranty work behind revenue producing calls, so you will have to wait.”

So, what makes you different from your competitors?

One factor that differentiates Hiller Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical is we offer a 100 percent money back guarantee on everything we do (Happy you’ll be or the service is free!). If, for whatever reason, a client is not happy, I don’t feel like we have earned their money, and I don’t want to collect it. I believe 97 percent of the people we service are good and honest people; 1 percent of the time, we mess up so badly that we don’t deserve the money; and 2 percent of the people we service are going to take advantage of us no matter what. As a younger man, I would try and reason with those individuals. However, as I’ve grown older, and hopefully a little wiser, I no longer fight battles I can’t win.

The worst part was how upset these certain clients used to be at me — I allowed them to tear me up inside. But, I’ve learned that when a client does you wrong, it’s best to forget about it and move on. I feel comfortable knowing one of my competitors will take care of them for me because they don’t have the same values we do, and they won’t provide our level of service.

The second way we are different is the opportunity for clients to access “Just Jimmy.” On our website, there is a link our clients can click to contact me directly if they are having a problem they cannot resolve. This allows them to let me personally know about any issues they may be having and gives me the opportunity to fix them. Do you have a place a client can visit to be heard? Would you rather have them visit your website or Facebook, Yelp, or the Better Business Bureau (BBB)?

Clients expect good service, so when your client feels compelled to write you and tell you about a good experience they’ve received, it’s because their expectations were exceeded. As funny as it sounds, I am also glad to hear about the bad experiences. If at any time you have a client that takes the time to tell you what you are doing wrong in your business, you should say “thank you,” because all feedback is valuable.

Next, you owe it to the rest of your clients to go to work and ensure whatever unfortunate event occurred does not happen again.

Five Ways to Treat the Client

“Treat clients the way we would want to be treated”

1. Never let profit center conflict get in the way of doing what is right for the client.
2. Give clients a good, fair deal. Great client relationships take time. Do not try to maximize short-term profits at the expense of building those long-lasting relationships.
3. Always look for ways to make it easier to do business with your company.
4. Make it easy for your client to communicate with you. If they are talking to you, they can’t be talking to a competitor, or blasting you on social media.
5. Don’t forget to say “thank you!”

When you start setting yourself apart from the competition, you are on your way toward running One Hiller of a Business.