This month to date the most searched for providers on The Go-To Guy website was that of Appliance Repairs, and in our talks with customers a number of interesting points came to the fore that we thought we would share with our service providers and consumers alike.
It was interesting to note that most consumers never think about their appliances, until of course ot breaks, and then a number of questions came up that are common amongst consumers, we cover these points and some tips below.
Proof of Purchase/Warranties
The first question once it is confirmed that the appliance is really "kaput", is whether the appliance is still under warranty, and 99% of consumers admit to throwing away or misplacing the receipt of the device, and cannot even remember when they bought the device, and even if they found the receipt it seems modern receipts has the power to fade the ink to barely legible characters on a white background, thus not helping much.
Here at The Go-to Guy we had a small session with one objective, what advice could we give consumers in regards to keeping record and associated information on their appliances, here is our list:
Create a WhatsApp group on your phone with your family members and call this Group "Receipts and Proof Purchase", when you purchase the device, immediately take a picture of the receipt of the device and share it on this group, thus in future when you need any information you all will have it on the group.
Whilst you take the above photos, also take a photo of the machine itself, the model number and the serial and the reference info on the machine, also add it to this group, this information is going to prove very valuable if at some point in the future you require service on your appliance.
Place the booklets and other warranty cars and the like in a Ziplock bag, and stick this bag on the back of machine with Sellotape, that way if you need to refer to this in future you know where it is, alternatively one of the members suggested that you have a drawer or box in the house that everybody knows is the destiny for any user manuals and/or warranty cards, then you know where to look if you need it.
Who to Call (No not Ghostbusters)
The next question that came was of course who to call when your appliance decided up to here and no further, especially if the machine is still under warranty, with most frantically starting to search for that missing receipt, but yes you're going to need it as the first port of call would normally be the place you purchased the appliance from, a definite start if under warranty.
If not under warranty then you could possibly still call the retailer you bought the appliance from, and they should be able to provide you with the contact details for the supplier. Our own test however showed that this is a "hit and miss" affair as some of the retailers had contact details on hand and some did not, and you could be placed on hold for extended periods of time.
Here we have a tip for service providers that do offer Appliance Repairs, go and engage with these retailers as a reference for customers that have appliance issues and needs to have their appliances repaired outside of warranty, you can possibly increase your business as a result.
Then the frantic search started for a number or a contact of Appliance Repair in the area, scratching through papers in drawers, nots made somewhere and messaging friends, and then shouting out for assistance on Facebook for urgent contact as there may be food in the fridge, hectic and not fun, and of course everybody will recommend someone from somewhere... and some will be bully's and badmouth suppliers, others will provide five star reviews, its a popcorn period in most cases.
Here is an important tip: If you find a great supplier, save that number on your phone, and add what they do so that you can easily search for the name afterwards, its much easier remembering the word Electrician than a name of a person a year down the line, you can also add that name and number as a note in that WhatsApp group you created on your phone.
Fortunately we also created a House and Home Supplier page here at The Go-To Guy, so you simply have to remember our website and you are covered, in fact better still save our website as a shortcut on your phone screen and then we are one click away.
Supplier Reputation and Customer Engagement
Once customers have found a number to call, or several as the case may be, there are a number of things that came up that we believe suppliers should be made aware of, as this could make or break their reputation in the market and if done well entrench them as a supplier of reference to the consumers in the community, we cover these below.
The most common comment was that suppliers are not answering their phones, and from experience we know that if you do not answer your phone on the first call then 70% of consumers will not call again, they will look for somebody else, thus your business will suffer as a result. Here at The Go-To Guy we are working on a solution for this and will be announcing that in the future, in the interim however it would be worthwhile for service orientated companies to set their diverts to a backup number, even if the call has a cost you are bound to increase your revenues as a result.
The second comment was that service providers do not return calls if a message is left, yet again your business is losing revenue as a result. We know that when on the road servicing customers it is difficult to keep track of all the messages and a notebook is not always at hand. here is a simple solution; send yourself a WhatsApp message or voice note on calls to return or tasks to complete, then when you have time you can recall the message as our phones tend to be with us all the time, its also a great way to keep an electronic diary and will aid you in so many ways.
The other common comment was that service providers do not return quotations requested. In our engagement with service providers it became evident that on the one end of the spectrum was the constant issuing of quotations that resulted in no business, customers ghosting service providers and never returning follow-up calls, whilst on the other end admin time for quotations were constrained.
Yet again here at The Go-To Guy we are working on a solution for this issue, yet in the interim our recommendation is to throw out the process of trying to write a quotation when you finally get to the office and behind a desk for admin, use what is in your hand and send electronic quotes through simply having a WhatsApp message with the key quote numbers and references, you can give each a unique number through a simple numbering system that takes the date and time you send the message, these quote structures are valid and accepted by most consumers, you can give more formal documentation and receipts where applicable.
It is further vital that you have a payment solution for customers to pay on site, get yourself a mobile card machine such as Yoco, which allows you to take payments on site, as we have encountered many customers and service providers referencing payment processes as an issue.
An additional tool you can use is to change your WhatsApp number to WatsApp business, there is no additional charge and the interface remains the same, yet you will have additional tools that you can use in the application to manage your interaction with customers, including the ability to showcase your business branding, status updates you can use to communicate with your community, catalogue of services that you can load, quick and out of office reply messages and a list of other features aimed at helping you communicate better, definitely give this a try.
It is our mission here at The Go-To Guy to help small business, so look out for the features we will launch in the future, beyond our current House and Home listing page and our newly announced recruitment service aimed at sales people for small business.