Making the grade: satisfied customers are crucial for any business. Learn how distributors and their clients turn complaints into compliments

Pool & Spa News, April 25, 2005 by Shabnam Mogharabi

Still, as Murphy's Law suggests, things will go wrong. When they do, it's important to acknowledge the problem and try to solve it, if you can. "You want to do more than take care of that problem," says Miles of Imperial Pools. "You want to dig a little deeper and make sure it doesn't happen again. We focus on trying to eliminate the recurring error."

If numerous customers call in or write about a problem, address it right away. This practice indicates consistency, which dealers appreciate.

"They regularly listen to our feedback and have gone to great lengths to reorganize and resolve the problem once and for all," says Rick McGee, president of Poolscapes, a building firm in Granite Bay, Calif. "They have to care as much as I care about my customers."

Finally, don't be afraid to think big. Ernie Evangelho, owner of Ernie's Pool & Spa Supply in San Jose, Calif., was one of the dealers who brought Gelhaus' attention to the phone trouble at General Pool & Spa Supply. It took two months for Evangelho to speak up, but he's glad he did. "It was a big problem, and now it's being taken care of. Phil's running a business, and I'm running a business. I'd expect him to do the same," he says.

Inspired by the success of the new system, Gelhaus is starting a customer survey program through a third-party research firm. He plans to launch it in autumn 2005.

"Feedback is priceless and immeasurable," notes Essentials' Spires. "A lot of customers don't take the time to tell you. They just accept a situation or go elsewhere.

"Neither of those responses is acceptable," she adds. "You have to make it easy for a customer to give you feedback. It's amazing what you can learn."

RELATED ARTICLE: Taking time to CARE.

In 1999, Manuel J. Perez de la Mesa hired Jay Forte to head up SCP Pool Corp.'s employee training department. Now, the CARE (Continuous Attentive Response by Employees) program has changed the way the Covington, La.-based distributor conducts business.

"Through CARE, we offer classes on how to build a strategic customer team, develop professionalism, maintain ongoing customer relationships and measure customer satisfaction," Perez says.

Every employee is required to advance their annual training in the program with higher-level courses. This year, the company plans to unveil its next stage of training, ACE, or Absolute Customer Experience.

"Our employees need to get personal with their customers," says Forte, director of EDGEucation at SCE "To create a personal relationship with your customers is the only way to get honest, intimate knowledge about their perception of your company."

To help facilitate the program, SCP has a CARE coordinator at every branch. Their responsibility is to answer employee questions, distribute important information and organize activities to improve their customer interaction.

"Training is the perpetual ability to improve," Forte says. "Our goal is to create an environment of getting people to think. The more we get them to think about the fact that good enough is not good enough, the better we become." --S.M.