7 Biggest Mistakes Home Service Companies Make

Biggest Mistakes Online

1. Not checking out your website on an iPhone and an android phone.

More than 60% of searches are done on mobile phones. Have you actually walked through the whole process of booking an appointment on your mobile website? You may find out it’s a huge struggle to fill out a form. Or your phone number is not hot and users have to copy/paste the number to call (why aren’t you using a big fat call now button?). Do you know how long it takes for your site to come up if it’s not cached?  Go ahead and clear out your cache now and test. The bonus– clearing cache makes your phone browser run faster! You may find that it takes 19 seconds for it to load. How many customers are going to wait around for that? Work with your webmaster to make sure it is drop-dead easy for your potential customers to call you, fill out a form, and speed up your site.

2. Not having/maintaining a Google My Business page.

If you don’t have one, you are not only missing out on prospective customers you are actively pushing them away and telling Google, “Make it hard for customers to find me and please, ding me when it comes to search results. I like to play hide and seek with my customers.”  It’s free. If you don’t have one or not sure, take a few minutes right now to find out. Here’s how.

3. Ignoring reviews– especially on Google.

Some companies aren’t even aware that customers are rating them on their Google My Business Listing. Some companies do know but feel they don’t have time to respond to them. And some know they need to respond to them but some intern set the page up last summer and they have no idea how to get in to respond. Google and your potential customers care about those reviews. You don’t want to tick off either one. And the only thing worse than a bad review is a review that has no reply from the company.

Biggest Mistakes Offline

4. Not sending a text/call that the technician is on their way.

Customers appreciate some heads up on when they need to be available to answer the door. Do I have time for a quick shower? Can I take the dog out for a walk?

5. Not making the customer feel comfortable.

Chances are, your technician is a man. Chances are, the customer is a woman. Your technician is a stranger coming into someone’s home. Clearly identify yourself. Wear a mask. Look to see if their owner is wearing shoes or if there are shoes next to the door. Ask if this is a no-shoe home. If your work boots are dirty, take them off regardless unless you’ll be outside the whole time. Clearly explain what you’re doing and approximately how long it will take. 

6. Not fixing problems before leaving.

The time to fix problems is not after you leave and the user posts a scathing one-star review explaining how the technician left a total mess and broke a light bulb without offering to replace it (true story from one of our clients). Instead, before leaving, have your technician say, “We aim to give 5-star service. I hope I have. If I haven’t, can you tell me what I can do to make it right?”   

Bonus Points: 

  • If a newspaper is at the foot of the driveway, bring it up to the door. 
  • If empty garbage cans are at the foot of the driveway, bring those up to the garage door.
  • Carry doggie treats. Ask the owner if it’s OK to give her pup one.

7. Not following up with a request for a review.

Either by text or by email, send a follow-up asking for a review. Include an option to directly contact someone if the work was not satisfactory. To make this even easier, consider using software that does it, such as Birdeye.

The above are not only the biggest mistakes, they are also among the easiest (and cheapest!) to fix. Once you’ve got those fixed, next step is to make sure everyone knows about your great services with some strong Google Ads campaigns. Ready to get started?