Some people might be happy to hear that water companies in England and Wales are under a financial obligation by a third party regulator to provide consistently excellent customer service to their customers.

The regular, Ofwat, use a system called ‘Service Incentive Mechanism’ (SIM) to regularly score a water companies customer satisfaction levels and compares them to competitor water companies. Companies then receive either rewards or large penalties depending on the outcome of their score, giving them a financial obligation to improve!

Regular inspections has resulted in a consistently improved customer satisfaction level so this is great news for customers, but poses more of a challenge for the water companies.

SIM uses both a qualitative and quantitative measure of a water companies’ performance.

Quantitative
Dissatisfaction calls or contact from customers when something has gone wrong or appears to have gone wrong, such as a billing error or a water supply problem.

Qualitative
A customer survey measuring how well the company has handled any type of customer communication, such as when things have gone wrong, account queries, supply questions or any other type of contact.

The qualitative aspect is where we come in and we have been working with a water company recently to improve their customer service levels in order to improve their SIM score.

Embarking on a journey to improve your company customer satisfaction levels involves working with all members of the team, from front line staff to senior management.

We worked with one of the major water companies to continuously improve their SIM score. There is no overnight remedy for a low SIM score – it involves elements of coaching programmes, customer service skills training, performance management, operational reviews, management training and most importantly, internal communication reviews. What each company needs is different and this is the first thing we look to identify.

We often find coming into a large organisation as a trusted and unbiased third party, we are able to open up a channel of communication which was not possible before. Front line staff are more open to discuss the actual goings on in a steering group environment (when management are not present). Likewise, management are able to actually find out the truth about what happens on the front line without anyone having to worry for their job security. This new line of communication, albeit not perfect, enables an organisation to address the major gaps between strategy and operations and enables positive change to take place.

The good news is that developing the attitude, skills and knowledge of employees not only helps to improve your SIM score or other measure of success, but it also helps the company to improve the customer experience, employee engagement and ultimately, your bottom line. Can you really afford not to?

Water companies and SIM scores are just one example of the industries we work with, but we also work with a whole range of companies to reach a variety of goals!

You might be experiencing an increase in staff turnover, a low customer retention rate, an increase in customer complaints or refunds, or even just an increase in employee sick days. Whatever the problem, Brightstone will be able to help you find your answer and work with you on a plan to put things right.

For more information about our customer skills programmes or support with your SIM score please contact Brightstone on: 01273 233787. Richard and the team are here to help now – just when you want it! Make your team #BrightstoneHappy.