You don’t have to be a savvy businessperson to know treating customers right is one of the keys to success.

Although many things in our industry have changed over time, Mike Flaherty knows which essential business practices remain most important. The president of Advanced Pollution Control, which recently celebrated 40 years in business, sums it up best:

“You’ve always got to prove your value,” Flaherty says. “Customers want to know what to expect for their bottom line. Reputation is everything, and actions speak louder than words in proving efficiency, accuracy of work, cost-effectiveness and productivity.”

Manage expectations

Successful companies like Advanced Pollution Control thrive on repeat business; it’s the cornerstone of any service-based business and means you’ve managed to make a lasting impression. That starts with making a good first impression, however.

Matt Timberlake, vice president of the Ted Berry Company, says his crews are still going back to the place they did their first pipe bursting job 12 years ago. “We’re going back doing work for them every year,” he says.

Based in Livermore, Maine, the Ted Berry Company serves all of New England. One of the reasons why the company has emerged as a leader in the trenchless industry is a focus on managing customers’ expectations from the start. If Timberlake and his team deliver exactly as they say they will, then they know the project owner will be satisfied, leading to repeat business and good word-of-mouth.

“The majority of places we work, we end up back in,” Timberlake says. “That’s one of the reasons we take so much effort up front helping identify and manage expectations. We want the owners we’re working for to be left feeling that they got what they expected; they got it how they expected, got it on schedule, on budget.”

Be available and dependable

“I have my home phone number on my business card,” Flaherty says. “We’re our customers’ allies. When they call, they’re in trouble. When we come through in a pinch, that’s what they remember.”

If you’re a 24/7 operation, he offers this bit of advice: “Accept the 2 a.m. phone calls without complaint, and back it up with sincere actions, good equipment and well-trained employees. Put forth an effort with individual and company pride. It’s a rare combination, but it works.”

Flaherty adds, “I think we’ve been late for a job maybe once in 40 years. Our crews are on site and productive at 7 a.m.”

Another important piece of providing great customer service is knowing your clientele. Bill Tatro, owner of Snowbridge in Breckenridge, Colorado, realizes most of the commercial customers he serves are businesses that operate seasonally around the area’s multi-billion-dollar downhill ski industry. Tatro says the ski resorts and hotels that make up a large part of his business “have about 20 weekends a year from November through April to make a good chunk of their annual revenue.”

He understands that in order for Snowbridge to be successful, he needs to have a reputation as someone who is dependable and available when there’s a problem. “A backup on, say, a Friday night is a major hit to a restaurant or resort’s bottom line,” Tatro says.

Do the job right

With over 500 employees, Michael & Son Services in Alexandria, Virginia, is one of the nation’s largest privately owned companies in the industry. Owner Basim Mansour took over the company in 1990 when he was just 19 years old and has grown the business into what it is today.

Boasting over $5 million in annual revenue, Michael & Son will do everything it can to ensure customer satisfaction. In the end, it all comes down to getting the job done and doing it right.

“We want our customers to be satisfied with our work … I can’t take a chance on losing a customer, because we didn’t do everything necessary to solve an issue,” he says. “When all our efforts are for taking care of the customer, then everything goes right for us.”

But you don’t need to be a large company with a built-in customer relations team like Mansour has. With 13 employees, A-1 Sewer and Drain is a small family-owned business in Rapid City, South Dakota, yet co-owner Jason Franke takes the same approach to providing top-notch customer service.

“We never leave a job half done,” Franke says. “If it ends up costing us more money to do a job right, we’ll do it so that we still have a loyal customer at the end of the project. One of the biggest things that helped us grow is the quality of our work.”