Stelrad has recently achieved the ServiceMark Accreditation from the Institute of Customer Service. The company exceeded the required scores in both the internal and external surveys relating to the accreditation and was then ready to move forward to the next stage in the ServiceMark accreditation.
The final stage of the process involved an independent assessment which took place over three days in October. The purpose of this was to verify that Stelrad was meeting the organisation’s benchmark requirements and was implementing the action plans it has committed to in order to develop the identified areas of improvement.
Over the three days the assessor spent time with several departments including Customer Services, the National Distribution Centre, Marketing, HR and Technical.
The independent assessor Julija Suzejeva stated: “From the evidence seen, Stelrad has undertaken a lot of work to focus its attention and strategy on the customer. With a recognition that customer service can help it differentiate its business from its competitors, the emphasis shifted from the more technical to relationship building and working in partnerships with customers by introducing a fairly recent role of Brand Specialists.
“Using The Institute of Customer Service surveys and its membership to provide a framework for identifying areas to improve and measure its progress, some significant strides have been made, evidenced by the survey results, interviews and observations. At the same time there was no complacency but a strong and genuine desire to do more for its customers and continue to improve.”
So what does the accreditation mean?
The Institute of Customer Service states the following on its website: “ServiceMark is a national standard recognising an organisation’s achievement in customer service, and its commitment to upholding those standards.
“ServiceMark is awarded based on customer satisfaction feedback and an assessment of employee engagement with your organisation’s customer service strategy. It helps organisations understand how effective their customer service strategy is and identifies areas for improvement. Undergoing accreditation is an opportunity for organisations – of all sizes and sectors – to demonstrate how good their customer service really is and find ways of developing further.”
However, Stelrad claims it will not become complacent and will always continue to develop and improve in order to keep the ServiceMark long term.
Stelrad’s Chris Harvey says: “The ServiceMark has been awarded for the period November 2019 to November 2022 during which time the company recognises the need to work hard to maintain and even improve the levels achieved. Congratulations are due to everyone who has worked towards these outstanding levels of Customer Service in all areas of the business.”
