High Streets Need To Go Beyond Portas Review

Posted on April 25, 2012 by RealService

Property Week – 20.4.12

from Howard Morgan, Founder and MD RealService

Sir, Although the Portas Review is strong on practical suggestions, I believe there is still
more work to be done to create a unified vision of the future role of our high streets, and to
explore the role customer service plays in their revival in particular (PropertyWeek.com,
30.03.12).

People no longer have to go to the trouble of shopping on the high street because they can
purchase what they want — often for less — whenever they want online.

One of the ways the high street can rival online shopping is to exploit the basic human need
for social interaction by ensuring that every time a person ventures on to the high street they enjoy a great customer service experience. Without that, you may as well shop from home and let the high street rot and die.

To give people good reason to go to the high street will require a highly strategic and
cohesive approach to customer service by all those involved in its future prosperity, among
them retailers, landlords, developers, town centre managers, shoppers and community
leaders.

It will require a holistic approach to service, and embrace everything from the quality of
public transport and ease of parking, to signage, entertainment and cleanliness, to the delivery of great, personalised customer service in individual stores.

When the wider high street is pulling out the stops to create a welcoming ambience, you ask if the individual shops are doing their part. Whether it is possible for towns to make a
difference in customer service will need further research.

It will almost certainly demand huge cultural change among our leaders in towns and
businesses, because at present we do not have strong leadership around customer service.
I believe that to save our high streets will require a vision for the role of customer service in retail for the next 20 years. It will, in effect, require a customer service revolution.

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Service is the Key – Shopping Centre Magazine

Posted on March 28, 2012 by RealService

First published in Shopping Centre Magazine – February 2012

by Howard Morgan- Founder and MD RealService

Am I alone in thinking that the Portas Review into the future of our high street has a missing ingredient? Although I like her no-nonsense, practical recommendations, for me the report lacks the ‘Portas Magic’ – an exciting and unifying vision of the future of shopping.

I would have loved Mary Queen of Shops to have spelled out her ‘service vision’ for the high street. After all, customer service experience is the one thing that could separate the high street from its biggest rival, online retailing. What’s the point of going to the high street to suffer a miserable shopping experience? – you may as well shop from home and let the high street rot and die.

My colleague’s recent tale illustrates my point. Her mission was to purchase an all bells and whistles vacuum cleaner. A potentially complex purchase, and confused by the flood of on-line offers, she switched off her computer and headed for the high street in search of service.

Fortunately she met sales assistant Barbara – a walking and talking encyclopaedia of vacuum cleaners.  She knew which one gave you back ache, which was light and easy to manoeuvre on the stairs and which would eliminate any hint of cat hair.  My colleague left satisfied having spent over £160 on an all singing and dancing animal hair removing Miele, plus a further £30 on the store’s 3-year insurance policy!  It turned out to be a good shopping experience – thanks to Barbara.

Andrew Davy, General Manager at The Mall Pavilions at Uxbridge in West London, goes one step further and stresses that the concept of service on the high street needs has to go beyond great customer service in individual stores.  “It’s to do with the whole ambience of service within the town,” says Andrew.

“The service a shopper gets throughout the town will determine their whole shopping experience. Service embraces everything from the quality of public transport and ease of parking, to signage, entertainment and cleanliness. When the wider high street is making the shopper feel welcome, then you ask whether the individual shops are doing their part in making shoppers feel welcome.”

Davy points out that the demise of the town centre manager over the past decade means that most local authorities no longer have anyone in place to make the Portas recommendations happen. Hopefully the situation will be redressed with the announcement that 12 towns are to become ‘Portas Pilots’, each receiving a share of £1m to bring groups of key local people – “Town Teams” as Portas calls them – to put her recommendations to the test.

Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels said “Vision is the art of seeing the invisible.” Let’s hope that the Town Teams put the ‘service revolution’ to the top of their agendas and that their vision is one that is truly inspiring.

To view full article click link below.

