How a tv aerial repair company taught me some great business lessons - Part II

(This is carrying on from my previous post - so if you haven't read that - you might want to.)

So, Paul - the engineer - called me to let me know he was on his way.

When he arrived - he was very polite - listened to the problem and told me about some clever tests that he could do to find the problem. He then also confirmed with me the price for doing the test – the same price that the lady on the phone mentioned.

A simple point here – but make sure that there is uniformity of message coming from you company – especially where prices are concerned. I have been in the situation where two people in my company gave two different prices for the same thing – it can make you look foolish and puts you in embarrassing situations that is for sure. It also confuses the customers – which, I am told, is bad, very bad!

So, as suspected, it is the aerial that is knackered. Nuts! We have to get on the roof to inspect the extent of the problem.

The problem with my house though is that it is four stories high. Still, the engineer bless him took his ladder off and put it against the house. It was a 40ft ladder and it got no where near the top.

So we looked at climbing through the sky light in my roof. This was quickly turned into a no-no given the state of the roof (covered in green moss – which is very slippery) and the current Health and Safety regulations.

What I appreciated about this engineer was that he tried different ways. He tried the ladder, just on the chance that it would work. He tried the Velux Window too.

This is a key point because most people come and just say “can’t do it mate”. Because I had seen this guy try – I knew he couldn’t do it, and I understood why. It took more effort on his part – but for me he built on the great reputation of the company – he made the effort to show me something that we probably both knew, but I felt better about it rather than annoyed.

So we talked about the possible solutions to my problem. It seemed that the only way to get to my roof was scaffolding – which has two problems: time and cost.

So we talked about putting an aerial inside my loft. This had its own problems – but his comment to me, “I’ll make it work!” Great – just what I want to hear.

He built the aerial in my roof, spent a while finding the best position and fixes it in.

You know what – I now have a better picture. He even put an extension into my bedroom at no extra charge.

Sure - I could have got this aerial cheaper, but frankly, I am willing to pay more money for something when I feel this well looked after.

Everybody from the lady on the phone to the engineer impressed me. The engineer was even great with my 4 year old boy who wanted to climb the ladder and see what he was doing.

So – here I am, telling you to use this company – but more than that – learn from it.

I have! Already, I have put a new system in place for the service department in another company that I run. Guess what – we call them two times to confirm the arrival of the engineer as well as the prices involved. It meant that we had to completely change the way that we record things in our database – but it was worth it.

Guess what – already, we have had comments about this improvement – clients feel like they know what is going on.

The engineers now know that where possible – they should just try it, and make sure that the client sees them trying it rather than telling them that it can’t be done. This little extra effort and time doesn’t really cost that much more – but it sure works!

When you have a great experience with a company – sit down and think why you enjoyed it. There may be some lessons for you in it!