I’ve worked in the Development and Construction industry for over 25 years and in that time I’ve held senior management positions for a number of construction/development companies including the role of owner/manager. So it’s fair to say I’ve been around the block, more than once.
In my time I’ve seen many changes and improvements within the industry but until I was introduced to clixifix, customer care issues and the processes to deal with them, were very much in the dark ages.
While other areas of the industry have moved on, this slow and tedious, but vital, process has been forgotten, ignored and swept under the carpet. Even as MD, I’ve encountered times when I’ve had to step in and tackle problems that had spiraled out of control simply because of people not communicating with each other. I would even go so far to say that I attribute my lack of hair to dealing (or not dealing) with customer care issues.
Over the years I dread to think of the amount of time I’ve wasted filing bits of paper, chasing sub-contractors, visiting tenants, arranging meetings, chairing meetings, agreeing who is going to do what for how much and when. And then trying to get everything in sync was a complete nightmare. At times it felt was like I was trying to push water uphill. And yet, all this time could have been managed so much more efficiently if only a simple process existed that enabled all parties to communicate and collaborate together rather than the existing disjointed and fragmented approach.
Everyone with a good head for business knows that it’s much easier and more affordable to keep existing customers rather than find new ones. Yet nothing was being done to make customer retention easy.
I began using clixifix to address customer care issues and it’s fair to say I haven’t looked back since. It’s an on-line cloud-based platform, which sounds complicated but believe me, it isn’t. In laymen’s terms clixifix is a bit like getting everyone concerned with the issue in question all together in one room and shutting the door until a resolution is agreed. Once an outcome is reached the problem can be quickly resolved. It’s quick, it’s simple and it’s revolutionised the way we deal with our customer care issues.
And because of the massive amount of time saved using clixifix, we were able to pour our efforts into more productive areas of the business. We were free to discuss new projects, seek out new opportunities and build on our good reputation. We now have happy housing associations and happy employees. Plus our relationships with our suppliers have got stronger as the system we have in place is a slicker way of working that is more beneficial to them too. All I need now is for my hair to grow back.
Barry Smith.
Managing Director. Partner Construction.
