In Search of Service Excellence.....An Insight

As part of the process of designing and developing my new ‘Trade Sales & Customer Service Masterclass’ training program, I have taken time out to become a customer of the industry to try to understand what our customers really face when buying products and/or services from us. Through my research over the past 12 months, I have found that most businesses are either inwardly focussed or just busy ‘processing’ customer inquiries or orders rather than servicing them. Have you ever put yourself in your customer’s shoes and really tried to buy something from your business?

Think about your customer (Account, Tradie, DIY or Weekend Warrior) who walks into your trade sales operation or rings your customer service hotline. What really happens to them? Next time you are walking through those departments take a moment to stop and really listen to what is being said or happening; you may be surprised.

To date, I have been a ‘customer’ of 65 different businesses across all sectors of the fenestration, glass and glazing, hardware and general construction supply industries and my research is only just underway. I have visited multiple trade stores (incognito of course) and phoned many of your trade sales and customer service departments to get a sense of how our customers get treated, with interesting results.

Whilst this research is very real, be assured, I have had a lot of fun with your staff and pushed the boundaries in every direction just to see what happens and how they will cope with a sometimes dumb, sometimes arrogant, occasionally know-it-all and in most cases, a price driven, yet-looking-for-value-for-money individual who has a credit card and is ready to buy the products that I am sold. The key to this research is ‘I want to be sold on the product’ and not simply given what I ask for.

The first insight that I want to share with you is that we are a very reactive industry and we do as we are told. By this I mean that when I asked for a particular product and discussed the application that it is going to be used in, knowing that it was not correct or would not work properly, in most cases I was still provided with that product and not challenged or sold onto a product that would be more suitable. It was simply, ‘no problem, I will send you a quote because I am busy and don’t care that the product I just discussed with you is not going to work in that application’. I wonder what would happen if I actually bought that product and then tried to take it back to get a credit or have it replaced. That is for another episode!

Some of the positives from my experience are that we are generally very good at getting quotes out to our customers - with the fastest quote time being six minutes from when I hung up the phone to the quote being delivered to my inbox. The accuracy of the quotes were reasonably good, with only a few leaving things off the quote, and most of the discussions with your trade sales or customer service people was clear, understandable and with limited use of jargon, which was pleasant.

Unfortunately, the negatives outweighed the positives significantly. This means that as an industry we still have a long way to go to deliver superior customer service. Whilst many of my experiences were, what I would call ‘sufficient’, only one person out of 65 went out of their way to really assist me and made me feel that I was important and appreciated. What does that say to you? The benchmark is not that high and if you improve the customer experience a little you will be in front.

Some of the areas I felt let down were:

• A staggering 37 per cent of quotes promised were never received. They are either floating out there in cyberspace, having been sent to the wrong email address, or as I suspect, were forgotten as soon as I hung up the phone or walked out of the store.
• Of 65 businesses, only one engaged me in a discussion regarding my background, what my hypothetical business did and tried to find out more information so that they could understand what my requirements really were and what volume of product I may use. The rest were all very transactional, reactive to my requests and although pleasant in the main, didn’t engage me in the sales process.
• As an industry, the questioning technique used is specific, technical and mainly closed questions - giving you limited information and the inability to understand what the real requirements are. Closed questions are transactional and that is exactly how I felt: I was transaction number 362, not a customer.
• The sales process ends when I receive the quote.

This research was conducted over a cross section of different businesses within our sector, including suppliers, manufacturers and trade sales showrooms. You know the part that really amazes me is that I have a shiny new credit card loaded with cash to burn and I have not been ‘sold’ one product or been asked to place an order. This is a worry.

If you would like to understand more regarding my research, or would like to discuss the ‘Trade Sales & Customer Service Masterclass’ and the insights it will provide, I am only too happy to have a chat.

And remember, stop and listen to what is really happening when a customer comes into your showroom, trade sales counter or calls your customer service department. You may be surprised at what you hear!

For more information, contact David on 0420 905 580 or visit his website at www.kaizenexec.com.au

 This article was originally published in the AWA - Windows Magazine - Summer Edition 2016.