Focusing on taxes for your home building business can take away from customer service leading up to April 15th. Don’t let it happen this year
Any business sees the importance of customer service every day. Building positive relationships is a long process you begin with initial lead generation, finesse during the sale, and continue long after a deal is made.
But there are periods throughout the year when customer service can be neglected. One such time is when you’re preparing for taxes, and you’re putting in lots of extra time toward ensuring that you’re reporting everything correctly.
While it is important to home in on taxes each spring, remember that you need to keep client services going as well. Here are tips to boost your customer service in early 2019.
1. Invest in training
Just because your main focus is on dealing with your upcoming tax filing doesn’t mean everything else stops. You and your team should always think about your customers and how to improve those relationships.
During busier times, consider investing in training and educational opportunities for yourself or your team. Seminars, conferences, or office training can help your staff stay motivated to offer only the best customer service experiences. And it keeps this at the top of your mind, too.
2. Try automation
If you don’t have time during the spring to write a lot of newsletters or blog posts, try to write several before you get busy. Then, you can use an email marketing tool to schedule newsletters.
The same can be done for blog posts, articles, news, etc. Planning in advance will help you stay engaged with your audience while you’re able to focus more heavily on other more pressing matters.
Another way you can use automation is to schedule survey invites to clients, whether past or current. These links can be sent automatically, and you can continue gathering important feedback and testimonials even when you’re busy.
This gesture shows that you value what your customers think of their experiences and that you care about improving your processes.
3. Remain accessible
Even though you’ll be swamped, let customers know you can still be reached if needed. Try to keep up with your social media messages and posts. Respond to voicemails and emails promptly.
Even if you have to move meetings until after tax time, don’t neglect channels where customers and potential clients could be trying to reach you. Just by taking a moment to respond to someone, they’ll feel valued and heard.
4. Delegate responsibilities
Remember those employees you hired? They’re there to help you. It’s impossible to run your home building business alone. Don’t try to do everything yourself – start delegating, and you’ll save a lot of time.
Ask for your team’s help as you focus in on the financials. Allow them to take over meetings and phone calls, and remind them to put the customer’s needs first.
This is a great way to show your clients that you’ve got them taken care of through anything. And, it can end up giving your team a lot more valuable experience in the industry.
5. Don’t let stress get the best of you
Tax time can be the most stressful time of year. From paperwork to deductions and exemptions, you have a lot to consider when filing.
But don’t take that stress out on customers. Remember customer service 101: the customer is always right. When you’re dealing with someone a little more difficult, take a deep breath and try to resolve the problem for them, however best you can. If you can’t, still be kind and compassionate. Show empathy.
Your actions and words can affect your customer relationships, and fast. So even when you’re stressed, keep it together.
6. Hire temporary help
If you just don’t have enough hours in the day to handle everything this spring, consider hiring a temporary worker who can at least answer the phone for you or manage scheduling.
Plenty of people out there would appreciate short-term work, so find the right person who can step in and take care of administrative tasks that are weighing you down. It can be more than worth it to pay a little bit extra for that peace of mind during the dreaded tax season.
In sum, this tax season you should consider:
- investing in training for you and your team to keep customer service front-of-mind
- implementing automation techniques for announcements or posts
- staying accessible to clients
- delegating responsibilities
- keeping your cool
- hiring a temp
However you do it, stay on top of customer service this year. Your business depends on it.
No Boundaries Advisors has been helping businesses like yours grow and thrive for over 25 years. Contact us today to find out how our expert staff can help you meet your financial goals.
