To develop a trusting relationship between service providers and clients a strong working relationship must be developed from the start, beginning with the foundations which all comes from knowing the client and their needs. What better way is there to achieve this than through effective means of communication to identify and understand the client’s needs? Particularly in these times of change with recent updates from Government involving the safety of our buildings.
Having worked within the industry for over 15 years, 4site have developed a wealth of relationships across the UK focusing on the clients needs which we answer further in this article. Since 4site is passionate about delivering excellence and building strong relationships, we asked our Head of Client Services, Andrew Bull, to share some of his thoughts and tips on providing excellent customer service, and ensuring strong relationships through effective communication.
Firstly, what do you consider to be good customer service?
Good communication leads to great customer service, but the basis of that communication must be both honesty and clarity. There is no point promising answers, turnaround times or solutions that are unachievable, even if that does win favour in the in the short term. This is ultimately setting you up to let people down, which is what will be remembered in the long term.
If you have a solid and dependable service that you believe in, and a team who believe in it too, then your advice is always authentic and your reputation for this will grow organically.
How do you keep yourself organised and prioritise appropriately?
Trying to keep organised in my everyday working life can be a full-time job in itself, but having a team that I can depend upon and who echo my customer-centric values affords me the time to review all interactions.
In my opinion every client; big or small, near or far, deserves the same high quality of service that we provide.
Which attribute have you found is the most important when dealing with clients/customers?
From both mine and 4sites’ perspective, the most important attribute to hold when working in a client/customer service role is empathy.
It’s very true to say that, sometimes, safety management requirements place a huge strain on an already busy property professional. It’s so important to not only understand a clients’ needs, but also to understand their situation and circumstances that have led to their request or enquiry – only then can you create a great bespoke solution for them.
Indeed, we are constantly adapting and improving our services, and the ideas behind these improvements comes primarily from our understanding of the needs of Property Management Professionals and how they interact with our services.
How do you use technology to support your role?
We are now firmly in the digital age and technology is constantly advancing. This is clearly something that the property management industry has embraced – our services are no exception to this.
We provide an effective management web portal facility for people who use our services. Importantly, we’ve made it completely free to use so that users of our services are never restricted in their ability to manage risk at their properties.
Our team provide face-to-face web portal training across the country; in fact, in 2019 we pretty much completed a full ‘Land’s End to John O’Groats’ of client visits, traveling the length of the country to train clients on how to make the most of these value-added services.
Final Words
Undeniably, everybody in a company has a part to play in providing great customer service and if your team work well together then you can rely on them to provide the same high-quality service that you would expect to receive personally.
Here at 4site, providing a good service that we can be proud of is part of our ethos. As well as having a dedicated Client Services team, we partner the use of technology with traditional forms of communication in order to ensure that everyone receiving the best level of service from us equally and that service is continually evolving with the industry.
For further advice contact us at www.4siteconsulting.co.uk, email [email protected] or call our team on 01376 572936.
