I joined Halton Housing as Director of Customer Experience just over six months ago now.   

This week as we celebrate National Customer Service Week, I have reflected on my journey so far as well as the road ahead given the challenges that our customers, colleagues and the Social Housing sector are facing.   

As we continue our journey to improve people’s lives, here are my top five areas of focus to make sure that we deliver the best possible services for our customers every step of the way      

1. Understanding what matters most  

Every person is different, their experience is personal to them based on what they care about and what is happening in their life right now.  To truly improve our customers’ experience, we must really understand who they are and what is important to them.    

Good quality customer data is key.  An accurate and up to date record of who are customers are and where they live is the foundation.  Add to that what our customers do (what they contact us for, how they contact us, what services they need) and what they say (through surveys, telephone calls, community events, customer forums) and we really do have a solid understanding of who are customers are, how they feel about us and what we can do to improve the things that matter most to them.   

2. Getting customers involved  

There is no one more qualified to say how we are performing for our customers, than our customers themselves.  If we really want to get things right, it is essential that we involve customers in key discussions and decisions that will shape the homes they live in, the communities they are part of and the services they receive.  

We must continue to develop ways in which our customers can get involved, introduce different channels and methods of engagement, so that more customers can get involved on the things that matter most and in a way that is most convenient for them.  

3. Listening to what customers do not just what they say  

Listening to our customers is not just about conducting surveys, our customers tell us something every single day and not always in the way that you would expect.  Our customers can tell us things by what they do not just what they say.  A customer that puts the phone down after 5 minutes of waiting, is telling us that we are taking too long to answer their call.  A customer that tries to log a repair online but doesn’t make it past the first page is telling us that process is not easy. 

Yes, listening is important but we must listen at a really deep level to words, emotions, and behaviours.  Then we must connect those together to figure out what our customers are really telling us individually and collectively.  

4. Driving change through action  

Listening is not enough on its own, we must listen with the intent to do something about what we hear.  The stories that our customers tell us are powerful, they provide great insight into what is working well and where we need to improve.   Sometimes even a throw away comment can give you the biggest clue of what needs to change but we must act on what we hear if we want to make that change.   

We want our customers to trust us and to achieve that we need to be open and honest about what we have heard and what we have done or intend to do as a result.  But we can’t stop there, only our customers can tell us whether our changes have improved things for them, so we must listen, learn, act and then listen, learn and act again, in a continuous cycle.      

5. Consistency is Key  

I know it doesn’t sound like the most inspirational take away but as basic as it sounds consistency really is key.  If we want our customers to trust us, to trust that we will deliver safe and secure homes, thriving communities and great services, then we must earn that trust.   Our customers interact with us in many ways over the lifetime of their tenancy. They may call to log a repair, need support from their neighbourhood officer or use our app to pay their rent, it is essential that we deliver great service across all touchpoints all of the time, for all of our customers, for them to trust that is really who we are.   

I’ve really enjoyed taking some time out to reflect and what I have found the most encouraging about my time here so far is that there is really solid foundation in place.  Our Corporate plan sets out our firm commitment to our Customers, the Customer Experience Strategy sets a clear roadmap and there are really great teams in place ready to deliver it.