Do You Know What Your Clients Think?
Do You Know What Your Clients Think?
Why client interviews are key to your marketing strategy
You should know what your clients think. It matters. If they love you (and we hope they do!), they can provide a wealth of material for your marketing. But even if there were a few hiccups along the way, how your company met and solved those challenges can set you apart from your competitors.
So what sets you apart from your competitors?
Let’s face it. Quality work, done on time and on budget, is not enough. Clients expect that as standard. Chances are that what sets you apart has more to do with how you deliver your service, rather than well-designed, quality work, because you guessed it - good design is also a given.
Put yourself in your best clients’ shoes
Client interviews are a key part of determining your core difference. From what you learn, you can create your core messaging and communicate that in your marketing to attract more of the type of clients you want to do business with.
Dig deeper and strike marketing gold
How did your clients feel when their remodel stalled for a few days?
What about the few times the project went over budget because of something you found ‘behind the walls’?
Did they notice and appreciate it when your project manager went above and beyond to head off problems more than a few times just because it was the right thing to do?
Asking your ideal clients these questions, and more, gives you insights from their perspective. And these insights are valuable nuggets. They can help shape powerful marketing messaging that sets you apart from your competitors. Used on your website and included in other content, this messaging can lead to more referrals and attract more ideal clients.
So, how do you find out what your clients think?
A phone survey. Not a qualitative survey with average scores or anything like that. It’s about getting some of your best past clients to talk about their experience. You ask questions to get them talking. You guide the conversation to hit all the key areas.
How Gusiff Marketing Group conducts client interviews
Of course, you can do this on your own, but it’s preferable to have someone outside the company conduct the interviews because people tend to be more open and honest when they aren’t talking directly to you or one of your employees.
And now that people are more comfortable with video conferencing, we’ve started using Zoom and recording the session. Not only does it seem like we’re sitting across from one another in person, but I find clients are opening up more and sharing deeper insights than they have over phone interviews.
We focus on these five major areas
We suggest interviewing 5 or 6 (or more) of your ideal clients and asking questions around these five areas:
Decision to hire: How they discovered you and chose to work with you.
What went well: What they appreciate about the way you deliver your service (from the bid all the way to the last punch list item).
Areas to improve: What they’d like to see you do better.
Customer experience: This includes questions about the team they worked with.
References: Would they recommend your company? And if yes, what would they say.
This last question leads the client to verbally sharing a great review or customer testimonial. We also ask clients to consider leaving a review online if they haven’t already done so, and follow up via email to make it easier for them to leave one. And we keep our eyes open for people who would be good candidates for providing a video testimonial and may ask if they’d be open to it.
Why it’s good to ask about client frustrations
My favorite question centers around what frustrates the clients IN GENERAL about doing a remodel. Although this takes the interviewee to a negative place, it’s in the context of the industry as a whole, and in contrast to the positive things they’ve said previously. I then follow up with the only quantitative question. I ask them to rate the remodeler on a scale of 1 - 10 and then ask them to tell me more about the number they gave. That really allows us to go deeper into how the remodel experience went for them - the good, the not-so-good, and insights into what the remodeler could improve. Sometimes they don’t have anything to suggest, but overall I find that the homeowners appreciate being able to give constructive feedback because they really like their remodeling team and want to help.
But does this really work?
Yes. In a recent interview I conducted for my client, a homeowner couple suggested that if the designer had not stuck so firmly to their budget, they may have splurged on a few finishes.
I know, I know, the designer was doing what she was supposed to - provide quality choices that met the budget. However, in this case, the homeowners mentioned that they wished they had gone for more expensive plumbing fixtures that they had previously admired. I probed a bit and found that they would have welcomed a conversation during the design phase about their willingness to go over budget on some finishes and whether the designer thought a higher end finish might be a good choice.
Now, I realize that the designer isn’t a mind reader, but at its core, this is about communication.
By sharing this bit of constructive feedback, my client now has a whole new perspective on how they could better serve their clients. They’re considering whether more clients might feel the same way and how to integrate this insight into their design process. From this exercise, they could consider messaging something like this:
We listen to our clients because what’s important to them is important to us.
Backed up with a couple testimonials and/or customer stories, this could be an important distinction that sets them apart from their competitors.
Client Interviews can help your business too
Finding out what your customers think through client interviews will highlight themes emerging around what people appreciate about how your company works and their experience working with you. We all know that the remodeling process is inherently painful, and you most likely do some things during a build to manage client expectations and ease the discomfort. What you may not be aware of is that it could very well be some of those things that your clients appreciate most.
Take the time to do this research and it will pay off. Discovering what makes you different and developing messaging that communicates that will enable you to create marketing that attracts more of your ideal clients who appreciate the way you do business. By standing out from your competitors with what matters to your ideal clients also means that you won’t have to compete on price. They’ll be more willing to pay a premium to work with you and happy to do it.
Want to learn how your online reviews can also help develop your core difference? CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD OUR STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE