In today’s customer service sector, the sales cycle does not end after you hammer in the last nail in a client’s roof; rather, your roofing service should extend far beyond the completion of a repair. It has become a vital part of the sales process to continue to build relationships with your customers not only during the project but after a job is finished in order to keep your company top of mind. Build out your follow-up plan with easy, regular communications that can help extend the life of your client.

Show You Care

Roofers should expect to communicate regularly with their customers, even after the job is done. Infusionsoft writes that,

“If a customer only likes your products a little but loves the service and experience, they may see your brand as having enough value to remain loyal. However, if the product is just okay and the service is poor, they are not likely to return. They will also tell others about the lack of value they see in your brand, which could lead to more lost sales.”

It is cheaper to retain a current customer than acquire a new one. In fact, it can cost as much as 5-10x more to sign up a new customer than simply keep one you already have, and these returning customers spend an average of 67% more than new customers. By maintaining these long-term relationships with your customers, you can bring in more revenue at a cheaper cost to your roofing business.

Resource: How to Get Better Business Reviews for Your Roofing Company

84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation, so it’s imperative that as a contracting business you optimize, monitor, respond and request these online reviews.

Get Their Feedback

One of the easiest practices you can adopt to build long-term customer relationships includes sending out customer satisfaction surveys. Short surveys can be sent along with your warranties or final invoices to gauge the customer’s satisfaction with your recently completed roofing project. With the data from this feedback, you can better understand what went well, what you can improve on, and what the customer might still need. With data telling you whether or not you met the expectations of your customers, you will know how to adjust for the future.

Check-In

Sending your customer a personalized check-in email a few weeks or a month after completing your roofing project is an inexpensive, yet very effective way to follow-up with a customer. Making sure that their repair is performing as expected, and that their problem has been solved is critical to building a lasting relationship with your customers. Additionally, customizing the email for each individual customer as opposed to sending out a generic check-in email shows your customer that they are important to your roofing business and that their satisfaction is important.

Tips and Tricks

Another easy follow-up practice is providing maintenance tips to your customers after completing your project. Providing materials that can help homeowners identify potential problems, or easy ways to avoid problems altogether shows that you sincerely care about the quality of your work, and the wellbeing of your customer’s home, not just the payday after completion. This gesture will resonate in the minds of homeowners, and as a result, your customers will be inclined to call you for future repairs and refer you to their friends and neighbors.

Ask For a Referral

Your strongest leads come from referrals. Word-of-mouth and a good reputation are excellent ways to acquire new business, and asking your customers for a referral is an important step in the follow-up process.

Resource: 4 Communication Strategies For Roofers to Increase Referrals

In fact, an article written by Tallyfly cites that a good reputation combined with word-of-mouth is the source of 20-50% of all purchasing decisions. When sending a customer that check-in email, a satisfaction survey, or when providing maintenance tips, slide in a quick one-liner asking for a referral if the customer is satisfied, and if they’d be willing to write a review on your preferred site.

Referrals can also be incentivized through discounts on future projects, such as gutter repair or window replacement.