Obviously, when you hire a lawn or landscaping company, you’re looking for results. But if you have a poor customer service experience leading up to those results, you’ll likely still be unhappy.
While many companies boast about offering great customer service, oftentimes your encounter may not match up to what you were promised or expected.
At Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape, we pride ourselves on a very unique customer service experience that we affectionately call “the royal treatment”.
We call the team that handles these interactions our Client Care Team, and we go about the entire process a bit differently than a lot of other lawn and landscaping companies.
In fact, it’s one of the aspects of our company that we aim to help set us apart. That’s why we wanted to compare the typical customer service experience to what you can expect through Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape.
When you call in with a question or a concern, there are several potential scenarios that could play out.
If you’ve hired a really large company that is part of a national franchise system, then your call could go to a call center in another state (or maybe even another country). To the person answering the phone, you’re just one of the hundreds of thousands of customers that call in.
On the flip side, if you’ve hired a really small company, then the calls might go directly to the owner. Most of the time, you’re leaving a voice message while they’re wearing many hats and often stretched very thin.
Initially, that might sound like a positive. But if it’s such a small operation that the owner handles all the customer service calls then chances are, you aren’t going to get a fast response. It could be days before you hear back.
Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape has found a sweet spot in that we’re small enough that we’re local and we really get to know all of our customers. But we have enough team members that we can’t provide a high level of customer service to everyone that calls in.
While we’re not the only mid-sized operation out there, the truth is, even some mid-sized operations often send their calls right to voicemail.
That’s not to say you’ll never get our voicemail, but we’re making every effort that we can to answer all incoming calls with a live person in the office or getting back to you promptly if you call during off-hours.
We have invested heavily in our Client Care Team and one of those ways is in both quantity and quality. What we mean by that is that we have more people physically in the office answering calls than most lawn and landscaping companies do.
But we don’t believe it’s enough to just have a lot of people. The people on our Client Care Team also need to be great at offering the best customer experience. After all, you’re not just looking for someone to answer your call—you’re looking for someone to truly help you.
There must be a balance between quality and efficiency. Just because you received efficient service doesn’t mean it was good service.
That’s why I, as CEO, take hiring for the Client Care Team very seriously. We are incredibly meticulous about who we bring on to the team and we’ve put a tremendous amount of time and effort into building the best team we can.
As a result, our customers reap the benefit. If you’ve ever done business with someone who doesn’t really care about what they’re doing—or maybe doesn’t know what they’re doing because they weren’t trained well—then you know how frustrating it can be. We never just stick someone in customer service to fill a role (as sometimes happens at other companies). We are strategically hiring folks that we feel are the best fit because they are authentic, honest, show integrity, and are dedicated to the work that they do. In other words, they really care about the customer having the best possible experience.
It sounds cliche to say that we “treat customers the way that we’d want to be treated,” but that really is a mantra we keep at heart. We are customers of other services and businesses, too. We, too, have high expectations and want a great experience. So, we understand where you’re coming from.
You deserve to be treated like royalty.
Nothing is more frustrating than being a “number.” When you call or email a company for customer service, you don’t want to be just another customer. That’s how it often feels at a lot of companies.
However, at Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape we emphasize getting to know our customers. While each Client Care Team Member might not know you by heart, we have invested heavily in technology that will allow us to have all of your account information at our team’s fingertips. This allows us to provide the best possible service because we can look at every detail of your account.
Our Client Care Team Members are not receptionists. They are trained to be able to answer questions and they know what they’re talking about. That’s also important in getting an answer quickly. How many times have you called a business and were pleasantly surprised to connect with a live person—only for them to take a message and pass it off to someone else? Now you’re back to waiting and really no closer to your answer at all.
We’re focused on being able to meet your needs as quickly and as effectively as possible.
At the end of the day, you want to choose a lawn or landscaping company that not only has the knowledge and experience to get you the results you’re looking for but one that’s going to treat you well, too. After all, you’re investing in their services and you expect a great experience as a result.
At Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape, we get that. We have continually invested time and money into our Client Care Team because we know how important your overall experience is and we don’t take that lightly. After making your selection amongst lawn and landscaping companies, we want you to have nothing left to do but relax knowing you chose wisely.
Are you ready to see what Kingstowne offers the best customer service experience for projects and maintenance at your Alexandria, Arlington, or Springfield, VA home? If so, request your consultation, get your customized plan, and relax as you get the royal treatment.