Your major clients in gas, oil and mining exploration can be stern taskmasters. They demand prompt, reliable service and top-tier environmental standards from every contractor they hire. The big players face scrutiny at every turn, incredible costs of doing business, and their contracting-job decision makers are under great pressure to keep costs down and productivity up.
As a result, sometimes it feels like your highest-profile customers are the 500-pound gorilla and you’re the ripe banana waiting to be devoured. But given the high-stakes public relations game surrounding energy and minerals extraction across North America, the standards of excellence required of you and your crews are understandable.
RAISE THE BAR
The reality is you have to perform to a high level every day or risk being replaced by another contractor who promises to do better. This can make for a stressful business environment, to be sure. There’s little room for error. But it also keeps you, as a support services contractor, on top of your game.
These big companies often set the customer service bar the highest. If you can reach that high level of service for them, you should be able to do it for every client, every day. Here are a few tips to position your company at the top of the heap on energy and mining companies’ lists of support service providers and keep you there for when the next project comes along:
Loose lips sink ships
Good work alone won’t necessarily get you a callback from a high-profile client. These companies work in and around the pressure-cooker of public opinion, and your behavior – right or wrong – is a reflection on their core service values.
If your client’s goals and initiatives come into question on the job site or among your neighbors in town, you shouldn’t engage in a dialog, even if you intend to support the valuable work they perform. I’m sure most of your clients tell you upfront not to discuss your work with friends, neighbors or a media person who might call you up. Comply with their work rules and wishes … without exception. Nowhere is Bill Shakespeare’s advice, “Discretion is the better part of valor” more appropriate than in your professional client dealings.
Preach safety every day
Is your safety program all that it could be? If you do things like tailgate meetings in the morning, keep a regimented training schedule and stay on top of industry safety trends, you’ll reduce accident and lost-time incidents. No matter how large or small your business, you need to put someone in charge of safety training. Invest in safety, both in taking crews off the job to train them properly and in getting the latest equipment to prevent accidents and injuries. Constantly look for upgrades in personal protective equipment, and don’t just wait for straps, gloves and other items to wear out or electronics like gas detectors to malfunction before replacement.
An emphasis on safety will pay off in many ways. First, it will showcase your professionalism to customers. Second, it will show your workers how much you care about their well-being. And third, it will give you an advantage when shopping for liability insurance and setting out to meet customers’ stringent safety standards.
No surprises
A boss long ago shared a bit of advice that has served me well over the years: “I can live with a mistake, but I don’t like surprises.” If you miss a deadline, make a minor error on the job or miscalculate a bill for service, report it immediately. Don’t wait for your customer to learn of an issue through a third party or hope the smallest infraction goes undiscovered.
As soon as an error is known to you, own it – take full responsibility – and notify the customer. It’s not your decision what type of mistake is serious enough to report. That’s up to the client, and you should make it known through the appropriate channels as soon as is practical. Getting out in front of an issue is your best chance to maintain a great working relationship with a client. Letting a problem slide and fester is your best chance to lose a valued customer.
Beat the deadlines
Don’t just aim to meet a service deadline. Make sure you beat it. When it comes to giving quality service to important clients, get on Vince Lombardi time and stay there. If you’re not familiar with the demanding standards that made Lombardi the greatest –and most feared – coach in NFL history, he lived in his own time zone and required everyone around him to adhere to his schedule. If you had a meeting with the famed Green Bay Packers coach, you arrived 15 minutes before the appointed time … Or you didn’t get to see him.
Set those own tough standards for yourself and your crews working for gas, oil or mining customers. Arrive at a work site early. Beat the client’s expectations for job completion, and never make a decision-maker wait for you to show up at a meeting.
Look professional on the front lines
“Dress for success,” doesn’t just apply to your sales force. Workers wearing clean, well-fitting uniforms, trucks with a professional business logo and well-maintained heavy equipment will be noticed and appreciated by your customers. And looking good goes beyond issuing the uniforms and paying lip service to equipment maintenance.
Get out in the field and perform spot inspections. When you issue uniforms, make sure they are being worn, shirts are tucked in and they are washed regularly. Make sure your crews take the time to detail trucks and inspect their hardworking equipment on a daily or weekly basis. If a part breaks on an excavator, for instance, fix it immediately.
When in doubt, ask
You know what they say about assuming things? It makes an #&% out of you and me. The rule is doubly important in the arena of support services contracting with a major customer. Always seek clear instructions from your clients and ask for clarification on work orders if you aren’t absolutely sure about the direction. “I didn’t understand what you wanted,” is never an appropriate excuse for a misstep.
A well-known client with many contractors beating down the door for work will be quick to turn elsewhere if you don’t get things right. Remember that delays in your service caused by miscommunication can cost your customers huge amounts of money. The manager you work for has his or her job on the line every day, just like you do. Get your marching orders down cold and don’t let them down.
REMAIN DILIGENT
Recently, I had a conversation with the owner of a trucking outfit whose drivers were taken off water hauling routes by a natural gas exploration company. Despite this company’s best efforts, the client dropped them in favor of another hauler. Unfortunately, these things can happen whether or not you follow all support services best practices.
While the lost contract seemed like a harsh outcome from this trucker’s perspective, it reinforced the importance of exceeding the customer’s expectations every day. Well-known companies with lots of work to assign have many hiring choices. The only way to land and keep that support business is to anticipate their needs and remain diligent about your performance.
