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Premium Customer Service

Written by Coeli Carr

Franchisees who put a high value on customer satisfaction know that being up front about service costs has a huge benefit. This openness about costs not only increases a franchisee’s credibility and professionalism, it also helps clients realize that it’s worth paying a little bit extra for consistently excellent customer service that begins with full disclosure.

Bob Tuck, who has owned a Mr. Appliance franchise in Punta Gorda, Florida, for the past two years, concedes he had initial concerns about how his clients would react to higher prices. He and his wife had run their own business for 18 years. “We knew people were good at complaining about whatever your charge would be,” says Tuck, who wasn’t sure how his old customers would react to the increased charges. Following Mr. Appliance systems and utilizing the training he received on pricing for profit eliminated all his concerns.

For Tuck, the key element of the system was the training he went through to develop a menu pricing guide, which contains task descriptions and pricing strategies specifically created to meet the needs of his business. The guide, he says, made him realize how severely he had underpriced his services for many years. When he and his technicians show the pricing guide to the customer—who can clearly see the task the technician has performed—the client no longer questions the charges. “The customer sees it, believes it, and knows the technicians don’t have the ability to fluctuate the price,” Tuck says. “Everybody pays the same. This guide creates legitimacy.”

Bob Lord, a Mr. Electric franchisee in Sparks, Nevada, has also put a strong emphasis on his clear description of service costs. “We like to make sure our customer is educated,” he says. Many customers, Lord says, call and immediately ask for an estimate. He then explains to them the need to check what needs to be done on site, which is a free estimate. However, if a problem needs to be diagnosed, there is a trouble-shooting fee. “We explain that communication is key,” says Lord. He adds that even if a customer has experienced “sticker shock,” the thoroughness of his team’s follow-up makes the value apparent, which he claims is evident by his 85 percent repeat business.

Tuck says that the exceptional Mr. Appliance-prescribed level of customer service he learned the first week as a franchisee at the World-Class Customer Service training class, taught by The Dwyer Group’s President, Mike Bidwell, validates his business, as well, even by something as simple as a phone conversation. “When you answer the phone the way Mr. Appliance teaches you, the customer is so overwhelmed,” Tuck says. And that’s precisely the point.

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