Quality-minded builders, remodelers, developers and contractors rely on our customer satisfaction surveying to help them provide exceptional service

“Meaningful work is one of the most important things we can impart to children. Meaningful work is work that is autonomous. Work that is complex, that occupies your mind. And work where there is a relationship between effort and reward – for everything you put in, you get something out!”

From Malcolm Gladwell, courtesy of 37signals.

On the evening of November 7, Andrew Hughes of Stanley Martin Homes let us know that they were interested in moving forward with GuildQuality’s customer satisfaction surveying. Yesterday evening, five weeks later, Andrew sent us an email congratulating us on receiving the 100th survey response for SMH.

I bring this up not because it is atypical for GuildQuality (because it’s not), but because it ought to be normal regardless of whatever software or system you adopt.

In my experience, the hardest part of getting underway with GuildQuality is making the decision that collecting customer feedback is critical to delivering an exceptional customer experience — and that delivering an exceptional customer experience is critical to the health of your business.

Making the decision — and the commitment — is the hard part. Getting started is easy.

From the press release:

Jackson Design & Remodeling (JDR), winner of the 2007 BBB Torch Award for Business Ethics, today announced that CEO Todd Jackson has been elected President of the San Diego Chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) for a second consecutive year.

Jackson Design & Remodeling has been a GuildQuality member since 2006. I had the pleasure of spending time with Todd at the 2007 Remodeling Conference in Las Vegas. He is a genuinely positive person, and a tremendously talented professional.

Some recent news about Zip Realty from the New York Times: They are now publishing their brokers customer satisfaction scores.

In October, ZipRealty, a national firm based in Emeryville, Calif., took the results of client surveys that had long been under lock and key and started publishing them online at www.ziprealty.com. Brokers are scored on a five-star scale, with one star indicating “completely dissatisfied” and five “completely satisfied.”

And how is this impacting their agents?

“I’m a salesperson, so I can talk a good game, Ms. Assael said, “but the ratings compel me to make sure every “i” is dotted and everyone is satisfied.”

From November’s Remodeling Magazine:

Steven Whitlock of Hubert Whitlock Builders answers the question: “How do you teach your employees and trade partners customer service skills?”

…To reinforce customer service, we use GuildQuality to survey our clients so we can focus improvement efforts. These surveys are important input for our “lessons learned” process. GuildQuality and lessons learned are culminating steps in our project-management methodology. They create the feedback loop to continually improve customer service…

GQ is just part of his strategy. Read his entire comments, and those of other Big50 Remodelers, here.

Patrick O’Toole of QR writes about how GuildQuality member Heritage Construction Services earned the NAHB’s coveted Remodeler of the Year award for 2008. This is the second year in a row a Guildmember has earned the NAHB’s top remodeler award.

Owner Jeff Hunt is giving a presentation with journalist Patrick O’Toole at the IBS on January 21. Here are the details:

The 10 Best Practices of the NAHB Remodeler of the Year
3:30PM-5:30PM South 231
Patrick O’Toole, Qualified Remodeler Magazine, Arlington Heights, WI
Jeff Hunt, CGR, CAPS, CGP, Heritage Construction, Houston, TX

From Fast Company’s recent article on the emergence of the “Reputation Economy”:

Businesses spend millions to cultivate their reputations; now consumer evaluations can make or break them instantly. “The conventional wisdom is that a satisfied customer will tell one person and an unhappy person will tell 10,” says Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody and an expert on the reputation economy. “That’s now been upped by orders of magnitude.”

Now more than ever, it is important to cultivate a positive image. Obviously, you can try to improve your reputation by encouraging friends to post positive stuff about you online and hiring consultants to drown out negative customer sentiment.

Or, you can spend that energy delivering an exceptional customer experience. Create a great reputation the old-fashioned way: Earn it.

GuildQuality is seeking a part-time Marketing Manager (about 20 hours per week). Our expectation is that this will ultimately become a full-time position at some point in 2009.

The Marketing Manager will be responsible for all aspects of marketing execution, and will work closely with our entire team. Responsibilities will include 1) generating qualified leads for the sales team, and 2) effective communications with existing customers.

These activities will include the following:
- Managing the company’s marketing calendar for prospects and customers
- Web/email marketing campaigns to prospects
- Coordinating informational webinars
- Working with partners to execute a joint marketing plan
- Preparation for select trade shows
- Identifying speaking engagements
- Writing newsletters and customer communications
- Managing the contact database
- Writing and publishing press releases
- Developing collateral materials for the sales team

The position will be located in the company’s headquarters in Midtown Atlanta, and will report to the Vice President, Sales & Marketing. The right candidate must be willing to travel to trade shows and other select events, but we expect this to be fewer than 10 days per year.

Candidates should not apply unless they have the following credentials:
- Experience with CRM tools and email marketing software
- Strong writing skills (sample required)
- Strong design and HTML skills
- Strong verbal communication skills
- Ability to manage a marketing calendar and work independently
- Interest in working in an entrepreneurial environment

Please send your resume, along with a cover letter and writing samples to marketing at guildquality dot com.

As a courtesy to your customers and a quality control measure, our survey process enables respondents to review their feedback at any time after they complete a survey. About 1 out of 20 survey respondents return to GQ’s website to review their response. When they return, we give them the opportunity to give us additional feedback about GuildQuality and the survey process itself. Following are some of their comments from November:

“A very comprehensive and thought out survey which covered very important concerns. Thank you.”

“Easy to fill out, short and to the point.”

“easy, thorough survey. great length.”

“I found it easy to complete the survey.”

“I like the ability to expand on a selection. I felt my call was returned in a timely manner and Laura was sensitive to my concerns and reservation about submitting an electronic survey. Thank you for giving me an outlet to provide feedback.”

“Quick and easy, like the simplicity of your surveys.”

“The survey creates more of a conducive feedback process at home versus; trying to schedule a block of time to sit down and speak with a representative or simply come in and place your comments on a small survey sheet.”