Service is the Key

 

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Apple and the Power of Empathy

Posted on March 21, 2012 by RealService

From Howard Morgan, Founder and MD RealService

A new book has revealed that Steve Jobs often got involved with Apple’s basic customer service inquiries. His customer service ethos helped shape the Apple Store experience characterised by enthusiastic young people demonstrating a passion for their product and giving great customer service.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m a great fan of Apple – you could say “I’ve got the religion”, so it pains me to write this blog – I hope something positive comes out of it.

I visited the Regent Street Apple Store today to get my IPhone 4S checked out – the battery life was draining in minutes rather than hours and I needed it looked at fast. I’m aware of the on-line appointments booking system but I couldn’t get an appointment for 3 days so thought I’d try my luck.

Before going up to the Genius Bar counter, I bought the new IPad 3 and received the usual friendly service and was keenly signed up as an Apple Business Customer. I explained to the person serving me about my iPhone problem and they explained that I could go upstairs and try fluttering my eyelids to get a standby slot. As it turned out I can’t be that good at fluttering…. Let me explain!

At the top of the stairs I met a blue T-shirted staff member who asked if I had an appointment. I explained the circumstances and asked for help. I was told that there was no such thing as a standby appointment and that I would have to go to a MacBook terminal in 50 minutes time and see if any appointments had become free following cancellation. (Worth noting: apparently the computer booking system does a batch update on the hour).

I asked again if there was any way he could help me and encountered the four things I hate most about poor complaint handling:

  1. No “apology”  – not the slightest recognition that I was an individual that had a problem that was important to me and wanted acknowledgment
  1. No “thanks” – no recognition that I was bringing the problem to his attention and spending my time doing it
  1. No “flexibility” – I hate “computer says – No”– I was given the company line over and over again in broken record style. I was even told that it would be unfair to every other customer if I was given different treatment. It’s a while since I have been told that I’m being selfish by trying to find a resolution to my problem!
  1. No “effective resolution” – I was left with a failing IPhone and the prospect of an appointment in an hour if I was lucky

I was furious and felt badly let down – especially having just invested another £400 on an IPad and been told that I was a valuable business customer! I asked to speak with the manager and was told that I was speaking with the manager! (I subsequently found out that there are 30 managers in the Apple Store – make of that what you will.)

Somewhat dumbfounded and dejected I walked away. About to leave the store, I spotted a roped off area in front of the Genius Bar just 5 metres away from where I had my encounter. I walked across to it and stood still, looking lost. A bright young female sales assistant came over and ask if I needed help. I explained about my IPhone problem. To my delight her response was “Don’t worry, I’m sorry you’ve got that problem, wait here a second and I’ll see if I can get you a standby appointment” – she returned within 20 seconds and ushered me straight to the Genius Bar desk!! Just imagine my delight! The rest was plain sailing.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that Apple shares the same challenge as the property industry in achieving consistency, but it’s disappointing all the same.  I’m still trying to make sense of what happened here and what made my first such an appalling encounter and my second one of which I think Steve Jobs would have been proud.

Distilling it down, it was all about “empathy” – the first encounter lacked any empathy and the second overflowed with it.

In the 2011 book, The Empathy Factor, organisational consultant Marie Miyashiro argues the value of bringing empathy to the workplace, and offers Nonviolent Communication as an effective mechanism for achieving this. This places empathy at the heart of the communication process, and treats empathy as a teachable skill, centred on learning to recognise and honour the feelings and universal human needs that are active in us and others.

I have to thank Apple for reminding me of the power of empathy – something that we will be giving even more prominence in our customer skills training programmes for clients.

If you’ve got some great examples of good and poor empathy, I’d love to hear them.

POSTSCRIPT

I went back to the Apple Store yesterday as the IPhone problem continued. Guess what!…. the empathetic sales assistant spotted me in line and came up to ask me why I was back. I explained and we struck up a conversation – she noticed that I was reading “The Empathy Factor” and I told her it was because of our encounter a few days earlier. She seemed genuinely touched that she had made such a positive impact and valued the feedback that I gave her about her empathetic style. She promised to read this blog. My IPhone has been replaced.

Something positive has come from my encounter and blog!

