Wiremu decides to document some metrics to measure and manage more systematically.
He starts by joining a review scheme to collect customer feedback. He automatically gets feedback from each customer and can see how he scores against a benchmark. He finds 80% of his customers rate his services ‘5 stars’. He sets a goal to increase it to 90% in six months.
Next, he looks at quality of the job itself.
- Does his work meet his customer’s needs? The most frequent feedback has been about recurring faults after work on air-conditioning units.
- He already tests all components and connections, and tests each system ‘end-to-end’ after working on it. He decides to set himself a formal standard for air-conditioner work, with a checklist relating to the recurring faults.
- What does the law say? He keeps up to date with the latest standards and qualifications, and he’s confident his work meets all the requirements.
Then he thinks about wider service quality.
- He decides to contact customers a month after every air-conditioner job to check if the systems are working well, and to establish a dedicated line for any post-service feedback or problems.
- Does he get the job done? He checks back on the percentage of jobs finished in one visit, without having to delay work, go away and wait for parts, or come back and fix errors. It’s not bad, but definitely something he can monitor and work on increasing.
- Does he meet his customers’ cost expectations? He asks a few recent customers, and they are reasonably happy. He decides his extra focus on quality should help his service deliver better value.
- Is he available? Wiremu prides himself on setting appointments without too long a wait, and urgent appointments the next day — a customer service advantage he realises he could make more of.
Studying his feedback for job and service quality shows Wiremu where to focus to reach his goal. And the review scheme helps him track his customer satisfaction as it improves.