We were lucky to catch up with Travis Dennison recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Travis, thanks for joining us today. Can you share a customer success story with us?

One of my favorite clients has to be Mrs. Ida. She’s 67 years strong and takes care of her disabled veteran husband and to make ends meet she has 2 rental properties in Atlanta. I met Mrs. Ida while volunteering at a city council town hall meeting meant to inform the retired fix income community on how to lower their property taxes and stay compliant with city housing codes. Most of the elderly homeowners live in distressed homes and tend to rack up violations from the city, I help out when and how I can around their homes. Mrs. Ida over heard me talking to someone about what we do in the community, she patiently waited her turn to talk to me. I’m 6’4’’, she is about 5’0’’. She comes over to me and ask me to bring my ear to her, “can you help with my rental too?” I laughed and said “I sure can!” . She then starts to tell me about all the horror stories she’s been through with other Handymen who have taken advantage of her over the years. I have to pause and say the reason she’s one of my favorite clients is her positive attitude. Even though she’s been through so much, from folks taking the deposit or full payment and never returning, or doing bad work. Mrs. Ida still kept a smile on her face and said “Bless their hearts” and meant it.
I’ve done big projects and small projects for Mrs. Ida and her husband while she shares stories with me about there home, which they raised all 4 of their kids in. Every blemish, mark, or scratch had a story.
She is one my repeat clients and often recommend us to others! This is a great example of customer service and turning building rapport into genuine relationships.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My father has always been good with his hands and very skilled with fixing things. He is a master electrician Of 40+ years, and a jack of all trades. And my mom has been a landlord and real estate investor for multiple, multi-family properties my entire life. I learned a lot watching and helping her serve her tenants. They passed those skills on to me and taught me a lot about self-reliance and being useful as a man.

My time working for the military, membership in Alpha Phi Alpha, and being a landlord myself has molded my business savvy as well.

It is because of all of these lived experiences that a lot of my friends kind of know me as the The Black MacGyver or the handy Liam Neeson. They all know “I have a particular set of skills…” and a wide range of knowledge & experience. During the pandemic neighbors were always calling me to fix things and recommended their friends to call me as well. The business just grew organically out of the value I was providing and the word-of- mouth.

404/ATL Handyman provides a wide range of services that include mounting, light fixture installs, furniture assembly, plumbing, minor electrical work, Smart home devices install, and much more! Beyond the obvious, the main problem that we solve for our clients is giving them their time back and allowing them to feel relaxed when delegating something as important as work in their home. They know it will be done quickly, and more importantly., correctly.

What sets us apart is also one of the things that I am most proud of: our reputation and dedication to customer satisfaction. This led to us actually getting a proclamation and day from the city of Atlanta as “ Atlanta’s Official Handyman”. May 22nd is 404/ATL Handyman Day in the City of Atlanta.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

People want to hire ATL Handyman because we care. We will do the same job at your house that we would do at our mother’s or close relative’s house. It is our mission to enhance living environments and spaces with precision work while having the utmost respect for our client’s homes and their space. Providing our community with quality and punctual work while maintaining friendly and professional long-term relationships through our high attention to detail keeps clients coming back. Each job is treated with respect and care so that clients gain the peace of mind that comes with knowing the job was done correctly. Our community is important to us so we operate with honesty and customer service being a top priority.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

After quarantine lifted, we pivoted by shortening the list of services we offer to make quoting and pricing simpler.

We also switched CRMs recently and brought on two admin to manage clients. Being willing to properly train new team members helped me to be more trusting with delegating responsibilities in the business.

As business owners it’s difficult to trust that people will do the job as well as we do. I found that really dedicating that extra time to work out and write down what the daily SOP looks like helped with onboarding a lot!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://404handyman.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atlhandyman/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/404ATLHandyman

Image Credits
Personal image: Jared Winston @wifiwinston