(C) RealService 2012

 

 

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MIPIM 2012: Property industry discusses its role in mending ‘broken Britain’

Posted on March 12, 2012 by RealService

With youth unemployment at a record high and last summer’s riots fresh in the memory, the property industry gathered last week to consider its role in tackling some of the issues facing Britain.

At a MIPIM summit hosted by the British Property Federation and RealService, delegates heard that the property industry can play a crucial part in reducing youth unemployment and fostering social cohesion in our communities, as well as supporting SMEs – a sector that employs the majority of the UK’s workforce.

Damian Wild, Estates Gazette editor, wrote in his column the next day:  “I spent a fascinating couple of hours at a British Property Federation/RealService discussion on the property industry’s role in helping social cohesion.  It was a diverse group: developers – from Land Securities to Bruntwood, SEGRO and LendLease; agents – CBRE; and other interest groups – lobbyists, journalists and service providers. And it showed that property was more engaged with issues around social cohesion that the man on the Clapham omnibus would expect. Two problems, though.  This was a hand-picked group.  Is the rest of the industry as engaged?  And even it if is, how do you convince the wider public that it’s genuine.  It will inform our campaign, Building a Better Britain”.

 Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: “The property industry makes up a major part of the UK economy in its own right, as well as providing a platform for virtually all of the other country’s other major industries.

 “The sector also provides places for people to live and employs over 800,000 people across the country and is consequently fundamental to the social and economic health of the country.”

 Howard Morgan, founder and managing director of RealService, said: “The property industry isn’t directly to blame for Britain’s economic and social malaise but equally it can’t just shrug it off as somebody else’s problem to fix. Our industry must recognise that it has a significant part to play in mending broken Britain by virtue of the vast amount of land and buildings it controls, its unrivalled access to capital funds and professionalism.

 “We observe that the more successful property companies in these tough economic times are the ones who invest in understanding their customers and all those affected by their businesses. These companies feel that they never have enough understanding of their customers and stakeholders – they never think they know it all.  

 “The successful companies are customer-serving rather than self-serving because they know it makes economic and social sense.  We would like to see more property companies follow the lead of these research-driven success companies and focus on their customers’ wants and needs as opposed to their own. This will help them to enjoy a more sustainable and prosperous future not only for themselves but for our industry and Britain as a whole.”

 Jackie Sadek, Managing Director of UK Regeneration, said: “I congratulate the BPF and RealService for taking this brave and necessary step to stage this debate for the mainstream of the industry. It was very timely and has given us a splendid platform for the ‘Build a Better Britain’ Regeneration Commission.”

Other organisations represented at the debate were GVA, Igloo, Manchester City Council, Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership and The Crown Estate.

Discussion themes included:

  • What is the property industry’s role in fostering social cohesion in our communities?
  • Should the property industry be doing more to champion small businesses? And if so what?
  • How important is the property industry in supporting the regeneration of our ailing high streets?
  • Is there a role for the property industry in increasing skills and reducing youth unemployment?
  • What practical help should the property industry give to businesses in financial distress?
  • How do we pull together a practical property industry plan to tackle some or all of the above?

Talks are being planned post MIPIM to see how the property industry can pull together to tackle some of the issues raised during the debate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Customer Service: Our Property Vision – 3 years On

Posted on January 25, 2012 by RealService

The following article is published with thanks to PRSupdate, a magazine for the private rented sector published monthly by the Young Group. http://www.younggroup.co.uk/

By Howard Morgan

Founder and Managing Director of RealService – real estate customer service specialists

It’s New Year and time to reflect on achievements and to plan the future. Three years ago, RealService boldly set out our vision of the property industry of the future.

With encouragement from the Young Group, we have taken each of our ten predictions to see what’s been achieved to date.

1.      Property companies will become brands or even ‘super brands’.

A brand is much more than a logo – it is the essence or promise of what will be delivered or experienced. In my view there are 5 things that any property brand needs to get right.

    1. Tangibles – the quality of the physical facilities that we build, businesses that we house or property management services we deliver
    2. Reliability – making sure that these developments continue to deliver every time
    3. Responsiveness – reacting quickly to whatever the customer wants and sorting problems out fast
    4. Assurance – inspiring trust among customers
    5. Empathy – demonstrating a true understanding of customers’ changing needs – making customers feel understood as individuals

By obsessively focusing on these 5 areas our industry will deliver increased value for shareholders, occupiers and local communities. Superbrands like Apple and John Lewis understand this. Westfield, CBRE and Land Securities seem to get it too.

