Sometimes in the Fall, when the grass isn’t growing as fast, or the wind just blew a pile of leaves down 5 minutes after your guys did a leaf cleanup, a customer might ask you to prove that you were there.
If you’ve built a great relationship with your customers, this likely won’t be an issue. If you’ve slacked there, however, you might be in some trouble.
How To Prove To Your Customer That Their Lawn Maintenance Was Done
Leave a service tag
Brandon recommends leaving service tags at the site to prove the work was done.
“We leave service tags door hangers. They are relatively inexpensive. We leave them with each service we provide and find that the communication works very well. We originally started with just leaf removal because of the same problem you are having. However, it worked so well and no disputes that we implemented it with every service as company policy. This way, the client is used to our policy of leaving a service tag behind, and the guys are used to it as well.
Let them know that we leave the service tags to protect the company, client, and employees as a tool for communicating what we did on what date, etc. Let’s be realistic and realize that some do end up blowing away, falling off, or being lost, but for the most part, many people comment on how nice it was to have a receipt and know what was performed on what day.”
Add a coupon to your door hangers.
Ted has an idea of how to take door hanger service slips a step farther.
“I know a guy who uses door hangers in a weird way. He has printed on all of them “return this door hanger with payment and receive 2% off next visit” He says no one fails to “not get a door hanger.” He says “giving away” 2 percent brings him greater return than not getting paid for “disputed” visits and if they don’t pay the bill by a certain time a 2% coupon is no good, so he says he gets paid quicker too.”
Use a visitation slip.
Judy uses a carbonless visitation slip to prove that they have done the work.
“We have a 2-part carbonless visitation slip. One is left with the client, and the other gets stapled to the route sheet. If a client does call to question whether we were there or not – we can provide a copy of the visitation slip for them. This has worked in most cases.”
The CLIPitc customer portal and mobile app
We’ve talked several times about using the customer portal to manage the relationship with your customers.
With the portal, they can request work, see their invoices, and make payments online. One of the best ways to make sure that you maintain transparency with your customers is to communicate with them consistently.
If you’re interested in taking that picture for customer records, you can do it with the app. This way, if there’s ever a question, you can check the notes for that customer and send them the picture.
Publicly thank them for their business on social media.
Customers will start to feel great about their relationship with your business when you thank them publicly.
Taking a picture of the work you’ve just done is somewhat natural to most of us in our 21st Century social media cycles. You have a business you’re proud of, and you want to showcase the hard work you and your team have done. Our friends over at Ambler Industries do a pretty great job at this.
Going the extra step of taking a picture of or with your customer is a great way to get them involved in your business and get a referral. When you tag them on Facebook or Instagram, their friends will see it, and you’ve just created a marketing opportunity and a bit more customer loyalty.
You can use door hangers, coupons, and notes left on the site as proof but if a customer calls you to question whether you’ve done the job or not, remember that CLIP is your proof.