For example, the night before your scheduled jobs I recommend placing phone calls to your customers as a little reminder that you'll be swinging by to do their job at such and such a time the next day.

If you're running late for an appointment, give 'em a call and tell them so. It's simply inconsiderate to make your window washing customers wonder and wait. So go ahead and create some positive vibes by making a quick 30 second phone call telling them you're running a tad behind schedule and will be there shortly. They'll appreciate it and be impressed you cared enough to call.

And contrary to what some window washers think, prospects need to be communicated with also. Yeah I know this is about customer service, but I wanted to throw in a little blurb about prospect service since it's not talked about too much.

If you give a prospect an estimate and they need to talk it over with a spouse or just "think about it", it's super important that you give them a call in 2 to 3 days. It'll give you a huge leg up over your competition because most of your competitors don't know how to communicate properly, so they'll wait for the prospect to call them. Beat 'em to the punch and close the deal.

And if you're running late for an estimate, give the prospect a call. All customers start out as prospects, so if you fall down on prospect service with a prospect, you may never get the opportunity to even use good customer service with him or her because they won't turn into a customer.

So excellent communication with both prospects and customers = more business + more repeat business + more satisfied customers. Can't ask for anything more than that.

2. Treat your customer like a close friend...