The Customer Appreciation Thread:

27RMT0N

27RMT0N

Been here much more than a while
Location
WA
A lot of our time on this forum is related to discussing the actual work, climbing techniques, tools, etc; but at the end of the day none of this would be possible without our customers. We work in a public-facing job and those good relationships with other people are both what drives a good reputation and repeat customers, as well as a large amount of the personal satisfaction in what we do for a living. I was thinking it would be a good idea to start a thread, hopefully ongoing, where we can all add some positivity and share some stories about especially good customer experiences during the workday.

Today I just had day-three with a recent customer. He got my name from a neighbor, I came out for a bid, he liked what I had to say about my methods and aesthetic. Ended up scheduling two days, one for me to just enhance the features along the driveway (expose rocky cliffs, clear brush to see the old growth trees, etc) and one for some necessary removals. On the detail work, he just said 'show up for a day and use your judgement' so I did that, starting at one end of the driveway and working my way towards the house, while having the removals on the schedule for a later date. He was so pleased he scheduled another day of detail work around the house, which has now lead to scheduling two more days in addition to the day of removals that happened today. Super friendly client, lets craftspeople use their own judgement on what is best, appreciates the results and I think is rewarded with better work because of that. Wonderful person to work for.

So if/when anyone has customers that was especially fun to work for, gave a nice tip, is a repeat customer or anything else, please share the stories with the community so we can add some positivity and appreciate the people that allow us all to make a living doing this.

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Great thread idea. For all the issues that go with customer service and dealing with the public, I think it’s important to remember the customers that appreciate your work and what you do.

I just had a similar customer who more or less was going off of my judgement versus what they wanted done. They knew they wanted to trim the trees but we’re trusting my advice to do what I recommended, etc.

Job included two small removals in addition to all the trimming, but the customer decided against the removals and to leave them for now. We did remove a leader from one of the trees but left the other alone. I repeatedly mentioned I would reduce the quote because he took off work but he insisted I keep the price the same. He also gave me a book that he thought I’d be interested in that is photography from the air at night of different cities and their lights, etc. and told me I could use his name if needed as a reference.

Pretty fun job and nice guy to work with.
 
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A favorite experience of mine was when a customer laid out a huge lunch for the crew, and had us sit there with them for an hour. The husband was an award-winning home brewer, and had twelve taps on his porch! After we finished the job, he invited us to sample his work. I tried his dragon milk clone and an ice bock. I wasn’t driving the truck that day.
 
I have dozen to a dozen or two clients that I now consider friends, and another batch where we have such a mutual respect that I just swing by quarterly and we do a walk though and I just go to work. No hesitations no bs, just some good solid relationships.
it’s not quite free reign but more of a collaborative effort. These people are also there when needed the most, and how I managed to purchase our first home. No part knew that it actually came with a 40% gift of equity until the appraisal. She wanted a simpler life in a condo, so we basically bought her one, and she gave us her house on five acres. Obviously she knew that we would respect her wishes with the trees her and her deceased husband planted and cared for. Things like this just don’t happen in the city, and when the ‘company’ is just looking to make a buck. Many think I under charge and can get more, which I can, but I’m not in this game to get rich or grow a huge operation, I respect my clients and they respect me, and I feel I get a more than fair exchange that is beyond money.
The writing was on the wall for one employee, and did a working interview with a friend for a week. I made just one call and instantly had a job lined up to provide this person with a well rounded representation of what we do here.
It was a quarterly maintenance client, and I offered to defer the next visit. However they were so excited for me they refused the deferment and insisted I get my bit over ASAP for the ‘play ground’ experience!
 
We had a customer bring in subs for the whole crew from a renowned delicatessen the other month, it was a very nice surprise, and a relatively expensive lunch!

We had another guy send the whole crew home with dinners he had just done up, he was a giant Samoan and cooked up Hawaiian style thick pork chops with corn, stuffing, and all the trimmings. It was excellent. It was also apparently payment in full for a two day highly technical removal… Hopefully some day the lawyers will get him to pay his bill…
 
Will accept baked goods and fresh or pickled veggies. People are creative with the pickling. Pickled asparagus, green beans, and leeks are excellent, so long as there’s some dill in it :)

On a couple occasions I’ve gotten homemade wine, and fruit preserves. Usually the wine ain’t so great, but I’m deeply touched and appreciative of the generosity anyways.
 
