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Pest control invoice template free for Customer Service

good afternoon everybody welcome to this bpca webinar today on essential customer service skills um thank you for everybody being here today i'm just gonna do a quick run through before we get started um just as a quick reminder for everybody i can't see or hear you um obviously you can see and hear me now if you have any technical problems so maybe a bit sound or maybe a bit of visual or if the presentation is doing something you don't like then there's a chat function so it might be down the bottom of your screen it might be to the right of your screen um but yeah if you have those technical issues pop a pop a question in there or just let us know in there and my colleague cat is sitting on the background then she'll keep an eye on um whether or not there's any issues and she'll pop up as well because i may not notice um whether or not there's an issue so i will rely on that we also have a q a section now during the presentation i'm i'm going to be doing questions at the end rather than sort of in the middle and at the end just to keep things flowing but at any point whether it's right at the beginning or right at the end or in the middle somewhere you have any questions for me about the presentation then put them in that q a section because that's what i'm going to be opening up at the end and i'm going to be seeing okay so the chat sections not for questions to me because there's a good chance i won't see those okay great there's one cpd point today if you which you would have done you've pre-registered and hopefully you've put in your cpd number number or a bpca registered number and once we're done today we'll have that list and we'll get your points uploaded for you if you have any issues obviously contact us afterwards um if you are watching this um not live if you're watching it afterwards um then you can still get a cpd point you're just going to need to have to register that yourself again speak to whichever cpd provider that you use okay so one cpd point um in terms of um so so the presentation today um normally we do pests and pest species and you know practical implementation of what we do in pest management but we're doing quite a generic subject today being customer service skills it it really is for everybody whether you're new to the industry whether you're you might not even be in the pest control industry you might have come across this web and i thought yeah do you know what customer service skills that applies to everybody doesn't it surely um so welcome to everybody we've got 115 participants today um so that keeps climbing it's ticking up as we as we go along so anybody that has joined after my introduction there and you've got any questions about cpd then put it in the chat section and we should be able to answer any questions you've got okay good okay let me start sharing my screen my camera's positioned okay isn't it great okay so um but so in terms of the agenda i'll just bring that up so you can have a have a have a quick look um i'll give you a bit of an introduction so i'll be coming at this with a keeping field technicians in mind um again you you guys out there who are watching you might be in in different areas of work be in the office or in the field or a bit of both um but you know it will certainly be addressing the field technicians role in terms of customer service but really as i said it relates to every type of work out there office field or otherwise um you know the traditional perception of customer service is office based or maybe even retail sector you know going into a shop and having that face-to-face contact and that customer service element that's what we think of maybe when we think of the word customer service but actually it applies to everyone in any every industry um throughout the world so really important and the other thing as well is that the other webinars that we've done you know over the years or webinars or training they're always quite specific with pests it might be a pest species or um it might be you know invertebrates or uh vertebrates or um you know uh trap uh use of traps and things like that quite specific whereas you know customer service as i mentioned before it is something we do every day you know we don't do you know bed bugs every day necessarily or you know rats every day whereas customer service is something that we have to do every single day that we aren't working um every element of what we do as soon as we for the customer in any way shape or form customer service is involved so a really really important thing to have a think about um really really wide subject really large subject with lots of different um ideas and skills that you can have and lots of training courses you can go on but you know we've got an hour today um so we'll keep it on topic with regards to you know hopefully sort of filled technicians loan workers and also again it would apply to anybody working in the office or all of the above um so yeah we're going to talk about what customer service is um the skills that are involved with customer service and then relate it a bit more to the uh pest management professionals um and what sort of things you should consider um you know we'll we'll see where we go with that got a bit of a poll part way through as well just want to get your perceptions on what you find is important when you're out there but yeah we'll get to that it's all uh all good stuff so a bit of a different webinar today looking forward to it okay so um in terms of first you know what is customer service you know kind of think well we cut it we know what that is don't we um but you know most people think of customer service it's something that happens when people reach out to a business with a problem and that's really only half the story though um good customer service will actually prevent any of your customers from reaching out to you with a problem or a complaint so that's one element of it um but generally it's you know supporting your customers throughout so that you can keep your customers you know it's not just when you're face to face with them or maybe if you work within an office it's not just when you're emailing them it's throughout the whole contact that you have with them um and then you've got you know two main um elements to this and that's proactive and reactive um both are really really important we're going to go into that a bit more in just a moment and then of course this is a probably you know if anyone had a little competition to see how many times natalie said manage your customers expectations through webinars you'd probably probably clock up a good four or five times in each one because it's just so important um to manage those expectations your customers have expectations when they pick up that phone or get that keyboard out to email you or um you know get in touch with you they've got expectations of what they want to receive from you so it's about you making sure um that obviously you deliver that expectation and in a way that they can they can enjoy they've had a good experience okay customer service is definitely a constant thing constant um let me just move on so this has been a bit unresponsive today there we go so there are a lot of skills needed to perfect your customer service here's the i've got 16 of them here um some of you maybe are going to count them now aren't you make sure