2: Property businesses will be better understood and valued for a consistently high level of service.

When I started our business 14 years ago, I was told that I was mad to imagine that the real estate industry would embrace customer service.

Today, many of our clients, including several major listed property owners, call their tenants “customers” and are fully embracing the notion that treating tenants as valued customers makes good business sense in terms of faster leasing, stronger retention and industry recognition.

One of the pioneering ‘early adopters’ of this customer focused approach is British Land which has transformed itself from a brand that’s “difficult to do business with” to “our preferred property partner”.  This transition can be measured through occupier audits and industry recognition. For example, 2011 studies by RealService http://www.britishland.com/index.asp?pageid=10 showed that 85% of retail occupiers and 83% of office occupiers rated the service they receive from British Land as “good or excellent” – these being some of the best occupier satisfaction results in the industry. In 2009 they were voted by retailers as “Landlord of the Year” for their aggressive approach to reducing service charges.

The real estate industry still has a long way to go to catch up with the rest of business in its approach to customer.  The UK Occupier Satisfaction Survey 2011, published by the Property Industry Alliance and CoreNet Global UK, revealed that the average UK occupier rates their level of satisfaction at just 54%. Just imagine the outcry if our big supermarkets offered such a poor level of service! http://www.occupiersatisfaction.org.uk/

3: The property industry’s customers will be more knowledgeable with information at their finger-tips to help them make informed decisions about which suppliers are best.

Today customer feedback is driving purchasing decisions in all walks of life – whether buying for business or the home – in store or online.

I’ve wondered for a while why it’s easier to find a good place to stay in Timbuktu on TripAdvisor it is to find a good residential landlord in London.

Why is the property sector so poor on transparency, when it has so much to gain? A visit to Washington DC last year brought ApartmentRatings.com http://www.apartmentratings.com/ to my attention and how this site is rewriting the rules for customer feedback.

My idea for a TripAdvisor style website for the UK private rented sector last year won the support of four hard-nosed dragons at the inaugural RESI “Dragons Den”.  Moves are now afoot to test the viability of such a website.

4: Service quality and performance will be measured on a consistent basis across the world.

The measurement and reporting of service performance is presently too fragmented and lacks consistency. Without consistent measurement how can a customer or investor take a claim of “95% customer satisfaction” or “80% customer retention” seriously?

At the vanguard of developing consistent measures are the 20 leading owner and property manager members of the RealService Best Practice Group (RSBPG) http://www.rsbpg.com/ – a not for profit benchmarking and best practice group that includes Ashville Asset Management, British Land, Broadgate Estates, Capital Shopping Centres, CityWest Homes Ltd, Cushman & Wakefield, DTZ, EMCOR Facilities Services, Gatwick Airport, GVA, Highcross, Lambert Smith Hampton, Land Securities, MAG Developments, Marchday, PRUPIM, SEGRO, Soho Housing Association, Stow, The Portman Estate and Transport for London.

Backed by the British Property Federation http://www.bpf.org.uk/ and founded in 2004, the group’s mission is to improve customer service to occupiers through benchmarking and the sharing of best practice and in so doing gain a better understanding of the link between improved customer service and performance.

5: The products and services offered by the real estate industry will become more clearly defined and differentiated as opposed to an amorphous mass where one size fits all.

In recent years more property businesses have become sector specific, a move that’s been driven by research and understanding of customer needs.

At London’s Heron Tower office complex http://www.herontower.com/, for example, the offering is totally geared toward those companies that expect a 6* standard of service and facilities – more akin to a luxury hotel than an office block.

Derwent London http://www.derwentlondon.com/#!Home, famous for its architecturally striking buildings, is at the vanguard of the White Collar Factory office, a new architectural/cultural concept that incorporates a number of key, environmentally-friendly design features.

6: Proper relationships between suppliers and customers will prosper in line with other industries i.e. founded on a partnership style of doing business where mutual understanding/symbiotic relationships exist. 

