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I’ve undertaken a kitchen renovation, and the Customer Experience the various tradespeople provide leaves much to be desired. After this project, it’s not hard to imagine why tradespeople have the poor reputation tradespeople do. We discussed what they can do about it at length on our latest podcast, and I thought I would share it here as well.
So, What’s the Problem?
The following are a few of the things we have experienced during this project:
- Inaccurate pricing: Before we started, we got a bid. However, the contractors never stick to the bid, and there are always overages.
- Disgust with previous workers: I heard many complaints about what the bloke before them did, who had no idea what they were doing. (In fairness, the contractors today might be right; the electrician showed us that the previous one installed the lighting in our breakfast nook using a lawnmower cable.)
- Lack of collaboration: Contractors seem reluctant to collaborate, even when they recommend each other; instead, they do their job almost as if they have blinders on to what might come after them.
- Speaking in too much jargon: Too many tradespeople use technical language with their customers, leaving customers feeling confused, which doesn’t create a great feeling about the experience.
- A loose relationship with time: Some contractors arrive late and finish early when they show up at all. Other times, this loose relationship with time reveals itself in dramatically underestimated timelines for project completion.
With these experience management traits, one might wonder how these tradespeople make a living.
Not all contractors do these things. Many tradespeople come out when they say they will, are skilled at what they do, and have excellent customer service skills. I have had many wonderful experiences with tradespeople who did a magnificent job and treated me fairly.
We have a guy who handles our plastering and has done loads of it for us at different times over the years. I will hire him every time. He goes over and above my expectations. For example, he will finish a project on a Saturday if he’s running late or if there is a delay, and not because I asked him to; he does it on his own. He’s a gem amongst a lot of pebbles.
However, tradespeople have a bad reputation, and the list above is why. That’s why when you find a good one, you have to keep them.
How Tradespeople Remind Me of Organizational Siloes
It is surprising to me how analogous the trades are to business. For example, the electrician who found the lawnmower cable running my breakfast nook lights rewired the kitchen. To do so, he chopped holes in the roof.
However, when the plasterer arrived, he was appalled. The electrician hadn’t cut the holes out in squares, which makes fixing the holes easier for the plasterer. Chances are, if the electrician had known that or consulted with the plasterer, he would have cut the holes the way the plasterer needed them. However, that conversation never took place; the two never even met.
This conflict and missed opportunity for process improvement reminded me of the various departments within an organization. Many organizations have situations where each group works independently and is either unaware or doesn’t care that they’re making life harder for another group. For example, Sales and Marketing might have one message they deliver customers, while Operations have another. Sometimes, these messages don’t match up, and the customer is left complaining to Customer Service about why they didn’t get what their salesperson promised them.
It could save Operations and Customer Service a lot of grief if Sales and Marketing shared their messages and everyone got on the same page. However, like the plasterer, Operations and Customer Service often have to fix the not-square holes left behind.
Plus, there is a bit of tribalism present here, too. The carpenters stick together, as do the electricians and carpenters. These groups share common values—and the same complaints about the other tribes that just worked on the project before them.
One of the Causes of the Problem is Information Asymmetry
My frustration isn’t unique. Many customers feel the way I do about their renovations, kitchen or otherwise.
One problem with the experience is that customers don’t know how things work regarding wiring cables or plastering holes. That’s why they hired a contractor to fix the problem in the first place. The contractor has the knowledge and expertise.
So, many times, you meet someone who then looks at your project, and then delivers bad news (read: $$$$). For example, we only met the electrician when he informed us the entire kitchen needed a rewire. We agreed since the stakes are high on getting the electrical right, plus, he had the whole lawnmower-cable-as-breakfast-nook-lighting example backing up his assessment.
However, more than a little bit of me was skeptical at first. How did I know if the kitchen needed a rewire? I didn’t. I had to take this nearly-strangers’ word for it, which feels risky, and we all know how customers feel when deciding something that involves risk.
Another problem I encountered was my roof leaked. I didn’t know that until the kitchen team demolished my current kitchen, and we saw the results of said leak. So, now I know I need a new roof, which I wasn’t planning on doing right now. However, much like the electrical, roofs are kind of important to have in good working order.
In the roof situation, at least I could see the damage caused by the leak. That said, even in the face of incontrovertible evidence of a roof leak, it’s challenging not to feel like everyone on site knows more about this than you do, and they are pressing that advantage.
Other industries face this, too. Customized software solutions often involve contractors with way more knowledge than customers. Plus, software projects rarely go without a snag somewhere along the way, which requires customers to take the contractor’s word for it that there is an actual problem with the software plan, and it will now take longer and cost more than the original agreement.
That said, many firms in this area have found ways to create trust and control projects enough that they don’t spin out in terms of cost and time. Perhaps tradespeople can learn from these tactics.
A local electrician mastered this with a remarkably clever tagline. Recently, I did a boneheaded thing and drilled through my electrical cable, hanging a fishing rod rack by my back door, and knocked the electricity off for the whole house. As luck would have it, I managed to do this only two days before I was to be gone from home for a few months. So, I felt panicked about getting the house back online with power. I needed an electrician quickly.
I looked up electricians and found one with a tagline that caught my eye: No Malarkey with Mr. Sparky. It was memorable, sure, but also self-aware. There often is malarkey when you deal with tradespeople. Acknowledging that is a great way to market to people. It worked for me and, incidentally, for my electricity.
So, What Should You Do With This?
Customer Experience does not necessarily come naturally to businesses. A few skilled individuals recognize the importance of Customer Experience, but the majority do not. Some tradespeople are more focused on themselves and their small business than the customer. These are the type I hired for the kitchen reno, apparently.
We might all have a little tradesperson in us, even if we work in the corporate world. Therefore, it is essential to remember that, as you are working in your organization, people do not necessarily understand how to deliver a customer experience inherently. Therefore, having systems that ensure that Customer Experience directives are covered is essential to most organizations.
The trades are a bit of a business in a microcosm. The whole culture of the industry seems to follow this model, opportunity-wise. That means a massive opportunity exists to get these experiences right. Investing the time and money to get experiences right now also pays off later.
So, I would take the lead of Mr. Sparky and when it comes to delivering experiences, take the approach of no malarkey.
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