there are 16. yeah there's a few here for you to consider um yeah there are more of course you know i've picked out some of the ones that i think are the most most important and you can have a a little uh view of those now i'm not going to go through all of them but you know in my role here at bbc i see a lot of great customer service um yeah of course as well as some some questionable customer service you know it's part of my role i'm the you know technical and compliance manager and that compliance bit you know i'm talking to you know um members all the time about what they're doing or what they're not doing picking up when they're doing great things you know we talk about that and really give some good feedback but also you know if there's some um other elements that not not quite as good we're discussing sometimes it can be customer service you know actually thinking about it in terms of compliance customer service it's actually a really big part of um say compliance issues or complaints issues and even even compliments you know normally when you think about it any compliments that you've received of course because you got rid of the pests but a lot of the time it's because you've been you know attentive you know you've been flexible you've had a positive um you know language and a positive approach with your customer you're showing great empathy all of these things here you know that that that delivers a great customer experience um so it's really important that this goes hand in hand with the service that you're delivering your customers that the pest that you're dealing with or the routine inspections that you're you're getting out there um you know and being a pest controller out there loan working with customers it is really important that you're always on top form um don't just think so you know how am i going to get rid of this pest don't make your way to a job or get that call and go right you know i've got bed bugs here how am i going to technically get rid of this of course that's important that's a massive part of what you're doing but you know also think okay how am i going to communicate this customer what history do i know about this customer have they got any you know particular personality traits that are you know i need to be aware of um you know what am i going to be promising my customer you know how how clear am i going to be with them um you know i may or you know you may talk about a few specific talents listed here throughout you know i'm going to mention through specific ones mentioned throughout the webinar um the ones that are deemed really important um actually so thinking about these say skills skills yeah you know um that everyone has you know time management problem solving you know personality empathy ability and things like that they're all really useful and i mentioned at the beginning that you know to use the q a section to um uh put questions to me and not necessarily comments however um this webinar today i want to move uh i'll allow a bit more than just questions in there i'd quite like to know or to get your view of what you think is really important you know maybe you've had some experiences and afterwards you've sort of reflected on it and thought you know what i could have done better with that because i could have behaved in a different way or i could have you know gone about that in a different way or or maybe i could have spoken to that customer in a different way but also positive things you know you might have thought you know what i really smashed that i've really done a great job there and yeah i got rid of the pest that was the great job but that customer really appreciated the way that i dealt with them and the empathy that i had with them um you know as we know pests are quite emotive and can be quite upsetting to people sometimes so you know it's a really big part of what you do so yeah throughout this presentation i'm going to pick on a few of these these elements here and maybe talk about them a little bit more before i do that so i mentioned the beginning we've got proactive and reactive um customer service so for proactive customers we all here at some point have employed the services of a skilled professional you know be a plumber or electrician a builder or hairdresser even any kind of service now what you want to do is think about what you expect from a first impression that first impression is so important um you know be it on the telephone via email be it text be it face to face you know these are all first impressions when a customer gets in touch with you and wants to you know whether it's a quotation or you know an urgent request for service you know that first impression is really really um important you think of all the things you are multitasking with um you know and you don't even know it you're you know you you're making sure your language is good you're making sure you know you're not swearing maybe you're not you know chewing on some gum so they can hear it that first impression is is really important uh when you turn up at site you know maybe you've got you put some shoe covers on automatically that's a great first impression you know the customer might say oh don't worry about that but it's still a great first impression isn't it um you know clean and tidy appearance you know i've had some uh you know service providers um come come to me and you know they've been busy all day and i completely understand for me it doesn't really bother me too much when they turn up in you know maybe unclean or untidy work works they've been busy all day of course totally understand that but maybe something to consider you know maybe having a change of clothes just in case you do get particularly dirty and you weren't expecting it now of course in this industry if we think we're going to get a little bit dirty we'll put our overalls on won't we but you know just something to to think about that that tidy appearance is really important and it's very proactive to make sure you know that that customer experience is positive um and of course attitude my gosh you know a positive attitude as well um even if you've had a really foul day you know we life is as it is and you know you may get to you know later on in the day three four five o'clock in the afternoon going for a quotation or you've had a call out you know and you just maybe don't quite feel in the mood for you know delivering fantastic customer service but you know sometimes you've got to you've got to push through these things put a smile on your face um and and greet that customer with you know some you know great um some great personality and positivity really important if we can do that because there's nothing worse than you know somebody turning up to um you know that you may be employing in a in a foul mood or making you feel like they don't really want to be there okay so never ever think of that we all have a bad day but um good to do it so and but just some more specific examples um you know if you've got a long-term customer and you know quite a common thing we hear your long-term customer and have a usual technician that's in charge of the site um and that person changes for whatever reason be it to annual leave or you know paternity or maternity leave or you know they might have even left the company and that technician changes sometimes that can be you know confusing to a customer or you know upsetting to them so pre-warning of these things um again it's