This month’s topic of ‘Customer Service’ coincides with the first anniversary of Covid restrictions being imposed. Here at BCH we are proud of how we have responded to challenges of lockdown and restricted methods of working which has enabled us to maintain our high standards of service. We are delighted to say we have lost no customers in this trying period and indeed our customer base has grown significantly.
Interested to hear our staff and customers opinions of BCH, we commissioned Investors in People to undertake a thorough survey of our business. Amongst other things, the survey showed us that we respond quickly and are readily available to deal with queries, which our customers like. Building upon this, we will also strive to directly communicate any significant changes to insurance values following our surveys.
We appreciate the impact a significant change to value can have and are happy to help customers understand the various reasons why they might have found themselves in the situation where they are underinsured. We regularly look at the content of reports of other surveyors as the clue for inaccuracy may lie within. We see incorrect measurement and the liberal use of inappropriate rebuilding values or standard rates.
Understanding the origins of differences is one thing, communicating to the customers in terms they understand is important and a skill which we have honed over many years. (Quite honestly, with us all working largely from home at the moment, we’re grateful for the contact!) We prioritise quick and clear communication with our customers, treating them how we like to be treated by our own suppliers, so it is good to hear from Investors in People, that we were succeeding in delivering this.
It’s just not the same
Though we have continued attending sites and conducting surveys, albeit in a socially-distanced manner, with full PPE, our reflections this month, remind us how much we miss seeing our customers.
In-person training for property managers and brokers and attending and presenting at conferences were all halted. Much like the rest of the world, a lot of this migrated to Teams and Zoom, but it is just not the same! Events are booking back in our diaries and we are very much looking forwards to getting out there and (safely) seeing our customers, in person, face to face, and dare we say it maskless, in the Autumn (all being well)!
Benchmark, our recently launched e-valuation service, offers those insuring single blocks or conversions with current values of £5m an option for a totally desk based survey which is becoming increasingly accepted by insurers and brokers. With a fee of £125 plus VAT, it is causing quite a stir in the market.
Using our vast data base of full, site-based assessments and many other data sources, the new e-valuation service has been years in the making and is being launched into the flats market at just the right time to help customers get their insurance values right as insurers get tough on underinsurance. Sitting alongside our full site- based service, we think BCH is offering the ‘best of both worlds’ to its customers.
The customer is always right, but that doesn’t mean their current sums insured are.
Revaluing a property for insurance purposes continues to be essential, and we are offering more ways of revising a buildings sum insured than ever before.
About the Author
This article was written by Zoe Davenport. Having joined BCH in 2013, she continues to work across all of our product lines. Zoe splits her time between attended appraisals and marketing.
If you would like to speak with Zoe directly (who, having spent a year working from home alone, would be very happy to hear from you), please email her using this link.