It was fascinating to hear the real estate director of a global manufacturing business tell our client why they would like to do more business with them and create a strategic partnership as they do with others in their supply chain.

Partnerships deliver – it was through the strength of their partnership with Land Securities that John Lewis was able to grow its “at Home” chain at such an extraordinary pace with the first store delivered just six months after initial conversations. http://www.landsecurities.com/Media/Press-releases?MediaID=1362

7: The property industry will become more transparent about the way it does business and the costs of doing business.

While the residential industry has had regulation of service charges forced upon it, in the commercial property world it this is still voluntary.

In 2011 the RSBPG published its second benchmarking Index showing the extent to which some of the UK’s leading owners and managers are complying with the requirements of the RICS Service Charge Codes for commercial and residential properties.

The Service Charge Compliance Index (SCCI) results showed that property owners and managers are still finding it challenging to demonstrate true transparency but measurement is driving organisations to develop improved systems and processes.

Click here for 2011 results

http://bpf.contentdaemon.com/preview/en/newsroom/press_release/PR110712_-_RSBPG_PR_RealService_Best_Practice_Group_Service_Charge_Compliance_Index_SCCI_Results_2011.php

Service charge transparency isn’t the only issue.  A lot of cloudiness exists around the way rents are quoted to protect headline rents. There are also still surprise charges around approvals and licenses – and people don’t like surprises!

8: The property industry will move from being self-focused to being obsessively customer-focused.

Customer service today is a boardroom issue whereas three years ago it was regarded soft and fluffy – a nice to have extra.

Chief executives understand customer service and analysts are asking questions about operational excellence and customer focus.  Service quality is high on the boardroom agenda as is the cost of delivering that service and the financial and reputational benefits it brings.

9: The property industry will play a leading role in demonstrating how industry can minimise its impact on the environment and actively work with its customers to minimise their impact too.

Today the major players like British Land http://www.britishland.com/index.asp?pageid=496 and Land Securities http://www.landsecurities.com/websitefiles/cr_report_2011.pdf take their corporate responsibility programmes very seriously.

Property companies take enormous pride in reducing carbon emissions, conserving natural resources through energy and water efficiency and recycling initiatives. Producing buildings that are sustainable in design and construction is now high on these companies’ and their occupiers’ agendas.

10: The property industry will develop a clearer understanding of the link between adopting customer service strategies and performance.

I hope to be able to award a much higher progress score in three years when the outcome of pioneering PhD research project to help the property industry better understand the link between customer service and property performance will be known.

Sponsorship for the project has recently been secured from the Lord Samuel of Wych Cross Memorial Trust Award, together with industry contributions from RealService Ltd and the RealService Best Practice Group (RSBPG). It will be supervised by the School of Real Estate & Planning at Henley Business School, part of the University of Reading http://blog.real-service.co.uk/~realserv/?p=488

There is currently no easy way for City analysts to measure the impact of customer service investment on financial performance. We hope the project will provide hard objective and quantitative evidence and a clear business case for investing in customer service.

End of term report

As RealService enters our 14th year in business I feel really positive about what’s been achieved and that the progress can only speed up from here.

Customer service it is now a boardroom issue in real estate and that will ensure that it received the attention it deserves. If you don’t currently have a strategy to maximise customer focus and operational excellence in your company, then 2012, Olympic Year, is surely the time to get one.

To view the full article click on the link below

http://www.younggroup.co.uk/downloads/YGUpdate_Current.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

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Predictions – Shopping Centre Handbook 2012

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Heather Purchase

Howard Morgan makes his predictions for the big themes in retail in 2012

Click here to see article

21 and beyond – What do the next 2 decades hold in store for the shopping centre industry

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Freedom to Manage – Shopping Centre Magazine Dec 2011

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Heather Purchase

There are some excellent people managing our retail stores but are they being given the tools and freedom with which to do the job? asks Howard Morgan, managing director of real estate customer service specialist RealService

I’ve been out and about in shopping centres recently meeting store managers as part of our clients’ annual programmes of measuring retailer satisfaction.