managing their expectations and um making sure they're informed of everything that's going on so they feel involved they don't feel like they've been forgotten and you're just carrying on doing what you what you do without worrying about them too much so pre-warning of these changes um you know given customer help and assistance that is above and beyond it's not always possible but really a really fantastic way to put a massive smile on a customer or a potential customer's face if you just go that little bit above and beyond um just trying to think of examples off the top of my head you know if you're doing a mouse job in a kitchen you know there's that debate between oh you know whether you clean the droppings up or they clean the droppings up now you know of course in the industry we we want to say well actually it's a really great thing for the technician to do that you know always have a dust pan and brush there or a little knee vacuum cleaner or something that can clean droppings up because to the customer that's you going above and beyond possibly you know yeah in the industry we do we do recommend that that is a really an important part of um monitoring for activity and seeing how bad an issue is but to a customer you know that that really does feel like you're going above and beyond so just little things can make a real positive effect um for your customer and and telling them how long a job will last so you know i go back to you know compliance issues or complaints and things like that and trying to prevent them um what what what the best way of preventing complaints again managing customers expectations but telling the customer how long the job would take um i mean for for you know example if you you know go to a a job you say yes customer i can i'm definitely going to get rid of this for you within three weeks no problem i'm gonna get on with it and get it done the customer's like wow brilliant really happy with that really um excited that they're gonna finally get rid of this rat problem that you know they've been going on for for weeks months years sometimes and then actually you find that oh yeah three weeks wasn't long enough for me because there's an underlying issue in the drains or maybe the customer you know you need to get access into a neighboring property or or whatever it may be it could absolutely go over three weeks in most situations i find you know it it does go over three weeks so um you know rather than saying you know i will get rid of this in three weeks full stop you would say but the expectation is that yeah i i i want to get rid of this within three weeks it's possible i can get rid of it in three weeks but you know as i go along with the work things can change things can pop up um and if they do i'll keep them informed throughout the whole process okay so that's that's you know telling you know that's that's managing the expectation being proactive to prevent you know any future problems um because you can promise too much um but yeah and and being of course being you know in terms of being proactive prompt and considerate you know if we say we're going to be somewhere we'd be somewhere again another thing that i see come through when when there's there's issues with you know customer to to pest control companies you know if they say they're going to be there at three o'clock and you know three o'clock comes and goes and nobody's arrived um it can be quite frustrating i mean we think about it it's common sense isn't it you know we think about it ourselves if if you were to employ the service of someone you know get a delivery from you know a parcel delivery company and they say they're going to be there between 11 and 12 and you know one o'clock comes through and it still hasn't arrived it's really really frustrating so you know um you know be prompt and considerate and if you've got a genuine delay of yeah delays happen you know we're not in an ideal world here but keep your customer informed all the time um you know really really important managing expectations you know i just sound like but you know i say a lot um okay so proactive really really important there's so many things and also you you're you are doing this you're multitasking customer service skills and you probably don't even know it you think about it now and think yeah actually we're doing all those things you know and maybe some of these things you're not doing maybe you think well actually yeah maybe i am too specific with customers and telling them how long exactly this work is going to take um and yeah i wondered why they weren't happy with that of course they're not going to be when um it goes over the promised the promised time okay and then and then reactive of course so um it's usually when customers reach out to you so you know looking at what we've just talked about what we're going to talk about here proactive customer service is probably the biggest part of customer service the the biggest percentage of customer service you spend most of your time doing proactive customer service um and really reactive customer service is of course when a customer reaches out to you um now you know usually querying work or schedules like i mentioned before if you know you've said you're going to get something sorted within three weeks and you don't um they're going to be ringing up and questioning and all the technicians said they'd be done in three weeks but they're not and i'm wondering why these you know rats or bed bugs haven't gone yet so you know again your customer service will will kick in then um we'll talk a bit more about the skills related to that in in just a moment um invoicing so you know make sure you're clear and precise that invoicing is a customer service element because you know when someone's paying for a service that they've received you know they want to have clear and precise information on what it is that they're paying for um you know what work that you've done you know if there are any guarantees if you do offer guarantees you know what that is you know being clear and precise because again that gives them a great impression you know if it's just a little scribble on the back of a bit of paper um you know is that you know best customer service not sure but again when customers are contacting you you know that that part is proactive isn't it if you think about it the invoicing and making sure it's clear it's actually proactive as well because you're you know you're making sure you're delivering that customer service um and being clear on what it is you're invoicing for but they cannot you can also be reactive where they're requesting it from you um and then call out to contracts um you know your customer reaches out and says oh you know i've got a contract with you got you know 12 visits per year but i've noticed uh you know an extra issue with a different pest or you know some activity from a contracted pest you know i need you to come and see me um so again that's that's reactive you're reacting to it so it's really important in how you deal with those contacts again i'll come on to that in a minute um and then of course the dreaded complaint um uh you know customer service will always be reactive sometimes when a customer queries something especially you know if you've had a long day and you're just about to relax for the evening um you know you can sometimes feel frustrated when a customer reaches out to you to ask you about you know work schedules or invoicing