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Q: My customers' expectations seem way out of line — how can I get them to be more reasonable?
A: Why do contractors have a lack of communication? Generally, it's because of fear — not wanting to tell customers the whole story for fear of not getting the job if you tell the whole truth. Other times, you're too busy to give the customer that little extra time that keeps them informed of everything. The reality is that a little communication can make your life a lot easier.
Fear? That's why a lot of contractors don't tell the whole story. They don't want to explain the mess or the time that's involved. It's not that you lie to the customer, but maybe you exaggerate or lead them to believe something that's a little better than reality. If you don't tell them the whole story, it surprises customers, and usually it's a bad surprise.
For example, bad surprises for customers include the job taking twice as long as they think it's going to take, or you not showing up on the day you said you would. When I'm running behind, I generally dread calling to tell them that I'm not going to be there. Usually, if you just bite the bullet, call and explain the situation — I'm working on this border and it's taking two days longer than I thought — they're pretty understanding. Still, you dread making the phone call, so a lot of times you don't make it. Also, some contractors try to sugar-coat the job so it sounds like less of a hassle. Maybe another contractor bidding the job told the customer that it will only take four days, when you know it will take five or six. You're afraid that if you tell the truth, you won't get the job. But you're setting the customer up for another bad surprise before you even start the job.
The mess your job may create is another bad surprise for the customer. When customers have to clean when they don't expect it, they get mad, and that will be the last thing they remember about working with you.
You need to be careful about setting up the right expectations for the floor. When the job is bid, it needs to be understood that finishes are nowhere near bulletproof — they're going to scratch. Some contractors try to sell the finish as indestructible. You may have a young couple with a dog and three kids, and the wife says, "Our neighbor's floor down the street has looked brand new for 15 years." You need to explain that hers will most likely need to be screened and recoated in three to four years.
Along with that, be careful about customers' maintenance expectations. We all know that wood floors are the easiest floors to keep clean, but that doesn't mean you don't have to clean them. When you say that wood floors are the easiest to clean, the customer's perception can be that the floors don't have to be cleaned very often.
It's your job to find out what a customer really wants, and that can be difficult. You may have a customer come to you and say he wants a maple floor. Then you install it, and he says he wants a dark red stain on it. Use samples and make sure the samples really represent the grade. Contractors sometimes show a sample of No. 1 common, when really the sample only has one little knot in it. If the grade you're selling is going to have mineral streaks and bigger knots, make sure it's seen in your samples.
As a wood flooring expert, you need to find out what the design of the home is, what the colors will be and what other wood is used. Customers aren't going to realize that you need to know all these things unless you ask them. Many customers don't necessarily have a good overall vision of what the finished product is going to look like without going and seeing a whole floor. That's where you come in. You can help them choose the proper woods, borders, inlays or whatever is going to look right for that job.
When you agree on a design, make sure the customer signs off on the job. I did a job years ago where I had bid the job six months earlier and we decided the border should be 18 inches from the wall. When it came time to do the job, I popped the chalk lines, knowing that the customer went to the job site every night. I laid the field, popped the lines back on so he could see once again where the border would go. Without actually talking to him again, I cut the field to put the border 18 inches out. When that was done, he decided that was not where he wanted it. I had to stagger the field back in and recut it so the border would be 15 inches from the wall. If I had communicated with him, it would have saved a lot of aggravation.
Keeping the customer happy means communicating. Growing up in the industry in my father's contracting business, my dad taught me that honesty and doing your best work are the most important things — more important than the money you make. If you live by those principles, the money will come to you through your reputation. Working with you should give the customer a feeling of confidence and trust, not dread of the unexpected.
NWFA’s Technical Trainer Steve Seabaugh and the rest of NWFA’s expert staff are available to answer members’ technical questions. Call 800/422-4556 (U.S.), 800/848-8824 (Canada) or 636/391-5161 (local/international) with questions.