I have to admit that I’ve been extremely impressed by the quality of store managers that I’ve met.  They’ve been highly experienced – most with 10 to 15 years in retailing – passionate about their work and brimming with ideas for improvement. Without exception, they genuinely want to work with centre management to achieve better results.

Although the store managers I met were a positive and enthusiastic bunch, I also detected a sense of frustration.  They told me how most decisions are made centrally at head office and how rarely are they trusted with a budget for events and promotions.

I’m not saying there isn’t strength in decisions being made centrally. There’s opportunity to make decisions based on latest research as well as to achieve the benefits of economies of scale.

But if there’s any truth in the saying ‘retail is in the detail’ then surely retail is about understanding the local, regional, cultural and demographic differences between them. And this is where a good local store manager with a finger on the pulse comes in.

Compare the freedom to manage that the store manager of a national chain has with that of a privately owned and locally run enterprise.  No contest – the locally managed store wins every time and that is why privately run fashion stores survive – they know their customers and can adjust their stock, discounting and promotions to match.

So why aren’t the multiples allowing their store managers to do the same?

As mentioned in this column before, even Internet retailers demonstrate a better understanding of their customers than many stores because they knows who you are, what your previous buying habits have been and are able suggest items that they think you might want to buy.

Surely the future of retailing has to be ‘think national, act local’.   To do this, head offices need to empower local store managers to make real decisions. Store managers also need to be given budget to get involved in local marketing initiatives.  Speeding up the decision making process by removing some of the layers of communication between store managers and head office would also enable managers to respond quicker to local conditions.

Retail management needs to get back to the shop floor – it’s time to give store managers the respect they deserve.

Click below for copy of article

Freedom to manage

 

 

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PhD research to explore customer service & property performance link

Posted on December 16, 2011 by RealService

News Release
Property industry to fund pioneering PhD research to explore customer service and property performance link

Date: 16 December 2011

Funding has been secured and a global search launched for a PhD student to carry out pioneering research to help the property industry better understand the link between customer service and property performance.

Sponsorship for the three-year project will come from the Lord Samuel of Wych Cross Memorial Trust Award, together with industry contributions from RealService Ltd and the RealService Best Practice Group (RSBPG).

The Trust was set up in 1989 to remember Lord Samuel of Wych Cross, founder of Land Securities and Chairman from 1944 to 1987 and provides real estate students with funding for industry-related study. The Trust is administered by the British Property Federation (BPF).

The Lord Samuel Memorial Trust and RealService Research Doctorate will be supervised by the world renowned School of Real Estate & Planning at Henley Business School, part of the University of Reading.

The School, the largest in the UK for teaching and research in real estate and planning, has launched a global search for a suitable candidate with a view to the research starting in early 2012.

The link between Land Securities’ founder and the business today will be ensured through the personal involvement of Group Chief Executive Francis Salway as a mentor to the PhD student during the project.

The idea of establishing a PhD was the brainchild of Howard Morgan, founder and Managing Director of RealService Ltd – international real estate customer service specialists – and Roger Gibbard, Head of School Real Estate & Planning.

Further sponsorship comes from the RealService Best Practice Group (RSBPG), a not for profit organisation made up of some of the UK’s largest and most influential property owners, managers and investors and supported by the BPF.

The research study is seen as perfect fit for the RSBPG whose mission is to improve customer service to occupiers through benchmarking and the sharing of best practice, and in so doing gain a better understanding of the link between improved customer service and performance.

Morgan says: “The last 10 years has witnessed a mini revolution in the world of property with the emergence of a group of ‘pioneers’ and ‘early-adopters’ – including the likes of Land Securities – who have fully embraced the notion that treating tenants as valued customers makes good business sense in terms of faster leasing, stronger retention and industry recognition.

“However, at present there is no easy way for City analysts to measure the impact of customer service investment on financial performance. We hope the project will provide hard objective and quantitative evidence and a clear business case for investing in customer service.”

Liz Peace, BPF Chief Executive says: “Intuitively you would think that organisations delivering customer excellence would also deliver excellent financial performance. In our industry, however, there has been little research to back that hypothesis. We are therefore delighted that various organisations, including the Lord Samuel Trust, have come together to fund what will be a ground-breaking Phd project, and to prove to any doubters that excellent customer service is good for your bottom line.”