or you know a call out to a contract or maybe even a complaint like i mentioned there you know it can be really really frustrating especially when you're you feel like you're you want to wind down for the day but you must remember that you know the customer has a genuine question and requires information to make them feel more confident you know indulging this in a positive way will only secure you sort of a great impression and commitment to solving their problem you know it it's very easy to think my phone's ringing i'll go i kind of you know had it for the day but as soon as you press you know um that button to say hello you know that smile should go on your face and and listen to them because they've got a genuine query there's other ways around that of course if you've got you know um if you manage a group of technicians you know they're going to be contracted to certain hours so you know if there's certain hours that they're they're breaking off maybe leaving making sure there's a applied and informative uh voicemail message for customers to receive and you know um that message can be as you as you wish but of course keeping in mind that you know you want it to be positive you want to be look really sorry we're not here to help you you know this is what you can do if it's an emergency um however if it's not an emergency you know leave a message and we'll get back to you you know tomorrow at whatever time so again you're you know it's not just ringing and going you know just ringing and ringing and ringing and then cutting off or just ringing and getting a generic you know please leave a message after the tone um it can be frustrating for customers sometimes they like to know they've got through to the person that they wanted to get through to and you're managing their expectations that voicemail message aren't you to say you know sorry we're not here but we will get back to you um really really good to do that and and of course things like annual leave or somebody's off you know get those voicemail messages set up you know change them as as as your work changes as you know your day changes so that customers ring and you at least can get something if they can't get through to you direct they've got some good information there okay um great okay i mean i remember just in terms of the complaints um you know to echo the words of a previous presenter that we had on one of our forums i think it was which trusted trade i think we had a representative from there um uh dealing with the subject of complaints done i've done a whole webinar complaints on that uh sorry a forum slot on on complaints which you can go and have a look up now it's on our website or on youtube but it was all dedicated customer complaints and how to deal with it and actually one of their comments was that you know a complaint process can actually be positive and encourage your customers to complain and that sounds really weird doesn't it but you know if someone's got a problem with something either you've done or one of your employees have done isn't it important for you to know what that is and if your customers you know feel like you care when something's gone wrong and you want to put it right oh my gosh you know that that is so so important you know again drawing from an experience that you know i've had um you know be it poor wi-fi connection or a fatty ribeye steak from a fancy food chain you know when my concerns are heard taken on board and empathized with i'm happy you know that's all it is you know if i've got a problem with something and i go to that supplier and say look this wasn't what i expected or you know what you promised me didn't happen if they have a positive um come back for me and they you know empathize with there make sure that you know um the solution that i wanted is met as reason as far as is reasonably possible or practical of course because i'm not unreasonable then i'm happy and that's great and i'll carry on using their services i'll carry on buying their ribeye stakes you know it's um it's just common sense whereas if i had a really negative reaction and a really negative response to a complaint that i had then it's very likely i wouldn't go back again okay and as i said things like on your website um it's good to have a complaints process it's something that we like to talk about when we go and see members um but having a having an area where someone can can say yeah actually i've got a problem um because that is actually a positive thing you know that rather than you know going to you know coming to an association to tell us about you or you know go into a higher authority to complain about you because i think you've done something wrong or illegal get them to tell you encourage them to tell you when they've got a problem okay because then you can sort it out and you can keep that customer because as we know that customer can go on to many other customers okay good okay you will know like i like ribeye steak now okay so in terms of the provision of customer service and some basics um you know just some kind of things to do um in different contexts so you know with a telephone call now this is a telephone call whether you're getting a call about oh i need your help i've got a pest problem or if it's a i've got a problem with you you've done something that i'm not happy with or an invoice call then just you know just make sure you when you when you're on the phone if you're smiling and talking it can actually transmit through that phone people can tell whereas if you've had a really foul day and you think well they can't see me it doesn't matter i'll just you know um you know lie here on my sofa with a you know frown on my face towards them they could probably pick up on that it's quite quite amazing what we can pick up on so you know trying to have that that smile when talking and you know like i mentioned before if you um because it's a you know it's important that you have down time you know everyone's different some people are happy to work till 10 p.m at night but you know really you should be restricting yourself to a degree and certainly if you've got technicians employees you have a legal responsibility to make sure their contract terms are met and that they have a cut-off time to be able to you know wind down for the day and relax so after certain times you can have voicemail messages that cut in and again you know make it a great one make it uh you know hi you know sorry we're not here you know but hey get in touch with us this way instead or i'll give you a ring in the morning leave a message you know make it really really positive and um you know a way that customers can feel you know like they're like like like you care and you want their business um you know text if you're if you're utilizing text don't ignore it you know um suppose it's quite hard to not utilize text isn't it because a lot of our uh work is done through mobile phone contacts now you know if you've got an office you've probably got a landline that that's great but you know technicians have mobile phones and customers generally get hold of those numbers um so you know texting can be frustrating but you know got a responsibility if you've got a mobile phone and a customer is texting you um then they manage their expectations if it's something that you know you don't want to continue you can give some positive good guidance on how else they can get in contact with you on a more preferred way but don't