Walking the Talk:
Signs That Your Vendors are Committed to Customer Service

For commercial facility services companies, having high-quality customer service can be the difference between a Facilities Manager’s peace of mind an hours of follow-up. many vendors will say they’ve got a great customer service model, but fall short. Here are a few key ways to tell whether a vendor is truly committed to providing great service.

| REAL PEOPLE

We can’t emphasize this enough. Facilities and Property Managers have plenty on their plate without having to deal with a robo-operator. When you need answers quickly and accurately, you need a real person. It’s something that’s become a bit of a luxury these days, but is important when you need fast, accurate service. While many businesses offer convenient web forms or portals, they should also have someone that answers the phone when you call and a 24/7 monitored email account so you can reach a real person whenever you want to. Giving you options to suit your needs shows that they’re committed to giving you a great customer service experience.

| EASY RFPs

Getting a proposal shouldn’t be a hassle. They’re meant to be a clear way for you to know whether the scope of work fits into your budget. For the vast majority of projects, the scope is straightforward. So it shouldn’t be a hassle to get a proposal generated.

A good vendor proposal process will consist of only a few stages:

1. Contact the vendor and request the proposal
   • This is just one of the many instances where having real people attending to your requests can make a difference. You can jump right into the conversation and get your project going.
2. Provide project details
   • Usually, you’ll have the scope of work ready before you make a call or type out an email. Vendors with high-quality customer service will separate themselves from the pack by going over the scope to make sure it includes everything you’ll need and nothing you won’t.
3. Proposal Delivery
   1. There shouldn’t be any barriers to receiving your proposal, and it shouldn’t take too long. You’ve got decisions to make and a quality vendor understands that. You should expect your proposal to be delivered in a timely fashion, relative to the size of the project. Bigger scopes of work may take more time to allocate resources for, but in any case you shouldn’t be left wondering if they’re going to get back to you.

| PHOTO FOLLOW-UP

This is a minimum expectation for a vendor that’s committed to high-quality customer service. Many Facilities Managers oversee their portfolio from a remote location and cannot be there to verify the work every time. So make sure the vendors you’re using include photo follow-up upon completion of an assignment. The photos should clearly show the results and give you confidence in the work that has been done.

| PERSONALIZED SERVICE

For those clients who need a bigger commitment, a vendor should be able to provide dedicated service representatives. While not everyone will need that level of service, it can make a big difference for those who do. A dedicated representative creates a single point-of-contact and allows them to get to know you and your portfolio. As that working relationship goes on, it develops into an invaluable partnership which makes everything else much more efficient. They’ll be able to anticipate your needs, give you prioritized service, and adapt to the unique characteristics of your portfolio. Once you start working with a dedicated representative, you’ll wonder how you ever went without one.

AAA Facility Services is a full-service construction, plumbing, electrical, and repair & maintenance provider. Contact us to learn more about our commitment to customer service, including all of these important qualities and more.