If you operate a construction company or any other firm that works along similar lines, you’ll know how critical it is to manage the relationship between field workers and customers. Technicians and contractors should deliver an exceptional service, given that they’re the front-line team and what most customers are likely to remember.
But how can you ensure that they get along with each other? What do you need to do to ensure your construction field services actually do the job you expect and provide a high level of customer service?
Offer Comprehensive Training
The first step (and usually the most important) is to offer comprehensive training. Field workers should understand that they are essential to the success of the firm and that their interactions with customers are essentially what enables the company to win repeat business.
Comprehensive training should focus on the customer service-related aspects of building work. For example, it should concentrate on client interactions. Building workers aren’t just there to “do a job” but change how people feel, something that a lot of people in the field often fail to understand. The quality of the work, ironically, is often secondary to the work that comes with it (like clearing up and providing customers with regular messages).
If you can train workers to be courteous and solution-oriented, then you’re usually 70% of the way there. Other smaller items, like conflict resolution, come with time.
Use Mobile Tech
You can also improve field worker management and customer satisfaction by using technical solutions. Software for managing construction field service is now dramatically better than it was in the past, helping everything run more seamlessly and reducing hiccups.
Mobile technology is useful for multiple reasons, including accessing schedules, delivering project details and working on client communications. These systems connect to devices in the field instantly, making coordination a piece of cake and reducing the risk of frustration on the part of HQ teams, field operatives, and clients.
Collect Feedback
If you want to improve field worker and customer interactions further, it is critical to collect feedback. The more you can work out what’s wrong with your existing arrangements, the happier they are liable to be (and the more likely it is that they will recommend you to their friends).
The easiest way to collect feedback is via email surveys. Reaching out and asking clients what they thought about your service and how you could improve it can provide valuable insights. Often, you will see patterns in the data, which you can feed into your training programs to prevent similar issues arising in the future.
When you collect feedback, you also reveal your commitment to service excellence. You prove to customers that you’re interested in doing the best job possible for them, no matter what it is that you’re working on. If there are issues, accepting feedback before it turns into reviews is the best policy and protects your brand from online damage.
Enhance Worker Safety
You also want to enhance worker safety and well-being if you are looking to improve positivity and engagement with clients. Employees who feel looked after by you will pass this same spirit onto customers.
Worker safety is more challenging for field-based companies because each site is different. However, there are still things you can do. These include:
- Allow field workers to refuse work if the property is unsafe without any salary consequences
- Provide field workers with equipment they need to keep themselves safe without charging for it
- Provide proper training on how to stay safe on the jobsite
When you provide this background support, most field workers will listen. They’ll also take precautions on the jobsite to the extent they feel they are necessary. This puts them in the driving seat and gives them a sense of agency, permitting them to avoid work that isn’t safe until the situation is fixed.
Provide Ongoing Skill Development
Another way to improve field worker and customer interactions is to provide ongoing skill development. The more you can support this, the better off they’ll be.
Ongoing skill development is important because most field workers will struggle to retain information beyond 12 months. Continuous learning, however, reinforces the original lessons and reminds them of the standards you want them to achieve. The more they practice over the years, the more successful they are likely to be.
Foster A Workplace Culture Of Professionalism
If you can foster a workplace culture of professionalism, that can sometimes work even better. Ensuring that you enshrine the values you care about as an owner means that it is more likely other people in the company structure will embody them.
For example, you could demonstrate politeness to team members, encouraging them to do the same for customers when they go to their houses. You could also dress smartly, encouraging workers to wear clean clothes and look their best whenever they arrive on a building site, even if it is a dirty environment.
Keep Communication Channels Open
You also want to establish direct lines of communication between all team members and clients. Field workers should be able to speak to them as easily as those from head office.
Usually, construction firms forward customers to client managers who deal with their issues from the comfort of their offices. But, usually, it is the field workers on the ground who have the best information. Communication channels are critical when customers want to make complaints, but they should also provide them with routing to the right people in your organization.
Make Reporting Simple
Finally, you can make your field workers more client-focused by transforming how they do their reporting. Using software to streamline the whole thing cuts down on admin costs and allows workers to focus more on the tasks in front of them.
If you implement all these strategies, you stand a good chance of improving your relationships with customers. Field workers will have the tools and attitude they need to offer the best possible customer service when on clients’ properties. rive