ignore it you know if customer detection don't ignore it um of course you know if there's if it's a very negative reason they're texting you and uh maybe there's been a problem with some work or there's some complaints going on and they're hassling you um you know and if you gen yeah sometimes you can genuinely feel um victimized by it by a customer or if you you've been unfortunate enough to come across a particularly tricky one that you're you feel you're getting hassled by um then you know you can either of course you can feel it's threatening in any way you know get a crime number report it to the police and they might be able to do something i've certainly had that before threatening voicemails and things like that and um yeah reported it myself and it all got sorted out so that was fine but you know the point is if you're using text um don't ignore it it's very frustrating for customers okay um that's a reactive side of customer service um social media as well so i'm not a social media expert my colleague cat who's on here with me in the background keeping an eye on things social media expert fantastic brilliant you know i'm probably facebook and that's about it i'm not great with the with much else but if you have it you know monitor it reply and interact positively um you always see you know um different travel sites where people report you know negative experiences of a hotel or a b b they've stayed in and it's always great to see when those those managers of those hotels or the owners of those b b's actually reply to that complaint or reply to that concern they had and say look really sorry about your negative experience um you know we're going to do this to try and put it right and you know please give us a ring if you want to chat about it anymore that's great that that person who had a complaint is possibly then going to think you know what that was a great response yeah just one of those things that went wrong i think it was uh and everybody else looking at those uh messages are gonna see it in a positive light as well uh again if you're using social media and people you know send you okay private messages no one can see but if they're putting posts on your wall or asking your questions on there you know get back to them be positive don't don't use you know foul language you see it a lot with social media platforms groups you know not just pest management groups but other industries they all have their own uh you know um pages and they they chat and share things and you know sometimes the the language can be concerning and um you know and members of the public can get access to that sometimes and it won't look particularly good so you know keep things positive it's social media is a massive thing now it wasn't a problem 20 years ago necessarily but um it's a really big part of uh reputation and and again you know in terms of this webinar customer service so monitor it reply interact positively and we're always happy to help you with um you know any social media questions you have any guidance on it um again as like i said you know we've got a lot of in-house experience with social media and how to manage it and we'd be happy to you know have a chat to you about that if you want to get into it a bit more but really good for customer service um email of course if you're you know emails email um you know emails can be the the devil sometimes because you know how one person reads an email another may read it differently and it could be positive or it could be negative so you need to be careful with the wording always use positive words upbeat words you know great to hear from you thank you for your email you know rather than too brief for responses i see that a lot as well again dealing with with complaints and compliance issues um you know emails that have gone back and forth from customers they can be very blunt sometimes and that's only going to encourage possibly more more upset or more more anger which is going to fuel a complaint to be pushed further into the system so yeah really you know think about the way you use them but also auto reply messages they really help um you know if just again managing expectations i said it again i should have a drink every time i say it shouldn't i but you know um if you're out of the office or you know particularly busy or you think oh we're really you know we're really busy and we're going to struggle to get back to email straight away i just have an auto reply for that day you know really sorry we're really busy today and we'll get back to you as soon as we can within 24 hours 48 hours whatever it is that you decide is appropriate for your organization and then in terms of face-to-face so for you know technicians out and about there like i mentioned before um appearance body language tone expressions promptness all these things are really important all of these points of contact involve customer care all of them you know a bit telephone or face to face um you know all of you watching can tell us what what you find works well again like i said you know in the q a section for one time and one time only i will allow other things other than questions um but yeah because i'd like to read them out you know i'd like to read out or you know um bob or jane here has said that you know um they find this works because it's going to be positive for you guys here that are joining me today you might sort of think actually that's a really good idea i'm gonna implement that so yeah again share us your experiences show us what you do and what you find works well um that would be good but yeah as i said face to face if you you know um you know like me now maybe you know okay you know i won't say of a full face of makeup or anything like that but i've got a bbc shirt on trying to present in a way that you know has got a good appearance and good body language and tones and expressions to you know make sure you know you know that i want to be here and you know that i'm here to help you and take on questions and hopefully give some answers and be positive and actually make you enjoy the experience of a webinar um some of you might disagree but you know that that's my my goal is it's not just to you know give you technical or you know detailed information it's to hopefully make you feel engaged with so again face to face the appearance and body language turning expressions you know if i was sat here you know my hand like this and talking to you i don't know if you can see me but you know i'll sit there like that reading off of the presentation you probably can't hear me that well some microphones down here but also it doesn't look great does it doesn't look great with me uh resting on my hand you know maybe giving you the impression that i'm not enjoying myself of which i am i love being here with you guys so um but really important face to face uh paperwork so clear consistent information as well um i've picked all of these ones because they're very common things to see pop up that cause problems um that are all customer facing paperwork is a customer service element if you are dealing you know not only we're not going to talk we're not here to talk about bbc codes of practice or you know legal requirements of paperwork i'm here to really say that you know having clear consistent and informative paperwork is a great tool to tell your customer what you've done you're the right person that they've employed and they're going to receive you know a great