By Daniel C. Brown
Just about any remodeler will tell you that the best client is one referred by another client—or a former client coming back with another project. Gaining business through referrals or repeat customers is all about satisfying customers the first time around, successful remodelers say. It sounds basic, but if you provide a good value for the customers' money, they will refer friends and relatives to you--and you'll get your share of repeat business.
"We don't do much advertising, so a lot of our business comes from referrals," says Joseph Tripi, CEO at Cleveland-based General Building Products Corp. Tripi offers several pointers to remodelers who want to gain satisfied customers and build referrals.
Empathize with the customer, but manage their expectations. "The kitchen is the center of our customer's home, and it's difficult for them when you take it out of service for three or four weeks," says Tripi. "We tell them to expect that. We tell them we feel their pain. We make suggestions for them, such as eating out more, or using paper plates or setting up a fridge and microwave in another room. Sometimes we help them do a temporary water hookup, although that costs a little extra money."
Understand the level of quality the customer wants and can afford. During initial conversations with the customer, Tripi learns the level of quality that the customer wants. First of all, he asks why a customer wants to do a project. Much of his estimation of the level of quality desired comes from the customer's motivation for doing the remodeling project. If the customer wants a dream kitchen, naturally that raises the level of quality and the price. If it's a rental property, that tells Tripi to "build it like a tank."
A broader measure of the quality sought comes from the value of the house. "If you have a $200,000 house, that tells me it makes sense to spend $10,000 or $12,000 on the kitchen, but not $50,000," Tripi says. "For a $1 million house, you could spend $20,000 to $40,000 just on cabinets. And probably you'd do commercial-grade appliances, like a $7,000 Viking stove."
Respect the customer's ideas, even if they won't work. "I never say no to any idea," says Tripi. Instead, he negotiates with customers and shows them the consequences of their idea. A recent customer wanted an island in a kitchen, but Tripi showed them that their space was not large enough to accommodate the island and the required 3-1/2 feet of walking space around it. The result: the customer abandoned the island idea. Instead, Tripi built a peninsula desk counter jutting out from a wall. The counter only requires walking space on one side. And by slanting it at an angle to the room, the customer gained an easy view of his backyard that he originally wanted from the island. He originally wanted the island for reading the newspaper and paying bills, and he got that with the peninsula.
Provide good value for the money. For example, Tripi says upper cabinets in kitchens have become more multi-dimensional in recent years. Cabinets run to varying heights, depths can vary, and designers use various crown moldings. In former years, that look was only possible with high-end cabinetry.
But now, Tripi has found ways to achieve the multi-dimensional look with mid-scale cabinets. "We did a nice corner kitchen with varying cabinet heights, and I bet it's half the price of something at the high end," says Tripi. "We know what we can and can't do. Since we have a cabinet manufacturing shop, we can manufacture a key piece here and there. We can offer people with a $100,000 or $200,000 house that same look of a high-end cabinet."
Answer all of your client's questions. Some customers take copious notes of talks with Tripi, then bring back steno pads with pages of questions. "Bring 'em on," says Tripi. "Let's talk about your questions, and we'll answer them. Then they're satisfied, and we understand each other better."
Resolve client's problems. One client got a firsthand chance to find out why his father had recommended Tripi's company to him. The client wanted 42-inch high cabinets to run all the way to the ceiling. After the cabinets arrived, Tripi discovered a problem that's familiar to every remodeler: The soffits above the old cabinets hid some pipes located about 6 inches down from the ceiling. For a nominal charge, Tripi made cut-outs in the backs of the new cabinets and built boxes to hide the pipes. "I would say that's a no-fault problem," Tripi says. "We absorbed most of the cost. Things are always concealed, and you don't know what you'll run into."
Tripi takes justifiable pride in his reputation, which he has built over the past 38 years in the remodeling business. "I never want to be embarrassed if I meet somebody later that I have worked for," he says. "If you do a good job for people you should never worry about meeting them on the street."
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