What is the GUEST Technique in Customer Service?
Learning new customer service techniques can help you better sell jobs over the phone or in person with your customer. One of the helpful customer service techniques you might want to try is GUEST. We’ll explore what this technique stands for and how to use it as a contractor or small business owner below.
G for Greet Your Customer
Focus on making a strong impression on every customer by greeting them with genuine enthusiasm. It can be hard to make repeat sales calls and avoid jumping right into a pitch. But this is the first time your customer is hearing from you and your first chance to make a good impression. Starting with a heartfelt greeting is best. Some greetings to try include:
- “Good morning, thank you for calling Jane’s Plumbing.”
- “Hello, my name is ___, and I’d like to help you today.”
U for Understand the Customer
After you greet the customer, you can attempt to speak, or you can try to listen. Listening is best because it helps you understand your customer’s true needs before you attempt to sell to them. If your customer didn’t open up after your greeting, it’s wise to ask a few open-ended questions to try to prompt discussion. You should ask relevant questions for your business, of course, and try to stay away from generalities like “what are you looking for?” Instead, try, “what do you need from a roofing company today?” or “which part of your plumbing system are you concerned about?” The more specific, the more genuine your concern sounds.
E for Explain Your Product or Service
You know your product or services so well that it might seem patronizing to jump into explaining the benefits. However, most customers will not be as familiar as you are with the benefits of your work and explaining it to them directly is helpful. That’s even when a customer is already sold on the benefits of the product or service in general. Consider:
- “When you get an air purifier from us you also get a great warranty.”
- “Our company cares about our customers for the long term. Is you have a problem after your water heater installation we will be happy to return, free of charge.”
We don’t suggest that you do this during an emergency call. In this case, delaying scheduling for a bit of selling can be frustrating and make the customer feel like you don’t care about the serious situation they are facing. The same goes for our next tip.
S for Suggest More
Upselling is when you suggest an additional product or service that you know the customer might benefit from. It’s a great way to make your average customer more valuable. For contractors, the common upsell is a maintenance package. But, depending on your line of business, many other suggestions might work. As long as you suggest something relevant, your customer won’t be frustrated.
For example:
- “If you’re getting new sod for your lawn, you might also want our garden bed clean-up service.”
- “You can really make the most of your time at our event venue by booking out one of our on-site hotel rooms.”
T for Thank
At the end of your call, always thank your customer, even if they didn’t purchase anything. They reached out, and that’s reason enough to say thanks.
You might also want to check out this customer service technique, called HEARD and Customer Service 101: The Basics of Phone Answering for Home Service Companies.
FOLLOW US