3 Easy Ways to Find Great Customer Satisfaction

Customer Satisfaction shouldn’t be a guessing game where winning is defined by fewer angry customers than happy ones at any given time. The achievement of customer satisfaction should be a SMART goal … one which is specifically defined, measurable – a number is attached to it, attainable, realistic and time-based (there should be a regular pulse to the measurement of satisfaction).

 

But how can you KNOW your customer satisfaction “quotient”? We have found three easy ways to take the guesswork out of measuring satisfaction and we’re letting you in on the secret.

 

Employ a third party research firm to survey your customers shortly after their projects have been completed while the WOW experience is still fresh on their minds. Phillips has employed home improvement research firm GuildQuality to survey our clients. GuildQuality surveys homeowners by phone and email an average of three times each, asking them to provide unbiased assessments of our performance from the “front of the house” – our Kickoff team in the call center who receives the original request for a bid to the “back of the house” – our Project Managers who run our projects. GuildQuality surveys homeowners on the entirety of their experience; and homeowners grade us from 1 to 4 on each of the following satisfaction criteria: Sales Knowledge, Professionalism & Organization, Communication, Installation, Quality of Materials, Quality of Workmanship, Cleanliness & Safety, Work Done Right, Problem Resolution, Schedule, Value, and their Likeliness to Recommend us to a family member or friend. We receive a score from negative 100 to positive 100 on each of these criteria. Scores from -100 to zero “Need Improvement”. Scores from 70-100 are “Excellent”. Phillips aims for excellence and your company should too. Our clients deserve it. 

 

Additionally, the data tells a customer service story over time. We are able to gather and track 30-day, 90-day and “All Time” average scores per company and per employee, so we can spot trends and see when our customer service efforts need to be tweaked, or when particular team members or teams need encouragement or training. Telling a customer service story, one that you can blog about, also adds value to your brand over time.

 

Receiving this sort of amazing feedback, however, isn’t cheap or work free. Preparation goes into uploading our customers’ data to GuildQuality each week, in order to achieve a pulse of timely surveying and data collection. Once surveys have been returned to us, they are analyzed, shared throughout the company, and used to encourage, incentivize, train and improve our team. Also, every homeowner who completes a survey receives a handwritten, heartfelt thank you. We track our scores in our Customer Resource Management software (CRM) and update scores as homeowners complete additional surveys. As we improve our customer service efforts, it shows in the numbers.

 

Additionally, we are able to comment on surveys online and use customer feedback to promote our brand. This helps homeowners make informed decisions about our services as well.  

 

Is your company short on funds? There are other options for surveying your clients. You can create a survey, for example, in Google Forms, that inquires about similar criteria to those listed above and send it out via email to each of your customers for free, recording feedback within the form itself and transferring the data into your CRM or to a spreadsheet manually. You could also have an employee spend several hours each week texting and phoning homeowners requesting survey completion to increase the amount of data you receive. This process would be much more time intensive, but could achieve a similar result. Your data would not be as unbiased though, as it is when being collected by a third party. 

 

Make it easy for clients to review you on the spot when you complete their projects. Our amazing VP of Sales and Marketing has created a simple laminated sheet where clients can scan a QR code that leads directly to the sites where we most want them to survey or review us. We ask for a review after our homeowners have walked the final project with us and signed off as completely satisfied on numerous aspects of their project on a Quality Assurance form. 

 

It takes a lot of work off of the homeowner to review us on the spot. They are readily available and the quality of their job is fresh on their minds. They are usually excited about their new projects and ready to provide feedback. Make the most of every opportunity! Just don’t forget to manually record clients’ feedback in your CRM or in a spreadsheet where it can be tracked over time.

 

Provide a postcard or some other “leave behind” upon project completion thanking homeowners for their business on the spot and providing links to Google, Yelp, Bing, Facebook and the Better Business Bureau to record their experiences with your company later. But if you do, be prepared to check these locations daily to respond to your customers’ feedback, whether positive or negative. Reviews can make or break your company, but they are free advertising, as well as a good barometer for the success or failure of your services. Make sure you manually input these reviews somewhere in your CRM or in a spreadsheet as well so they are trackable.

 

Be prepared to thank your customers for their feedback. We send thank you gifts to our customers who review us online and host yearly customer service events to show appreciation for their patronage and their different levels of investment as well. We love our clients!

 

Measuring your customer’s satisfaction doesn’t have to be a guessing game. For example, Phillips knows that our “satisfaction quotient” is 91% over All Time, meaning that 91% of our clients would refer us to a family member or friend, and 94% for 2020. We have narrowed satisfaction down to a trackable percentage of clients. By employing a survey tool, recording and reporting numbers from your CRM or a spreadsheet regularly, collecting great reviews on credible sites, responding in “real time” and fixing any issues that arise, and leaving behind collateral that reminds the customer of your gratitude, as well as tracking all those great results, you can create a winning cocktail for measuring your customers’ happiness quotient, and therefore having the means to increase your customer satisfaction over time.

 

Check out our happiness quotient on Qualified Remodeler’s Top 100 Satisfaction Leaders List. Or to take the guesswork out of not only your satisfaction as a customer, but also the outcome of your next home improvement project, contact Phillips Home Improvements. We are excited to take care of your home!