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How Upping Their Customer Service Led to Growth in a Recession
Can Customer Service Recession-Proof Your Business?
There are an awful lot of empty offices in oil capital Calgary these days, but a company that does tenant improvements has managed to grow anyway, thanks in part to an increased focus on customer service.
Of course, it helps that offices also need to be fixed up after tenants vacate them so there’s a hope of finding new tenants, so Maxim Constructors‘ success can’t all be credited to customer service.
But, as today’s interview guest, Craig Nadeau, managing director of the company, points out, the recession also means that there are a lot of unemployed trades workers flooding in to compete with them for those office fix-up dollars.
Click for a 5-step Strategy to Get Growing Again
Customer Experience Starts Before the Sale
Customer experience is part of a good brand, and sometimes customer experience includes more than just how well you treat customers. It can also be about how you get them to feel comfortable with you, right from the very first meeting.
Craig Nadeau says he was always “a suit and tie guy,” so in an industry where most contractors show up at bid meetings in work wear, he fits right in with the downtown office executives. He’s discovered that this gives him instant credibility and rapport with prospective clients, who also tend to wear suits.
“When you show up in dirty jeans people know that you know how to swing a hammer, but when you show up in a suit and tie people know you are about business.” – Craig Nadeau
He also shows up on site dressed in a suit, and expects his workers to keep their workplace tidy.
“When I walk onto a site I want it to look like my clients expect it to look.” – Craig Nadeau
Looking like his clients has helped him develop the solid relationships (and keep growing more) that have seen him through recessionary times.
When Money’s Tight Customer Focus is More Important Than Ever
Too many companies just cut back in a panic when times are tight.
Sometimes you do have to lay off staff. But you’ve got to make sure that doesn’t hurt your customer service. If it does, you’ll enter a downward spiral. Instead, says Nadeau, “always be looking at where we can make a difference to the client.”
Click for a 5-step Strategy to Get Growing Again
Here’s the Full Transcript of This Interview
Episode 92 – How Upping Their Customer Service Led to Growth in a Recession
TEMA (INTRO): There was lots of interest in last week’s podcast episode on accessibility in Web and mobile app design. We’ve all got to recognize that not only are there lots of people who have acknowledged disabilities, there are an awful lot of us in our 40s and older who are pretty heavy Web users, but we’re starting to deal with issues like less than perfect eyesight or hearing challenges or hand tremors that make it harder to get the cursor in the exact right spot needed to click on something, to say nothing of broken and sprained limbs.
00:00:51 Although it’s not specifically about accessibility, many of the user experience tips that I give in my report on 85 Tips for a Usable Website fare something that you may find useful if you’re responsible for a website or have any input into what goes into one or how it’s designed. You can download that free by going to http://bit.ly/85uxtips. Of course, to hear that episode on accessibility if you missed it, just go to FrankReactions.com/91.
00:01:40 Now to today’s episode. Today’s interview is with Craig Nadeau, who is the managing director of Maxim Contractors, who do tenant improvements in office buildings. And the conversation actually started when I was chatting with a former business student...
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Can Customer Service Recession-Proof Your Business?
There are an awful lot of empty offices in oil capital Calgary these days, but a company that does tenant improvements has managed to grow anyway, thanks in part to an increased focus on customer service.
Of course, it helps that offices also need to be fixed up after tenants vacate them so there’s a hope of finding new tenants, so Maxim Constructors‘ success can’t all be credited to customer service.
But, as today’s interview guest, Craig Nadeau, managing director of the company, points out, the recession also means that there are a lot of unemployed trades workers flooding in to compete with them for those office fix-up dollars.
Click for a 5-step Strategy to Get Growing Again
Customer Experience Starts Before the Sale
Customer experience is part of a good brand, and sometimes customer experience includes more than just how well you treat customers. It can also be about how you get them to feel comfortable with you, right from the very first meeting.
Craig Nadeau says he was always “a suit and tie guy,” so in an industry where most contractors show up at bid meetings in work wear, he fits right in with the downtown office executives. He’s discovered that this gives him instant credibility and rapport with prospective clients, who also tend to wear suits.
“When you show up in dirty jeans people know that you know how to swing a hammer, but when you show up in a suit and tie people know you are about business.” – Craig Nadeau
He also shows up on site dressed in a suit, and expects his workers to keep their workplace tidy.
“When I walk onto a site I want it to look like my clients expect it to look.” – Craig Nadeau
Looking like his clients has helped him develop the solid relationships (and keep growing more) that have seen him through recessionary times.
When Money’s Tight Customer Focus is More Important Than Ever
Too many companies just cut back in a panic when times are tight.
Sometimes you do have to lay off staff. But you’ve got to make sure that doesn’t hurt your customer service. If it does, you’ll enter a downward spiral. Instead, says Nadeau, “always be looking at where we can make a difference to the client.”
Click for a 5-step Strategy to Get Growing Again
Here’s the Full Transcript of This Interview
Episode 92 – How Upping Their Customer Service Led to Growth in a Recession
TEMA (INTRO): There was lots of interest in last week’s podcast episode on accessibility in Web and mobile app design. We’ve all got to recognize that not only are there lots of people who have acknowledged disabilities, there are an awful lot of us in our 40s and older who are pretty heavy Web users, but we’re starting to deal with issues like less than perfect eyesight or hearing challenges or hand tremors that make it harder to get the cursor in the exact right spot needed to click on something, to say nothing of broken and sprained limbs.
00:00:51 Although it’s not specifically about accessibility, many of the user experience tips that I give in my report on 85 Tips for a Usable Website fare something that you may find useful if you’re responsible for a website or have any input into what goes into one or how it’s designed. You can download that free by going to http://bit.ly/85uxtips. Of course, to hear that episode on accessibility if you missed it, just go to FrankReactions.com/91.
00:01:40 Now to today’s episode. Today’s interview is with Craig Nadeau, who is the managing director of Maxim Contractors, who do tenant improvements in office buildings. And the conversation actually started when I was chatting with a former business student...