service over the next few weeks days whatever it is you're doing for them um and yeah you know something that they've got when you walk away something that you can read one of the one before last webinars that we've done i mentioned on bees we have that why we didn't treat your bees leaflet i mean again that that's great customer service if you you know again you might do a treatment report we not nearly need treatment but rather than just going oh i'm not going to do them let me see later bye you give them a leaflet you give them and say look this is why i'm not doing it something for you to read well i'm not here because you know i'm going to get off the next job if you've got any questions give us a ring but most the information you needs in here um again give me a call if you if you find um any any future issues or you get to the point where you've got some more questions that aren't answered here so you're leaving something with them and that is that is great that that's what they they like to like to see i mean time's flying isn't it um so absolute notes they're all the things that are great to do to think about you know um but yeah in terms of things we didn't do the obvious things maybe you'd say but rudeness um but actually in this job because you know what we do you can get some really upset um customers some really agitated customers some really you know they almost you almost feel like they may be overreacting that's a that's an absolute no word to use overreacting i didn't put it in here but um i just thought of it there yeah don't ever say customers overreacting that's an absolute no you know the words that we use are really important you know um in terms of you know customers another negative thing is is blaming your customer for something negative is a never a good idea so try try to avoid blame on your customer even if it is their fault i know you might sometimes think well they didn't you know do that thing i asked them to do before i got here and now i can't do the work and they're getting angry with me so you know for example a common one bedbug treatment advice via email you might send some advice via email or text saying you know there's certain measures here that you need to carry out before i come along to assist with a successful treatment we all know what i'm referring to um and then on arrival you find that nothing's been done so rather than you know accusing your customer directly tempting i know maybe put a different spin on it such as oh so you didn't receive the pre-treatment information oh that's strange we should have sent it i'll check with the office and see if there was maybe an error on the email name can i take your email again so i can check this it's a much more positive way rather than well i asked you to do this stuff if you haven't done it then i'm off i'm not going to do it with you i definitely sent it to you must be a problem that you've got it must be an email problem you've got this is all very negative language to you so rather than you know um putting it back on them or blaming them for something that's gone wrong again like i said even if it is their fault um try to use language that's a bit more positive um going forward this ideal world stuff i know but really really great to think about that way that you put things across you know and that's rudeness isn't it you know using things like calm down even if you're saying no you know just calm down just calm down that can still come across as is quite um you know unempathetic and it can actually aggravate things more so you know other things like you misunderstood me again you're accusing the customer of something there you're accusing them of misunderstanding you're always telling them they're stupid um so you know rather than saying calm down you know you'd say well let's both sit down and have a talk about this maybe um you know it's not nice to to get upset i can see that you know um maybe a bit uh stressed out by this let's have a sit down and have a nice talk about it okay rather than saying calm down and you know it can be tempting um and also maybe you know maybe i miscommunicated that information so again rather than you misunderstood it could be a maybe i miscommunicated the information or maybe i didn't communicate it in a way that was understandable apologies about that what i actually meant was so really really important in trying to use different words use different terms avoid getting frustrated and you know being rude it can be easily done certainly in this industry because there's a lot of high emotions sometimes um and you know overstepping as well um i hope it doesn't happen too much i don't know but sometimes it could be tempting to to blame colleagues or or blame organizations you know like that email example oh did you not get that email about the pre-treatment things you need to do oh blooming office they always do this they always forget to send that email out i'll go and have a talk to them yeah it's quite as overstepping really you're negatively referring to a company or a colleague so you know thinking about what you're saying it's tempting sometimes to deflect a problem from you on to somebody else because you're there you're face to face with them you're thinking oh did we not send that oh this is this is this is awkward embarrassing or i'll reflect that on to somebody else and blame the organization because that's easier it can be tempting to do but yeah overstepping is a thing try not to to do that because again even though you personally it might not be them reflecting badly on it's reflecting badly on the company isn't it so that is not good for anybody um and then the last thing so over promising you know in instead you know um you know with regards to let's say like i mentioned before i've kind of already gone over this but um yeah a rodent problem three weeks um you say yeah i'm definitely going to get rid of that for you in three weeks i'll see you in five minutes see you later bye bye rather than doing that because then when four weeks comes around and the problem's not gone you're going to have more problems than if you said in an ideal situation i will try to get rid of your rodent problem within three weeks that's what i normally achieve but each site is different i need to come have a look i need to have a survey there could be underlying issues so but i'll communicate with you through the whole process don't you worry about it okay that's a lot more um you know refreshing for a customer um and you're not you're not over promising you're not saying that you're to do something that there's a chance it could not go that way yeah and bedbugs is a really common one really common one because as we know you know there's in a lot of situations they can go on and on and on um really tricky but so yeah um you know and just another thing in terms of absolute nose um you know i'm a fan of an odd mint from time to time you know feel refreshed and you know i enjoy them and also it helps me stop eating all the time um but you know i wouldn't turn up at a customer's property chewing on said mint or gum you know um it's just some really simple things isn't it you know when you're talking so if you're on the phone people can hear if you're chewing or sucking on a mint um so yeah just little things like that absolute nose okay um in terms of facing confrontation so um avoid it by you know monitoring verbal language your body language expressions you know this