Kellaway Scoops Top Award
December 2006
Kellaway Building Supplies has scooped “Best Customer Service by a Builder’s Merchant” as part of the Builder’s Merchants Awards for Excellence 2006, held at The Savoy Hotel in London.
Managing Director, Julian Milligan states “Our branches retain a friendly yet professional appeal which we know our customers like. We are at pains not to lose this appeal as the business grows, which is why we have placed customer service at the heart of our operations. Each and every customer is highly important to us, and we strive to deliver their expectations, build a trading relationship and encourage them to come back to us in the future."
Kellaway identified customer trends (good or bad) and put a strategy together to manage them effectively. The Customer Services department was restructured and headed by the company's Commercial Director, Jill Galvin. "We are very proud that our total commitment to providing the best possible service to customers has been recognised in this way. By making a member of the Board responsible for customer service, we are demonstrating the level of importance that we attach to delivering excellent service and quality throughout the business" says Jill
“We appointed a Customer Services Supervisor to work closely with the branches and sales teams and to talk directly to our customers to find out what they need from us”.
Across its branches, Kellaway has a continuous rolling programme of customer service training delivered by an in-house trainer, tackling basic criteria from meeting/greeting to resolving queries, learning “who is the customer”, and particularly emphasising the importance of fostering a team culture to support its service delivery. The company’s success in this respect is doubly significant, as Kellaway were also runners up for Best Builder’s Merchant Training Initiative at the same awards, consolidating their commitment to the customer in providing well trained staff to help meet customers’ needs.
The whole initiative has significantly helped customer account retention, with over 15% of dormant accounts now using Kellaway once more. The company has opened over 600 new customer accounts during 2006, and queries on billing and paperwork have also been lowered.
The financial performance of the company saw a record year for sales – up 27% on the previous year. “These excellent results demonstrate the benefits of good customer service. This award is a great achievement for the team at Kellaway, whose hard work has paid dividends for both the business and our customers.” adds Julian.