27RMT0N said:
On the detail work, he just said 'show up for a day and use your judgement' so I did that, starting at one end of the driveway and working my way towards the house, while having the removals on the schedule for a later date. He was so pleased he scheduled another day of detail work around the house, which has now lead to scheduling two more days in addition to the day of removals that happened today. Super friendly client, lets craftspeople use their own judgement on what is best, appreciates the results and I think is rewarded with better work because of that. Wonderful person to work for.
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These people are the foundation for a lot of small businesses. They're just so reliable as customers, and you can always count on them to call from time to time, or at least keep referring you, or defending you're reputation if the situation ever presented itself. My dad had a lot of people like this in the painting business and some of our best work was done for those customers. It really pays off to have someone let you complete a job completely to your specs and vision.
 
Ok this is very personal but I feel that it’s worthy to share, and likely one of the benefits of small community stuff.
I got my start in a interesting way which I don’t mind talking about but it’s a long story.
In a nutshell it fell into my lap in some regards. A local response to the Great Recession on was the creation of a ‘lending league’. A organization of sorts where local wealthy people chose to invest in the community instead of the banks. A win win of sorts. I was thinking of expanding my side business by purchasing a chipper, inquired and literally had no clue what was going on and thrown off the deep end. The result was 4-5 people willing to open their check books and invest with low interest short term loans, risky on their part but higher sums were divided across ‘many members’
Their promises ‘fell short’ but I got one loan for 10k 3% for 60 months. This afforded a f-250 and a starter chipper. I paid it all off in a little over 3 years and also got a little business coaching too! One of the other members is a well known for funding some big non profit type endeavors, and they really wanted to help but my request was lost on their desk. Which was very genuine, and they were my previous employers client.
They witnessed me grow on my own but also stick it out with my employer which showed honor and respect. He finally had to go into partial retirement and I would never leave him hanging on his own until he reached that point on his own.
I was given a grant for my dump truck and a loan for the mini skidsteer, I could have financed it traditionally and even applied. The they matched the terms and I bought my mini skidsteer.
Now that the mini is nearly paid off (also way early) they offered to help with anything else, and they know I’m shopping for a chipper. Same as before I’m checking in on all my options, and the conversation with them hasn’t been in any kind of detail. The conversation was something along the lines of
‘let me know if I can help you with that’
Me ‘ok I’ll keep that in mind and keep you posted’
Applied and paid a deposit.
Me ‘I got approved for financing, and paid a deposit, but rather keep my money local and know who/where it’s going’
Reply ‘consider it done, we I’ll call it a handshake just let us know how much and when’

boom, it’s done just like that. And yes I’ve picked up where my previous employer left off, charged fairly, and have been put in charge of one of their rental property, and one of their non profit brain child.

I know I’ve gotten lucky, and even was teary eyed thanking them. I got a loving slap in the face (yes for real) and they said ‘we believe in you’ ‘so knock that off’.

I’ve made it a point to never ask, and never ask for what I can’t pay off.

point being mutual respect will be rewarded but it’s a two way street and still requires calluses.
I want to say about 25% of my work is for clients
65% is for customers
And the remainder is from customers who turned into clients who turned into friends
 
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Shout out to my clients today. This is the third property of theirs I’ve worked on, always carte blanche, walk around the yard and give them a laundry list of trees to prune or remove.

Blowing chips into a pile in the woods. Leaving firewood sized wood in moveable lengths. Easy peasy.

My chipper didn’t start today- water is getting into the top of the gas tank, Carlton I have words for you, also the monsoon from Hurricane Fred didn’t help. I’m workshopping in their driveway trying not to be too obvious about dumping sludgy gas into their wood chip pile. She comes out with two freshly baked brownies, and ‘would I like a seltzer? And let me know if you need to borrow any tools, etc.’ I got the chipper running after replacing inline filter, blah blah.

We finish work, all set and ready to leave- the 86 6.9 doesn’t want to start. Lol what a day. She’s like, oh we’ve always had old cars, always tinkering on them! Let me know if you need a ride! What a sweet person. Purged air in fuel line, limped myself to parts store and made it home with a new fuel filter. It was a stressful day but with a different kind of client it would have been horrible. Anyways, just saying there’s some really lovely people out there, and I’m grateful I’ve gotten to work with these folks.
 
Serf Life said:
Had a string of interactions with repeat customers in the past 2 weeks where they didn’t want a quote, estimate, or budget. One said to “do your thing” in an area of their property, I asked a few specifics and she replied she trusted us with our work. Felt really nice.
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I wouldn’t like that, I like the jeopardy of a price discussion.

Some guys think that the scenario you describe is the ideal.

Sounds more like The Truman Show.
 
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