Francis Salway, Land Securities Group Chief Executive says: “There is a large body of academic research on the relationship between property asset characteristics and financial performance. We welcome this new research into potential links between customer service and financial performance in the property sector.”

Joe Chambers, Chief Executive of Soho Housing and RSBPG Steering Group member says: “The key for us is to understand to what extent great customer service gives us a competitive edge when managing for others and whether our buildings can be made to generate better returns if customers are delighted. Some independent verification in this area would move our business and the property sector forward significantly.”

Roger Gibbard, Head of the School Real Estate & Planning, Henley Business School at the University of Reading says: “We are delighted to be partnering Lord Samuel of Wych Cross Memorial Trust Award, RealService Ltd and the RealService Best Practice Group (RSBPG) in this initiative. This doctoral study into the importance of customer service demonstrates Reading’s position at the cutting-edge of influential research for the property industry, and we look forward to sharing the outcomes in due course.”

Ends
Further information contact:
Howard Morgan, RealService Ltd
Tel: 0203 393 9603
Mobile: 07901 628554
Email: howard.morgan@real-service.co.uk

Heather Purchase, RealService Ltd
Tel: 0203 393 9603
Mobile: 07973 860026
Email: heather.purchase@real-service.co.uk

Roger Gibbard, School of Real Estate & Planning, Henley Business School
Tel:0118 378 6488
Mobile:
Email: r.gibbard@henley.reading.ac.uk

Ian Fletcher, BPF
Tel: 020 7802 0112
Mobile: 07811 684932
Email: ifletcher@bpf.org.uk

Notes to Editor
Sponsors
1: Lord Samuel of Wych Cross Memorial Trust:

The Lord Samuel of Wych Cross Memorial Trust was set up in 1989 to remember Lord Samuel of Wych Cross, founder of Land Securities and Chairman from 1944 to 1987 and provides real estate students with funding for industry-related study.
The Trust is administered by the British Property Federation (BPF), which is a membership organisation devoted to representing the interests of all those involved in property ownership and investment.

It aims to create the conditions in which the property industry can grow and thrive, for the benefit of its members and of the economy as a whole. Membership includes the biggest companies in the property industry – property developers and owners, institutions, fund managers, investment banks and professional organisations.

For more information visit: www.bpf.org.uk

2: RealService Ltd
RealService is a London-based consulting business that specialises in real estate customer service. The company has a large international client base including some of the biggest and most influential names in the real estate industry. These include British Land, Land Securities, SEGRO and Capital Shopping Centres.

RealService’s research, training and management consultancy services enable clients to secure lasting improvements in the 3 R’s of real estate – revenue, retention and reputation- through the adoption of customer service strategies.

In 2004, RealService Ltd together with the active support of the BPF and encouragement of Land Securities, Grosvenor and the Crown Estate founded the RealService Best Practice Group (RSBPG), a benchmarking group dedicated to helping the real estate industry improve customer service and generate improved property performance. RealService provides strategic advice and the secretariat for the RSBPG.
For more information visit: www.real-service.co.uk

3: RealService Best Practice Group (RSBPG)

RSBPG is a not for profit organisation funded by membership fees and sponsorships.

Members represent a cross section of the property industry. They include public and private property companies, property investment managers, major public companies and property management companies.

The RSBPG’s mission is to improve customer service to occupiers through benchmarking and the sharing of best practice, and in so doing gain a better understanding of the link between improved customer service and performance.

The RSBPG’s benchmarking programme enables members to confidentially compare their customer service performance with best practice.

Members of RSBPG include -

Ashville Properties Limited
Broadgate Estates
Cadogan
Capital Shopping Centres PLC
CityWest Homes Ltd.
DTZ
EMCOR
HighCross Strategic Advisers Ltd
Lambert Smith Hampton
Land Securities

Gatwick Airport
GVA
MAG Developments
Marchday Group Plc
PRUPIM
SEGRO
Soho Housing Association
Stow Securities
The British Land Company PLC
The Portman Estate

For more information visit: www.rsbpg.com

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PRS Update: In conversation with Howard Morgan

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Howard Morgan

Private Rented Sector (PRS) Update, published by leading residential specialist, Young London, has recently interviewed me about our work at RealService and what makes us tick.

