London Flats Insurance understands the importance of providing excellent customer service to ensure repeat business. We experience different levels of customer service in our day to day lives – everywhere from a trip to the Post Office to calling our broadband provider (shudder!).
The difference outstanding customer service can make to your view of a company, your loyalty to a provider and not to mention your mood for the rest of the day is enormous. It has the power to leave us feeling valued, heard and happy with an outcome.
Poor customer service on the other hand can leave even the most mild-mannered customer absolutely enraged, ready to close their account and prepared to tell their tale of woe to any and all who will listen. Not great for them, and definitely not great for business.
As a Managing Agent for a block or as Director of a Residents’ Management Company (RMC), your approach to customer service can make the difference between happy, flexible residents and ones that want to call a mutiny and will make mountains out of molehills wherever possible.
Going Above and Beyond
A large part of customer service is simply about making the customer happy wherever possible.
While not every issue will be fixable at a wave of your magic wand, it’s your willingness to listen, to act wherever possible and to give your resident the time they need to feel heard and understood that make all the difference.
No-one can work all the hours under the sun or control everything outside of their remit as well as in. But your attitude and approach can either leave an impression of going above and beyond, or just give a sense of mediocrity.
For example, here at London Flats Insurance, we will often go out of our way to make our customers happy by approaching insurance companies to ask for special discounts and tailoring our cover to suit specific properties.
In addition to this, it is not uncommon for businesses to point customers in the direction of a more suitable company if they cannot provide the services the client is looking for. This comes from a genuine desire to help the client, even without having any benefit to the company itself.
Communication
Outstanding communication is absolutely vital for great customer service.
How many times have you spoken to a company representative on the phone, been promised an update on your situation within 24 hours and not heard a thing until you call back, angry, 3 days later to explain the whole situation again to a different person? Absolutely enraging isn’t it?
Effective time management, diary reminders and a genuine interest in the outcome of complaints will all go towards a better experience for your customer, and for you!
Clear, concise communication is also key. Jargon-heavy conversations will alienate customers who are not familiar with the terminology used within your field. Giving too much detailed information can be overwhelming for some, while not enough detail can cause a lack of trust in others- get to know your customers and change your approach accordingly.
Courteous, friendly and professional communication should be the expected norm when communicating with clients. This is the best way of ensuring a productive and mutually respectful exchange that will show the client that they are in good hands and set the foundation for a relationship that will last.
Making Sure Out of Hours Emergencies are Handled Effectively
This can be something of a challenge.
RMC Directors and Managing Agents can’t be by their phones 24/7, and the vast majority of out of hours calls will involve a high-stakes incident and emotional, stressed residents- it’s a hell of a lot to deal with (especially at 2am).
Here’s a typical one: a burst pipe discovered in the middle of the night. A panicked resident will pick up the phone and call their Director or Managing Agent. They are, of course, unavailable and water continues to pour into the flat (you can read our article on how to reduce water damage here). This type of situation leads to frustrated, distressed lessees and ever-increasing levels of damage.
Very often, the insurance broker or insurance company doesn’t hear anything about the burst pipe until they receive a claim for the resulting damage. That means the single biggest factor driving the cost of that claim (the length of time the water is pouring into the residence) is completely out of their control.
This is why an out of hours emergency assistance policy is vital.
Swiftly responding to emergencies, whether insured or not, will help mitigate losses at the earliest possible opportunity.
To continue with our example; water is discovered pouring through the ceiling on a Saturday evening and the lessee in the flat below doesn’t know where to find the stopcock so he calls the out of hours emergency assistance service. Within two hours, a plumber is on site to trace and repair the damaged pipe and stop the flow of water. As a result, the total cost of the damage was limited to £500.
In comparison, the water could have been left flowing until Monday morning, leading to much more serious repairs and emergency accommodation being required. This cost could be anywhere between £5000 and £25,000.
Our Approach to Customer Service
We work hard to ensure that we adhere to exceptional customer service standards and offer bespoke insurance policies which put our customers first. Our team are all specialists, so you can be sure you’re in great hands and we will always have you covered, no matter what.
- 24-hour claims line in case of emergency
- Cloud-based portals which have been specifically designed to give you somewhere secure to store your insurance documentation and communicate with residents and emergency contractors
- All our insurance policies and products are underwritten by the most reliable A-rated insurance companies in the UK
- Whilst our products are of the highest quality, we have worked hard to ensure our prices are still competitive in the market
- Our team comprises of insurance specialists who are professional, friendly and will go above and beyond to ensure you are satisfied with our services
We invest a lot of time in ensuring our brands are something we can be proud of, and we think that starts with you. The happiness of our customers is paramount to how we measure our own success, which is why we work so hard to make sure you’re happy.