is not a uh about humans webinar or a biology and behavior session on humans but you know we are all humans and uh you know lots of other humans and we know that we can be motivated or demotivated by you know simple things like you know someone's body language or verbal language towards us it can cause certain emotions we're all different in in what that would cause um expressions as well you know you could have great verbal language and positive and great body language but your expressions like this or role in your eyes you know so really really important and like i mentioned before um email can be the devil in disguise you can you know cause confrontation by you know delivering or sending an email that's um not too descriptive or has got a lack of um positive expressions or words or signals so yeah yeah it's important to you know the training you know training on email delivery can can be a thing i think it's really important if you've got new employees coming in and they're going to be dealing with emails do a bit of email training you know the things to do and the things not to do um good stuff to do um so also you know we've got to face the facts like i mentioned we're humans we are complicated beasts um and in terms of customer service is everybody designed to be great at customer service of course not that's an ideal world isn't it we're all going to have different levels i mean you know some would say that i'm pretty amazing at customer service um others will i'm money joking by the way i can hear all my colleagues laughing um but all seriousness you know in terms of people i generally say there's three types of people and that's you know they've got a personality that is perfect for good customer service and what i mean by that is they're just natural they don't really try at it it's not something they have to think about or have to be trained in they're just jolly happy considerate people that you know like to make other people feel informed and um confident with what they're doing and yeah they've just got the personality for it you know but the way that they present themselves the way they hold themselves you know the way their body language is it's just natural you know they've just got that natural flow um so of course you know they're perfect aren't they for customer service because they enjoy it you know when someone enjoys customer service and they enjoy making someone happy and making someone smile you know it's noticeable and you know customers absolutely love that and so that's that's the you know one type of person and then also you've got the sort of people that have the right the right attributes for good customer service but maybe need a little training or um you know maybe they wouldn't be the front of shop person now okay i'm moving away from technician a little bit here because you're a technician you're a technician you know you are who you are and you're gonna deliver what you deliver in terms of customer customer skills but you know maybe sales you know if you've got a company it's a little bit larger and you want someone you know one of your employees to get into sales you know you're probably going to pick that person that you know has got the perfect personality for customer service because again you know it's going to be a good impression um you know but again you can still get those ones that are in the middle a bit there they've got the right attributes and you're totally happy of sending them out there maybe a little bit of training you know webinar like this just as a little refresher for them to go you know what yeah some good points there i'll remember that when i'm out there i'll take that gum out of my mouth and i'll put those shoe covers on and because that's customer service customers will appreciate that um and then maybe you've got these people that are really not people persons people persons people don't know is that a word anyway phrase um those people that uh are not really desirable in terms of you know really fun phrasing and sometimes acting can come into play acting in customer service is a thing you know like i said before if you have had a foul day and you're going to see a customer to quote up on a job you don't necessarily let them know you've had a foul day so you act put a smile on your face yeah i'm jolly i've had a fabulous day how are you customer how can i help you yes i'm wonderful thank you and then when you go home you can collapse on the sofa and uh you know have a cup of tea or whatever um so acting does come into play and for those you know people that maybe aren't you know really people persons let's just go with that phrase shall we um you know again you know they'll maybe a little need a little bit more support a little bit more encouragement um and again you know you might choose the roles that they would do but yeah recognizing the skills of individuals and adapting it is really important um and giving them that that get up and go that they need to to hopefully have that you know perfect personality i can't change personalities but right okay blimey time flies isn't it i'll uh shoot through these last bit so we can get to some q and a bits we've had two pop up in there so yeah not a massive amount keep them coming if you need to um so in terms of pest management you know lots of the stuff i've been talking about you know i'm saying i'm going to address pest management specifically now but actually we've been doing that all the way through haven't we um but there's one thing that's true when pests get into homes people want them gone full stop of course when it comes to customer service before and during the work order um it's important to remember that while your clients are grateful they may also be dealing with one of the worst scariest and most upsetting situations of their life i mean you might think i'm exaggerating but you know we've all had that customer that is just beside themselves and you know in your mind you might be thinking guys you know they're they're really not happy about this you know i don't know uh wood laos or something that's coming through the door but it's very personal you know that there are genuine fears out there we really need to be empathetic of that and i use that word i'm gonna come to that bit soon because it's very important um but you know we're a service and not a product so customer service we're half of that statement aren't we we're a service okay not a product it's really important that you know when someone brings us up to deliver that service it can be you know it's we really are at the heaviest end of customer service there can be some really high emotions involved and dealing with that in the right way is really important um you know customers may be desperate empathy for sympathy like i mentioned excuse me so my voice going already um so empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another so for example you say to somebody when you're there and they're distressed you would say to them i can imagine that this is stressful for you pests are a genuine public health risk and it's important we help you with this that's empathy um you know sympathy is similar but easy to confuse um and it's not half as useful um so sympathy is the feeling of pity or sorrow we all know that word pity and sorrow it's negative isn't it um so you know to when you're being sympathetic you may say something more along the lines of ah don't worry dear it's horrible for you isn't