CONSTRUCTION Accounting Article -
Customer Satisfaction Survey Makes a Good Company Great
Target Audience: General Contractors, Company Growth Analyzers, Customer Satisfaction Interest, Construction Company Owners and Managers
A midsize general contractor was known for outstanding work. Its owner was happy with her construction company’s financial performance and excited about its growth potential. Over the previous year, the business had been flooded with new opportunities and, to accommodate a substantial influx of new customers, it had added several new subcontractors to its roster.
But the company’s growth made it difficult for the owner to continue visiting every job site regularly and talking with each project owner to gauge satisfaction. When she mentioned this concern to her financial advisor, he suggested implementing a formal survey to keep tabs on customer sentiment.
When she mentioned the survey idea at a company meeting, some of her managers frowned on it. They thought that doing a survey would be a waste of time and money — especially when business was booming.
Nonetheless, the owner persisted. Her financial advisor referred her to a local marketing company that helped her develop a short survey consisting of questions regarding overall satisfaction, workmanship quality, customer service satisfaction and fees. She distributed the survey electronically.
Like the rest of her staff, the owner expected the results to indicate that the company was exceeding customer expectations. Yet, when surveys started coming back, everyone was a bit shocked by the results. Although overall satisfaction was high, many owners gave low marks to the responsiveness of the construction company’s employees to their needs and inquiries. Several commented that they felt the level of customer service had recently started to decline.
The owner responded immediately. She hired additional employees to defray the heavy workload the company had recently taken on and implemented a policy of returning phone calls and e-mails within 24 hours. She also vowed to continue surveying customers at least annually to spot and resolve downward trends before customers became unhappy.
Ultimately, she had a better idea of what her customers valued and what might keep them from signing another contract with her company. And she was quite confident that her decision to conduct a survey — despite a rosy business outlook and staff skepticism — was the right one
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