Employees and managers can approve of a property all they like, but when it comes down to it, the customer's opinion matters most. In light of this, Five Seasons Landscape Management, Columbus, Ohio, utilizes a customer survey to determine whether the company's services win or lose.
Five Seasons initially incorporated the survey because managers were receiving negative feedback from clients too late into the season. "What would happen sometimes is at the end of the season we'd have someone say, 'You know that time your employee pulled weeds in March?'" noted Maggie Crayton, office manager. "We weren't necessarily getting the feedback, good or bad, that we needed."
As a result, Five Seasons created a survey that asks clients to judge the company on its services on a scale from one to five: one being poor, five being excellent. If a customer returns a survey with lower scores, the company strives for immediate attention. "The first thing we do is call them and find out why they marked us low," said Crayton. "We fix it, the sooner, the better."
In addition, surveys with high numbers benefit employees by figuring into incentive plans based on quality. Thus, positive survey results keep both the customer - and the crews - happy. "Customers like to know that we're not just waiting for them to call," explained Crayton. "We're trying to be proactive."
The author is Assistant Editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine.
To learn more about Five Seasons Landscape Maintenance, see the December issue of Lawn & Landscape magazine.