MARKETING

- Jeremy Yamaguchi, CEO, Cabana Pools

Are they interested in talking?“ A lot of people can mow lawns,” said Chris O’ Neil, founder of Caddy Shack Lawn Care in Stillwater, Okla.“ We work on being good communicators too.” For O’ Neil and Caddy Shack,“ good communicators” means programmed and automated follow-ups during the sales process and after.

“ Once they become a customer, we use a lot of automation,” he said. Customers can opt in to different types of communication. Do they want receipts emailed or texted, and how often do they want service notifications, for example.

“ It depends on the customer but most are not interested in sitting and talking, said O’ Neil.“ We do build good relationships with a lot of them. But typically we don’ t sit there to talk to them.”

Potter looks at it differently, more in the mindset of Trader Joe’ s( see sidebar).“ I’ m in the field a lot,” she said,“ and I’ m texting with my customers a lot. Also I show up to a job 15 minutes early so I can talk with my clients.‘ How was your day?’ and‘ How are your kids?’ That’ s important to me. And my clients stay with my because of the rapport I create.”

For me, personally, I want to talk with the people working on my lawn. I’ m curious about the work, obviously, and enjoy that face-to-face, like with the young entrepreneur who did my irrigation start-up this spring. I asked Langton about this,“ Do you think these young service pros want to talk with an old homeowner like me?” He said,“ I was that young guy once. He’ s probably looking at you and is glad you care about what he’ s doing. In this industry, a lot of times the work crews feel undervalued, like the customer sees them as just a service, maybe even like a servant. It’ s nice when a customer comes out to interact.”

My next-door neighbor, however, feels the opposite.“ I for sure do not want to talk to the guys working the lawn,” said Larry.“ High-touch experience is not what I’ m looking for.”

Langton gets the distinction and puts the rules on paper right up front.“ We’ re starting to make it part of our contract where we ask how often they want to be alerted when people come on their property,” he said.“ We give them the option. I think that’ s something that all professionals need to start. Do you want to be contacted every time we’ re going to be on property or do you want

I looked at several CRM websites recently, and saw“ benefits” like: 1. Get more jobs 2. Organize your business 3. Know your numbers 4. Automate tasks And I saw very little of“ improve communication with customers.” If you’ re looking at a CRM and it boasts:

“ Seamless integration of online and offline channels, enabling a truly omnichannel experience”

Or“ AI is designed to leverage smartphone capabilities and deliver interactive experiences.”

Or“ Technology that allows for in-app support and rich media sharing, meeting the demands of the modern customer” You need to ask: How does this help me communicate with customers?

to only be told when there’ s problem? That flow chart to know how to deal with the end client is really smart. Just put it out front,‘ here’ s how we communicate.’”

Be realistic and upfront with customers, he adds, about how you – the business owner – can communicate.“ Everybody’ s always telling me,‘ I’ ll shoot you an e-mail.’ I tell them, and I’ m a bit embarrassed to say this, that I have about 35,000 unanswered emails. But I have zero unanswered text messages. I can respond to a text easily, even while I’ m driving. Plus, I find people write really long emails but the text is to the point. We all have our different ways we want to communicate.”

“ Ultimately, it’ s not about using every digital communication tool out there,” said Potter.“ It’ s about using the right ones in a way that keeps clients informed, respected and involved. My biggest focus is what works best for my client and creating systems that make them feel they are more than just a job.”

www. OPE-Plus. com May 2025 OPE + 23