it don't worry i'm not afraid of them so i'll sort it out for you you know the difference here is important you know you need to be empathetic not sympathetic um you know let them know that you share their their their concerns and that you're familiar with their concerns and you're going to help them not ah you know you're overreacting a bit aren't you but don't worry i'll sort it for you not the right way to go about it okay so i mentioned before you know what customers want it's important isn't it we want to deliver what customer wants and it's that the pest is gone that's all um so you know and of course maybe you would like a pleasant experience they they want the pest gone but they they want to have a pleasant experience don't they um you know it's easy you know how do you um how you do that is up to you get rid of the pest you know there's many different methods and tools that you can use in investigations but don't just think about the technical aspect of getting the job done you need to also consider that customer service and be a customer service with you know marry them together you'll go you'll go far um so again this is a bit of a poll coming up now no it's this first one on a pole so i'm relying on cat been as serious for me so um four cat pots that are let me just explain so i've picked a few skills here um what i want you to do is rank them in your opinion so i say rank them haven't got there i want you to pick one of them um that is what you feel is the most important one to you um let me just get an interesting idea of says 153 of you guys here now so be good to get a view of of which ones are important to you so if you can pop up the poll quickly fabulous um and if you can all just i don't know is that it's about 15 20 second joby i would sing a song but no one's going to enjoy that you'll all just disappear won't you um 4 15 so i'm going to end up give the poll in another three seconds three two one gonna end it um so oh okay so 43 of you reliability so basically does what they say they're going to do that's that's the larger end of you 43 of you feel that reliability is the most important aspect here and then second very close 40 percent is good communication now i know a lot of you would be like i want to click on all of them i i think all of these are important i've put them up here for a reason they're all important but it's just a quick you know stop your head what's most important to you and yeah reliability and good communication great um we've got no one there for empathy don't want to be empathetic do you know of course you know that's important um it's just not topical it's being reliable and good communication absolutely is going to get you a long way so interesting to see and then we've got efficient and on time is ten percent and four percent reassure and again it's not saying you don't think these things are important it's just top of your list reliable and you communicate well fabulous that is exactly what we want to hear i'll just share the results there you can probably all see it um yeah good okay i'll close that there we go it's exciting wasn't it okay great thanks everybody for getting involved with that really good to see that that you're on the same lines as as i am okay um let's go we're nearly done there so just a bit of a you know again do's don'ts um so obviously don't ever be late you know prompts this it's gonna happen if you are gonna be late tell your customer manage their expectation i'm gonna sing that whenever i say it manage their expectations you're going to be late tell them as soon as possible because you think they're going to possibly have booked time off of work for you to come around so really important even if four hours before the job you think oh there's a chance i'm going to be late inform them they can make their own decision on whether or not they're going to hang around um inform them don't be vague and uncertain or get distracted when you're on site so you know like now i'm on this webinar with you i thought i'm going to meet everybody i've just got a little phone call i'm gonna take bear with you won't like that would you okay this is a more you know structured webinar and of course that would never happen but you know when you're on site and you're talking to a customer and your phone rings again talk about that voicemail message that's there make sure you've got a great voicemail message that says oh i'm really sorry i'm not available i'm probably with a customer but leave me a message i'll get back to you okay um don't tap in grubby clothes or missing tools missing tools is very frustrating you know oh i'm gonna get in the attic but i haven't got a ladder um really frustrating for customers um don't be condescending or amused by their fear mentioned it before um or be disinterested about their concerns you know remember we kind of like hey it's a big bug hey it's a wrap hey it's a cockroach we like them it's fun not bothered about them but that is not their view they're going to be possibly at best a bit disgusted by them but possibly at worst absolutely terrified so you know don't be disinterested and don't redirect your frustrations of the day and uh you know don't focus on yourself you know it's good to share your experience with customers but don't stand there for 10 minutes telling them about a story something that happened to you once you know you might be interested but they might not try and not focus on yourself too much um and a bit of a summary so you know treat customers as you would want to be treated common sense isn't it really um be a pleasure to be around and make customers feel important of course common sense again empathetic not sympathetic and oh there it is again manage all expectations right questions fish bash bosch what three of them great okay so you've got some stuff going on in chat there hopefully cat's dealing with that you're all happy but bringing up some chat here um so listening yeah john john just here very good point so listening is a very important part of customer engagement that was a test there as well i left that bit out i was making sure he picked up on it um but yeah listening absolutely there's nothing worse than if you know someone's trying to you know get across their feelings or or what's happening with the job and you know you cutting in all the time or you know kind of looking as though you know you're a bit bored of what they're saying um even if you kind of know what they're getting at and you think christ they're going on a bit here um you know try your best to sort of keep that listening hat on and only interject when it's appropriate and you feel that they've got you know um a decent pause there that allows you to talk so listen good one john um so trevor here you carry deodorant just in case that honestly you know karen that is so important bit of deodorant in case you know you've been in a an attic somewhere you know rooting around trying to find that you know squirrel dre or you know where those rats are coming in you know get hot in there especially in summer so nothing worse than turning up a customer's house smelling um particularly unpleasant so yeah trevor absolutely carry some deodorant um so where on your website would you put how to complain that's from emily so really good really good question some in terms of complaints processes some websites are not clear in where you can complain um they're actually quite hard to find because the organizations