How to Use Customer Feedback to Improve Your Lawn & Garden Business
Lawn care business owners regularly refine their practices to provide the best services for their customers. They might discover new methods on the Internet, attend training courses, and let the passage of time make them better at the services they offer.
However, customer feedback is one of the lesser-known ways to improve a lawn and garden business. It can also be one of the most powerful. Your customer’s experiences can guide you to become the best lawn care provider you can be. With that in mind, here’s how you can use customer feedback to your full advantage:
Offer Multiple Feedback Avenues
Some customers aren’t comfortable offering feedback while a service is being provided. They might not even want to talk face-to-face about what they think you’re doing well and what they believe you could do better.
In that case, consider offering multiple feedback avenues. You might create simple surveys or questionnaires and hand them to your customers. Alternatively, you might encourage online reviews through platforms like Google and social media.
Sometimes, a simple statement on your digital invoice encouraging feedback can be helpful. These are all openings for ensuring your customers know you welcome all feedback.
Practice Active Listening
We love hearing what people like about our services. You can’t help but smile when someone tells you that you did an excellent job edging their lawns or trimming their hedges. However, constructive feedback and even negative feedback can be much harder to manage. Many lawn care operators aren’t sure how they’re supposed to react in the moment. This can be especially true when it’s being delivered face to face.
You might see the value in practicing active listening. Active listening is a valuable communication skill beyond listening to what someone says. It involves being present in a conversation and showing interest by maintaining eye contact.
Those with good active listening skills will also take notice of non-verbal cues and ask open-ended questions. They then repeat what their customers are saying back to them to show understanding. Most importantly, active listening involves listening to understand, rather than to respond.
Analyse Patterns
When you ask your customers to provide feedback, you may notice a steady flow of comments. These can all help you become a better service provider, even if it may not seem that way at the time.
Sometimes, the easiest way to use customer feedback is to compile it and analyse patterns. If you notice many comments about something, you can use it to your advantage.
For example, if several customers say they appreciate your attention to detail with hedge trimming, you could advertise this service more often. If many customers say they’re unhappy with how you edge their lawns, you might prioritise training in this area.
Respond to All Feedback
If you’ve provided your customers with options for giving feedback online, such as by email, survey, or review platforms, make prompt responses your priority. Whether the feedback is positive or negative, reply to all comments thanking the customer for providing them.
If you’ve received negative feedback, address it professionally and offer solutions that might solve their problems. Remember to post your contact information with your response so customers can contact you if they’d like further assistance. Your customers can then feel like you value their feedback.
Always Aim to Improve
When customers continually use our services, it’s easy to get complacent. You might not put the same effort into your work, knowing that your customer will still have you returning in the future.
However, it’s essential to provide excellent service, whether you’re mowing someone’s lawns for the first time or the 100th. Quality workmanship improves your chances of your customers recommending you to their friends and family. If you continuously improve your services, you may also enjoy more positive feedback in the future.
Celebrate Your Positive Feedback
No matter how many positive comments you get about your services, it’s only natural for negative and constructive feedback to bring you down. Celebrate your positive feedback to make yourself feel better, and give yourself some positive fodder to post on your socials! Sharing positive feedback online can boost morale and make your business look more professional.
Improve Your Lawn and Garden Offerings Today
If receiving and utilising customer feedback hasn’t been your strong point, it might be after reading these helpful tips above! Take the time to listen to your customers, take on board their comments, and continue providing quality lawn and garden services.
Customer feedback doesn’t have to be something you dread. Instead, it can be something you look forward to if it means you can get praise for your efforts and be guided to make meaningful changes.