How to Elevate the Value of Your Warranty to Stand Out From Your Competition
How would you like if a customer was waiting for you to Touch base every year, either by phone call and mostly a visit?
I am Ron Ramsden, a DYB coach, also a painting contractor here in Massachusetts.
I am going to share with you 5 points that all come under this one umbrella.
I will also share at the end, why this is going to make your business elevated above all the rest in your area.
- ABAs
This is where it is anything but advertising.
We share this and talk about it a lot in the DYB system –this is where we’re not putting a billboard up.
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We are not paying for advertising in newspapers or paying on other things, this is anything but advertising.
This is a plus for your business, you can actually let everybody know, and it will set yourself out from everyone, and be different.
- Add value.
Adding value does increase the profits of the company, so this is something –we all value our works, we know we do good work, and sometimes you have to let the customer know that you are the best, and this will also solidify your ranking of how good you are.
Can you imagine two people getting estimates on the house, or someone getting 2 or 3 estimates and you are the only one who offered a 3 or 5-year warranty, or maybe a 7 or a 9-year warranty when nobody else even mentions it?
You can even give them a piece of paper or you can actually post it right on your contract.
- Stand out
Third, you are going to stand out from your competition. Why? Because nobody else is offering this.
They might tell you they are offering this, they might mention it, but it’s often not written anywhere and some of this is just assumed.
Nobody else is doing this, if they are, they are offering a 1 or 2-year warranty, you know your work is going to hold up.
Recently, here I am in New England, harsh winters, hot summers, today it rained, it’s sunny, now it’s raining again… the weather is crazy. We just re-painted an old Victorian for the first time in 9 years and it really wasn’t that bad.
- Action.
The customer has to take action, maybe they didn’t have to take action, but you can actually subtly ask them to take action.
For the action, you could always send them a survey, and a completion form at the end of the job.
You can then ask them that to start their warranty, they sign off on the completion form if the job is done.
You can also include the warranty in one of that and ask them if they could please actually fill out.
If not the warranty, a questionnaire, maybe a Google review or post, something like that.
I wouldn’t hold that over their head, but maybe just a completion slip that actually says that the job was completed for the contract and that will actually initiate the warranty.
- Give you permission
They are going to give you permission to contact them and visit them every single year. What am I talking about?
I am talking about the warranty, you will say, yeah, I give a warranty, but do you really give a warranty?
A warranty is to let the customer know that you not only back up the work that you do, but you also are the best.
We wouldn’t be offering a 5 or 7 or a 9-year warranty on our work if we didn’t know it was going to hold up.
And it’s not the worst thing, it’s something that needs to be done because that shows everybody that you are backing up your word.
We are not going to get into writing the warranty and the specifics.
In different parts of the country, warranties are different.
If you are in Florida, Steve Burnett used to offer a 9-year warranty prior to him selling his own business.
Up here, I am in New England, we do a 2 to 3 to 5-year warranty because of the harsh cold and the heat, and different temperatures.
Different parts of the United States can offer a different warranty, but for the interior, we have a controlled environment, basically, if the paint doesn’t fade, you could offer anything else that you wanted to do.
With the warranty, many of us are not just putting the warranty up there and setting it, and just forgetting it.
What you want to do with warranties is, on the anniversary of the completion date of the job, you want to set a reminder for yourself so that you can actually touch base with them again.
So you are going to touch base every year and say, “hey, this is Ron”, or maybe do an email, a phone call or even yet both.
We are going to come over on Thursday, in the afternoon and do a walk around your property.
Or if it is an interior, give them a couple of times that will work for you, and don’t give them a yes or a no, give them an A or a B option.
Which one of these times works for you?
I want to inspect the property to keep the warranty in action.
So, these are ways and I would say probably 70% of the times we walk through for our warranty, the conversation turns to the next project.
Or they would say, while you are here, can you look at something?
So, warranties are different in all places in the United States, like I said, because of the weather.
I am not saying a 3-year or 9-year is the way to go, you have to figure that out for yourself, but with proper prep and quality products, you know the product is going to last for a long time.
But it is unbelievable for your advertising budget, you are doing quality work anyways, people are going to talk about it, they are going to go to the next dinner party and cookout and say, “my painter gave me a 5-year warranty…3 years ago he painted my house and he came back again this year to inspect it and he did a couple of touch ups”
We don’t warranty decks, we warranty none of the flat, but as we are walking around the house, we always mention and have a conversation, if there is a power wash or if there is a deck staining or something like that.
Great ways to touch base with the customers, I just wanted to share that.
If you don’t have your warranty on your estimate, in your contract, make sure you get it out there and touch base with these customers every single year.
They are giving you permission with this warranty, to call them to visit them every single year –that is going to increase your business year after year after year.
And look at it this way, if you did 10 jobs this year and warrantied them, 10 jobs next year, you are following up, you’re doubling your production every year at that point.
So, anyways, good luck out there, I hope this helps you.
Once again, I am ron@dybcoach.com, if you would like to talk to me.
You can also learn more at joindyb.com, I am a painting contractor, I feel your pain, and I feel your success.
If you would like to talk, find me on Facebook, send me a message, I would love to chat with you either through messenger or I can share with you my cell phone number.
Get out there and add the warranty… It is gold, have a great day.
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