I had a conversation with a friend a few days ago that wasn’t very pleasant at all. Without getting into too many shameful details, I had been a bad friend: neglectful, forgetful, and altogether dismissive of a person I care about.

For several months I’d been caught up with my own life and goals, focusing only on myself, and I had missed a lot of things in their life that were very meaningful. I was completely unaware and didn’t realize how much I’d hurt my friend until things finally came to a head.

My friend didn’t pull many punches, and I deserved every one of the verbal haymakers as they landed squarely on my chin. I had no excuse. I apologized and told them how much I valued their friendship, even though I’d spent so much time lately acting like I didn’t. Then, as they were walking away, they said something you hope to hear when any valued relationship is at risk, “Justin, if we weren’t such good friends I might be done, but man, we’ve been through too much for that.” All I wanted at that time was a chance to do better and make things right, and one thing had bought me that chance - enough investment through the past.

In every relationship, whether it’s a marriage, friendship, business partnership, or even business/consumer relationship, there’s a very powerful force called emotional equity at play. It’s the value you add to a relationship - the good memories, the dependability and advantages of having you around – that you hope always outweighs the minuses when things get tough. The good thing is, if you play your cards right, you can keep stacking those pluses like investing in a bank to protect you against losing important people when things go sideways.

All relationships have a breaking point, however, and you never want to be seen as the one who’s only taking and never giving. This is especially true in business relationships because family has blood ties and marriages have a vow strengthening their commitments to each other. Usually, the only thing making your customers stick to you instead of calling your competition is how much you’ve invested in the relationship with them. If they don’t see much investment in the equity bank, another contractor who might be a better friend is right beside you in the Google listings.

How to Build Business Relationships that Last

Hudson Ink’s motto has always been, “It’s easy to change companies, but it’s hard to leave a relationship.” The first question you need to ask yourself is, do you consider yourself to have a true RELATIONSHIP with your customers? Have you built that? Have you earned that with them? Simply doing good work doesn’t make you as memorable as you think.

Many contractors believe when they go to a house, do the job, and hear no complaints that they’ve earned a homeowner’s business for life. But statistics show that’s almost never the case. Simply completing the job they called you for is base-level expectations. You might not like to admit it, but just about any company they call can complete the job. Where the separation begins is HOW they did the job and what lasting impressions they left while they were completing it. Just do the work and they likely won’t even remember who they called a month later. Invest in good memories and follow up so they won’t be able to forget you.

  • Find ways to go above and beyond: This can be as simple as showing PERSONALITY while you’re in the home. Read the room and don’t talk the homeowner’s ears off. But being remembered might be as easy as genuinely showing you care by asking questions about the homeowner’s specific needs instead of just showing up, turning a wrench, and getting back in the truck as quickly as possible. There are so many simple differentiators here that the majority of contractors aren’t thinking about. Treat the home like it’s yours and clean up after yourself. Truly, leave it better than you found it. If dealing with the elderly, ask to perform simple tasks like bringing up the trashcans. If you look and see they obviously have children, keeping a simple gift on the truck like a $1 coloring book or stuffed animal could earn you hundreds of dollars in future business.
  • Be in the home even though you were never there: Ever wished you could still know all your customers like you did when you were still a one-truck guy shaking every hand and being in every home? Those are the types of hard to leave relationships I’m talking about that are hard to maintain as you grow. Once you have a fleet of techs and the homeowner only sees the company owner when there’s a BIG issue, the relationship can begin to feel sterile. Here's where a customer newsletter can be gold for relationship building. When the homeowner sees your face and reads your editorial section speaking directly to them, it’s like they know you, you’re accessible, and you’re their friend, even though you might have never actually met.

And remember, the value of building a true relationship with your database is two-fold. Not only do happy, connected, and invested customers buy more often, buy larger, and refer friends, they’re also much more likely to forgive our mistakes without just moving on.

Life happens. You will double book, someone will call in sick, a truck will break down, or a tech will make a mistake somewhere down the line, and you’ll have an upset customer. If you’ve invested in them along the way, much like my friend above, they’re likely to show you grace and give you another chance. It’ll still be an uncomfortable conversation, but you can make a withdrawal from the equity bank. And it just might end with hugs and a, “Thanks for letting me have another chance,” rather than a sayonara and a scathing Google review.

For more tips and information on building healthy, long-term relationships with your entire customer base, click here for a free customer retention information kit from Hudson Ink.