Agenda
• The Importance of Customer Service
• Legislation Protecting Customers &
Employees
• After Sales Care
• Examples of Customer Service
• Customer Complaints
The Importance of Customer Service
• Dissatisfied customers will go away
• Very often, they will switch to another provider
without complaining
• Providing good customer service is the key to high
customer retention
• Customer retention is at the heart of MANSELL’s
strategy
• It costs a lot less to satisfy an existing customer
than it does to win a new one
Examples of Legislation
• Trade Descriptions Act 1968
• Health & Safety at Work Act 1974
• Safety Signs Regulations 1980
• Data Protection Act 1998
• Consumer Protection Act 1987
• Sale & Supply of Goods Act 1994
Examples of Legislation
• Trade Descriptions Act 1968
– Makes it an offence for a trader to;
• provide a false trade description to any goods
• supply goods which have a false trade description
• make false statements about services, accommodation or facilities
• It is reasonably easy for MANSELL to follow this legislation as our clients tend to tell us, in detail, what they require
• In these circumstances, we simply need to conform to the specification.
• As a contractor, we do not generally develop and market our own products
Examples of Legislation
• Health & Safety at Work Act 1974
– Makes it law for employers to provide such things as;
• personal protective equipment
• reporting of accidents and dangerous occurrences
• first aid
• fire precautions
• lifting equipment
• MANSELL takes this law extremely seriously
• We have clear health & safety policies and regional health & safety managers
• All our staff receive the appropriate levels of training on health & safety
Examples of Legislation
• Safety Signs Regulations 1980
– Encourages the standardisation of safety signs
– Covers various means of communicating health & safety information;
• illuminated signs
• hand & acoustic signals (e.g. fire alarms)
• spoken communication
• MANSELL ensures it follows this legislation by having standard industry-recognised signs across all its sites and offices
• We ensure that these signs are maintained and that employees receive adequate training if a new sign is introduced
Examples of Legislation
• Data Protection Act 1998
– Contains eight Data Protection Principles. These state that all data must be;
• processed fairly and lawfully, and kept secure
• used only for specified and lawful purposes
• adequate, relevant, and not excessive
• accurate, up to date, & kept for no longer than necessary
• processed in accordance with the individual’s rights
• MANSELL states it’s Data Protection Policy on all forms which ask stakeholders for “sensitive” information
• Much of the work needed to meet the requirements of the DPA is common sense
Examples of Legislation
• Consumer Protection Act 1987
– Prohibits the supply of unsafe goods
– Makes it an offence to give a misleading price indication
• Clearly, the most important thing for MANSELL to achieve when attempting to comply with this legislation is a safe building
• MANSELL has numerous procedures for checking that suppliers and subcontractors are providing safe products and services which then ensure that our ultimate product is safe
Examples of Legislation
• Sale & Supply of Goods Act 1994
– Ensures that goods are of satisfactory quality
– Goods are defined of satisfactory quality if they “meet the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking account of any description of the goods, the price (if relevant) and all the other relevant circumstances
• The construction industry has a poor reputation for quality
• MANSELL carries out exhaustive checks throughout their construction projects to ensure that the end product is of satisfactory quality when handed over
• This process is known as “snagging”
After Sales Care in MANSELL
• MANSELL provides most of its key customers with an after care service
• This involves giving the customer a dedicated telephone number where they can report problems and have the confidence that they will be dealt with quickly and efficiently
• We not only offer this customer care facility after a project is completed, but we also provide care during the project itself. Our site managers are encouraged to manage this.
• The majority of after sales issues are to do with quality (e.g. doors don’t shut properly)
Examples of Customer Service
• Products
– MANSELL offers the customer almost limitless product range - we can carry out projects from £10,000 to £10,000,000 across all market sectors
– We attempt to provide the best quality and vet our suppliers and subcontractors to ensure they can meet our standards
• Staff
– We aspire to be the most admired construction provider in the UK and realise that this is largely dependent on the quality of our staff
– We use professional recruitment, selection, and training processes to try and ensure we have good quality staff
Examples of Customer Service
• Premises
– MANSELL has spent a considerable amount of money over the last few years on a number of its major offices (e.g. Swaffham and Nottingham)
– We try to create environments which are both pleasant to work in and visit.
• Delivery
– We continually measure the performance of our suppliers to ensure that they are delivering on time every time
– We try and plan every job to the relevant level of detail at the beginning, to ensure that problems are eliminated and delivery is predictable
Examples of Customer Service
• After Sales Care
– As mentioned earlier, we offer after care services for our major key clients
– we employ Customer Care Directors who are responsible for managing strategic relationships
– our Regional Managing Directors have customer satisfaction as their key measurement
• Advice
– as construction is a complex process, the advice we offer our customers is key
– our customers have to have the confidence that they are talking to competent people
Examples of Customer Service
• Range of payment methods
– we offer our customers a whole range of payment methods to satisfy their needs
– we can be flexible and offer manual and electronic processes
– we are currently experimenting with xml payments with a key supplier
• New Technology
– we hold regular forums with our suppliers to assess new technological developments
– we often invite our customers along to these events to get their input
Customer Complaints
• MANSELL treats a complaint from a customer very seriously
• The person tasked with dealing with the complaint will be dependent on the seriousness of the complaint
• Our site managers will deal with most customer complaints without any major problems
• However, we have a documented procedures in place for customers to follow if the complaint is more serious
• These procedures are aimed at giving the customer the right response
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