Developing a new approach to customer service delivery for a roofing products manufacturer
A roofing and cladding manufacturer had merged two parts of its business. However, feedback from customers indicated a decline in service levels. To protect their market position the company needed to identify what service levels their customers expect from then and benchmark themselves in key areas against their direct competitors.
Leading Edge was appointed to undertake the project using their ‘ACE’ methodology. We started by asking staff from all the different areas of the business to list the areas where they thought they were letting customers down. Many issues came up again and again, such as delivering products when they said they would. We then segmented the company’s customer list and spoke to over 100 to ensure we achieved a representative sample.
The results revealed that the manufacturer was falling down most in the areas of reliability and responsiveness compared to their competitors. We also found a polarised view between customers. Some thought the service offered was excellent, whilst others said it was ‘shocking’ in many areas.
We reviewed the data and then suggested a list of 10 action points that the manufacturer needed to urgently address to improve customer service levels and keep their customers on board.
The senior directors used the final presentation at a management away day, where the team discussed how they could improve performance in the 10 points flagged up by the research. Five action groups have now been set up to work on improving the most important customer service issues, and these are due to be implemented alongside a new SAP system.