Our Favorite Clients

A couple of years ago, I went to the mall with my wife. She had found a pair of jeans at a certain store and wanted me to check them out. I had never been in this store before. In fact, I had never even heard of it, even though I must’ve walked by it many times. We weren’t inside the store for more than 5 seconds when I looked at my wife and said, “Are you kidding me? Do I look like a teenager?!” The place was a real stretch for me! The music was way too loud and there was a weird smell in the air – kind of nauseating, the whole vibe just made me want to get out of there! My wife persisted, however, and after I agonizingly tried on the pants we actually bought them. I said something like, “Now I can look like a 40-something trying to pretend he’s a teenager.” Please understand that my wife is far more fashion forward than me and without her I’d probably look stuck in the past. She’s good for me! However, she hasn’t tried to make me go back to that store again. It simply is not a good fit for me.

Be All Things To People

I tell that story to illustrate a point. No matter what business you’re in, you can’t (and shouldn’t try to) be all things to all people. Did the store at the mall do something wrong? Absolutely not! In fact, I admire that they know who their target customer is and tailor their entire experience to fit that person. I simply am not that person.

One of the things I’ve noticed in the home improvement/residential construction industry is that too many companies (including Eby Exteriors in the past) try to do just that – be all things to all people. I’ve also observed that the people buying home improvements are just as diverse as the people you see walking in the mall. Somewhere along the line a light bulb went on for us as we began to recognize who the people were that really appreciated our services. There were a lot of similarities among those clients who, after the job was over, couldn’t stop raving about us AND who we really enjoyed working for. They’re our favorite clients! We have identified who our best potential clients are, and we tailor everything we do to reach and satisfy those people just as the store in the mall knew who their best clientele were.

This doesn’t mean that we discriminate in any way! Just as the store in the mall sold me the pants, we will work for whoever hires us. It’s just that we’re unashamedly who we are, so it usually doesn’t take long for folks to recognize that we may not be the best fit for them. It doesn’t make them or us bad people. It doesn’t mean that one of us is right and the other wrong – we’re just different.

Characteristics of Our Favorite Clients

So having said all that, I would like to list the characteristics of those people who we refer to as our favorite clients. They are people who …

1. Appreciate the value of relationship in business.
   Our goal is to establish a relationship with our clients so that we can best understand and provide for their construction needs. We listen and learn so that we can offer the best possible solutions rather than give cookie-cutter answers. It’s very rewarding for our team to not only do the job but learn to know our clients. The bottom line is that it’s simply more fun to work for and to hire people you like!
2. Care about their home and who is working there.
   It’s important for our favorite clients to have someone working on their home who they can trust and who will respect their property and possessions. Our employees are those people! They’re also friendly guys. It’s not uncommon for our clients to comment to me after the job about how much they appreciated and even enjoyed having our people at their home.
3. Trust the professionals.
   People who hire us typically want to know they are hiring a company who is going to do the job right so they don’t have to worry about it. Not that our clients don’t ask us questions or want to be updated or even share problems with us. However, they want the peace of mind of hiring a great company and they’re confident that we’ll perform.
4. Care about aesthetics.
   We love making homes look great! Our potential clients quickly discover that we will work hard to design the project and find the best products that will do just that. We don’t offer rote solutions but evaluate each project and help our clients make their home look the best it possibly can.
5. They want the job done right the first time.
   Many of our clients have already gone down the road of using cheaper products and chasing the lowest price. They’ve discovered that long-term value is found in “doing it right the first time” and they are willing to spend more now so they get a properly installed product they know they’ll appreciate worry-free for many years.
6. Are looking for the best long-term value.
   There’s nothing wrong with shopping for a low price – particularly if you need something and are on a limited budget. But the lowest price is rarely the best long-term value. There are many construction companies who compete on a lowest-price level and that’s great, it’s just not how we like to do business. Of course price is always important, but we like to sell and install products that offer more than just a low price. We also want to make sure that our installers are compensated more than fairly so that we can hire and retain the best employees. Great products and the best people simply do not add up to the lowest price.