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At GuildQuality, it’s important that the surveying experience we provide to our members’ customers is personal.
Attention to personal detail isn’t just for the sales staff. In the popular sitcom, The Office, manager Michael Scott built a Rolodex for himself outlining personal details of each of his clients that he kept on his desk in case of a call. “Green means go so I know to go ahead and shut up about it. Orange means ‘orange you glad you didn’t bring it up’. Most colors mean don’t say it.”
Paying attention to the minutia of potential and current client is often the hallmark of a quality salesman, but teaching our surveying staff to recognize voice tone, direction of conversation, and quality of information is just as important in the support of our members.
In an ideal world, every respondent to one of our surveys would be happily going about their day, willing to talk to us about their experience that went flawlessly, and taking in total approximately 3-4 minutes. Since no such world exists, our goal as survey coaches is to prepare our survey team with the skills to accommodate the respondent on the other end of the line. It’s a standard that we include in their evaluations and train on regularly.
Take for example our former surveyor Wendy. She called on an older gentleman who had recently had some renovations done in his bathroom. He was eager and willing to talk to her about his experience because, as he revealed to her in conversation, he didn’t get out much and liked talking to her on the phone. Wendy took the time to listen to him, wait patiently for his valuable feedback as the majority of the conversation was about his military service, and made him feel cared for on the phone. The call may have taken longer than usual (over 30 minutes to be exact), but the conversation was important to the man on the other end. She may have been the only contact he had with a stranger on that day.
We also train our surveyors to be helpful when jobs did not go as expected. Not every project goes smoothly, so it’s the job of our surveyors to be a sounding board for the clients of our members. As a third party, we take an unbiased stance very seriously. The raw emotion that comes out of an unhappy client is typically just someone who wants to feel heard. This is where we shine the brightest. If a surveyor makes a client feel heard, the client feels safe enough to open up about the experience. We, in turn, are able to provide our member with the most thorough picture of how the client perceived the job experience.
Caring about people isn’t a science, but it’s definitely a skill that can be learned, a skill that will set your business apart from your competitors. Your company culture will become desirable to prospective clients and employees as a place where individuals are valued. Meet people where they are. They’ll appreciate your trip.
