In this series, our Chair, David Biggs, introduces the seven themes of our new Better Futures strategy. The strategy begins with the theme of ‘excellent customer experiences’, and David describes the challenge housing providers face to truly get this right.
I was fortunate to recently travel in both France and northern Italy. Like many people, this was my first trip overseas since the outbreak of the pandemic.
I stayed in a few hotels and customer service really varied, from exceptional to poor. Customer service or “excellent customer experiences” are difficult to define.
Because it’s a feeling. It’s how people feel when you have engaged with them.
I know how I felt when the person I was engaging with made eye contact with me, listened to my needs, and calmly and carefully did their best to assist me. When they clearly and genuinely were interested in me, they cared. And, of course, when I experienced the opposite, I felt like I was a nuisance, an unnecessary diversion and not worth their time.
The other ingredient of an excellent customer experience, I find, is where people are well prepared and proactive. When you engage with someone that understands you and your needs and is prepared with solutions and support mechanisms, you feel that the person you are engaging with is not only interested in you but that you are dealing with the right person, someone properly briefed and trained and clearly professional.
Both elements are important, which why B3Living has a Customer Strategy, which stems from our core Better Futures strategy and sets out customer experience in the round. We know that service standards and our digital offer are a key component of it, but they need to be delivered by the right people who listen and work with our customers, guided by a customer service ethos.
Customer satisfaction is as valuable to us as it is to a small Italian hotel. The Government’s Charter for Social Housing Residents has given our sector a clear call to arms because “no one should accept poor service”.
Providing an excellent customer experience is not easy.
It’s hard work; but my experience of people at B3Living is that our colleagues really care. To me, that is the fundamental basic of excellent customer service.
By the way, if you get a chance to visit Portovenere just south of Cinque Terre in northern Italy, both are absolutely marvellous.
To learn more about our Better Futures strategy (2021-24), click here.
