Secrets to Connecting With Sign Customers

I, FOR ONE, AM EXCITED about the current revolution that is automation and artificial intelligence. I have saved hours of time with data analysis, creating summaries of information, and seeking creative ideas to my issues and challenges that AI has provided to me.

But there is one thing that, so far, a bot cannot do as well as a human: make a transformative, personal phone call.

As technology proliferates, we have dwindling reasons to make phone calls. Text is super-easy and feels immediate. Email gives you a chance to send attachments and create a record of your conversation. Teams and Slack make communication feel seamless and easy.

But the personal phone call still reigns as champ, as far as I’m concerned, when it comes to building and sustaining personal connections with customers and even our team members!

Here are some things to consider when exploring how to engage your customers more deeply via phone conversations:

• Don’t assume your younger team members are comfortable making phone calls. You may have to coach them and hands-on instruct them on doing this effectively.
• Establish norms in your company for when a phone call should be made. Here are some suggestions.
  • Call if there is conflict or if a “tone” in an email feels negative.
  • When you have bad news, deliver it by phone.
  • When you send an estimate by email, call and notify the client. Often emails go to spam!
  •  Call customers one business day after sending an estimate to check in and see if they have questions.
  • Call customers who have “gone quiet” by email! Don’t wait a week for a response.
  • Follow up on installations with a personal call to confirm all looks good.
  • One shop owner insists every customer that has an order in process is called every week. I love this idea!
• When a staffer says they “can’t reach” the client, be sure they tried a phone call.
• Calling customers who you haven’t heard from in months is a great way to stoke business! You might find out that a contact at the company has changed.
• Call your top 50 clients on a recurring basis. This can help you keep lines of communication open and identify issues.
• Unhappy customers should always be contacted by phone, with a follow up email to document the discussion. (Scary? Sometimes, but I promise they don’t bite.)

When you talk to a customer on the phone, you gather much more information than you do in an email. Tone of voice, pace of conversation and personal connection — asking about their vacation, how their family is, etc. — can make the difference in keeping a client or having one ghost you!

Remember, these same kinds of ideas apply to your very own team of employees.

Employees are busy and often lean into Slack or Teams to communicate quickly. But phone calls or face-to-face conversations in your signship can make the difference between a breakdown or a breakthrough.

Hastily written, emotional messages don’t usually land well.

Speaking to a human can help soften tone and remind your team they are each doing their best.

Bigger problems require bigger solutions than a text.

Team leaders and managers should be brought into the process of designing your company’s policies to make it easier to reach agreement and make a change to your communication culture!