HomeTRADES: Meeting the Needs of More Than One Cus

Wilson

Nestled in a small, windowless

office on the second floor of

the Sunshine Professional

Center in Bonita Springs is

HomeTRADES Referral. A

two-year-old business,

HomeTRADES Referral's lean team keeps very busy putting

consumers in touch with

reliable, high-quality

contractors and tradespeople in Southwest Florida.

That's right! They don't trade homes, they refer people looking for "home trades"

services-renovations,

landscaping, hurricane

shutters, emergency home repair services, and the list goes on.

One of HTR's greatest

challenges is meeting the needs of two distinct customer

groups. To the general

community, HTR is a free

consumer service that provides

information and access to

qualified companies. To their

hand-picked membership of top-

notch local contractors and

tradespeople, they are a

third-party endorsement,

credibility and a solid source

of new business.

"We receive over 2,000 requests from home and condo owners, property and rental managers and condominium associations. At the same time, we represent a growing list of participating

contractors and tradespeople-we have over 40 members now.

Satisfying all of their unique

needs is a fine balancing act," says founder and president Larry Bukovey. "We have to keep one eye on the community and one on each of our member's changing needs--not an easy task

for a staff of three."

And the business is getting

busier. HomeTRADES attributes

an increase in inquiries to the recent closure of the Better Business Bureau in Southwest Florida. With HomeTRADES already investing considerable time performing background checks for each participating company, it appears consumers are looking to HTR to step up and fill in some of the gaps left in the consumer safety net.

Experiencing substantial

growth, HTR decided to rethink

how they operated--they wanted

to make sure they were evolving in the right direction. Due to

limited internal resources and

a desire for a fresh,

professional point of view they looked to outside help.

They were confident that getting things done right the first time would more than pay for an external resource. Contracting a local consulting firm helped them realize they had become used to providing new or enhanced services based on the perceived needs of the

customer. No longer could they

afford to base major decisions

and investments on what they

think the customer wants.

They made the decision to get

to know their customers better.

"We agreed to start with the

call-in consumer. Although we

offer this service free of

charge, we have to make sure it is of value to our callers. We want them to think of HTR as synonymous with reliable,

convenient, quality home

services," says Bukovey.

First, the team first

identified what to ask their

customers. They wanted to know:

* How satisfied are the

customers with the service?

* Where can they improve?

* What new services could be

added?

Next they considered how they

would get this information.

With so many call-in customers, they quickly determined that a

survey was the only efficient

way of collecting the

information. Having regularly

tracked customers in a

database, they had a good

source to start with. They

decided to survey all of their

call-in customers for the last

year. They would send out one

mass mailing to all of their

past customers and then would

batch and mail out surveys

monthly as new customers called in.

They were concerned about the

response rate so they tried to

make filling out the survey

card as easy and attractive as

possible. Here's what they did:

* Offered a drawing for dinner

for two to generate immediate

interest and encourage

participation

* Made the survey simple and

short

* Pre-paid the return postage

* Expressed appreciation and

suggested how the input would

help future offerings

Finally, before sending the

surveys out, they developed a

process for measuring and

taking action once the surveys

were returned. "We knew we

wanted to measure all of the

responses, but we also wanted

to pay particular attention to

specific comments. If customers expressed dissatisfaction, not

only did we want to take action to make sure it didnÕt happen again, we wanted to address the issue quickly. In effect, we wanted to put a Band-Aid on the problem while we came up with a long-term solution."

Furthermore, they wanted to

separate those issues that

related directly to HTR's

operation from those that

related to the service offered

by their members. They had to

keep in mind that the overall

satisfaction of their customers was a result of HTR's performance as well as their members' performances;

therefore, they would work with their members to resolve issues as well.

So far 10 percent of the

surveys sent out were returned. Not bad given that some of the survey recipients hadn't been in contact with HTR for a year. They expect response rates closer to 20 percent from surveys that are sent within a month of the contact with the customer.

Just two months into the

program, HomeTRADES feels it is a success. "We've confirmed a lot of suspicions and learned some new things about our customers. In a couple of cases we were able to get back to the customer and our members immediately to solve an issue before it turned into something much larger," says Bukovey.

Does HomeTRADES feel it's worth the effort? With enthusiasm Larry offers,

"We've just launched a new

Vendor Report Card program in

concert with our (trade)

members to provide all of our

members' customers with report

cards that will be submitted

with each job quote. The report card will come back to us where we will track the information, communicate it to our members and work with them to improve performance. You bet it's worth

it!"

Contributed by BPM

International.

Interesting highlights:

* Their customers love

information-the more the

better. HomeTRADES realized

that one of the best ways to

stay in front of their

customers was with an

information-packed monthly news report. It proved less

expensive than traditional

advertising and had

longer-lasting effects.

* Return those phone calls

immediately and show up on

time! One of the greatest

sources of dissatisfaction for

consumers was not the quality

or cost of service-it was

getting someone to call them

back in the first place and

then be on time for

appointments. As one customer

had written, "Just getting

someone to show up around this

area is a joke--that's why I

called you."

* No matter how simple the

survey is, it will be completed incorrectly. Hint, hint! Spend time up front making the survey

easy to complete--try it out on friends and family first.