To read the interview follow this link

http://prsupdate.co.uk/2011/11/17/in-conversation-howard-morgan/#more-3537

PRS is a resource for anyone seeking information and advice about the PRS, whether from an investment, lettings and management or finance perspective.  The overriding aims of PRS update are to promote sharing of best practice and encourage discussion.

Why not take a lucky dip into their “In Conversation” archives and discover:

Daniel Moylan, Deputy Chairman of Transport for London

Liz Peace, Chief Executive at British Property Federation

Simon Painter, Partner at Bircham Dyson Bell

 

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Customer feedback – the ethical dimension

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Howard Morgan

Customer feedback has become one of the most valuable commodities in the 21st century – great customer feedback has the power to make a business while poor reviews can kill a business stone dead. Unlike gold, customer feedback is not in limited supply. In fact the amount of customer feedback available to help you with a buying decision is growing exponentially – you can even read an online review before buying your next set of Marks and Spencer underwear!

My wife and I recently stayed at a wonderful bed and breakfast hotel in deepest Gloucestershire – it had a 100% review score on review website, TripAdvisor, and we could see why – perfect accommodation run with a true spirit of hospitality. The owner told me that TripAdvisor had been the making of his business enabling him to rapidly grow on the back of positive recommendation.

Customer feedback has also been a force for good in the real estate industry. For example, companies like British Land and Land Securities have received external recognition from their largest customers (tenants) for their efforts to improve the way they conduct business. This has been driven by enlightened management who have seen the value of gathering independent high quality feedback through annual customer surveys.

Fool’s Gold?

But websites like TripAdvisor are coming under attack – the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is to launch an investigation into the popular review website, following growing criticism of its apparent failure to monitor fake comments posted online. The formal inquiry was opened after a complaint that ‘abuse, flaws and distortion’ on the TripAdvisor website had reached ‘epidemic’ levels.

The Moral Dimension

With modern Western business ethics founded on Judaeo/Christian traditions and principles, there’s clearly a moral dimension to giving and receiving customer feedback. In researching this article it was interesting to look at the JABE (Jewish Association of Business Ethics) Ethical Dilemmas resources at the website www.jabe.org. While there is nothing specific about this fast-growing area there are definitely lessons to be drawn from some related areas such as

1.     False advertising

Jewish ethical teachings place the full onus of disclosing defects and other shortcomings in the product or service on the seller, even in the absence of any written guarantee. This suggests to me that customer feedback sites should be actively encouraged by sellers. Equally sellers should not create or encourage fraudulent reviews.

In Jewish law, the sale of an item on the basis of a false description would cause that sale to be null and void. The item would revert to the original vendor and any payment would revert to the purchaser.

2.     Gossip

Could customer feedback be considered gossip? In general, Jewish tradition prohibits any form of gossip. It is prohibited not only to repeat information which is false but even to repeat any information about somebody else which is true and not derogatory. The only time that it would be permitted to pass on further information (e.g. customer feedback?) is when it will prevent another person suffering loss or damage. In such a case the information passed must be absolutely correct and should be limited it to what is necessary to prevent that loss or damage.

3.     References

There is a general proviso that it is permissible – and even proper – to provide negative information about somebody when the information is needed for a constructive purpose. When giving over negative information, it is not a free for all and five conditions must always be met in Jewish law. These conditions when arranged alphabetically, act as a useful aide memoire:

ACCURACY The information should not be exaggerated or embellished.

BENEFIT Disclosure itself should be the only type of constructive benefit.

CERTAINTY It should be ensured that the information is reliable.

DESIRE the teller’s intention must be constructive, not vindictive.

EQUITY it would not be acceptable to cause undeserved damage to the subject.

4.     Whistleblowing

Jewish tradition strongly opposes spreading stories. However, one is permitted to repeat the truth in order to prevent loss. It might be pushing the boundaries, but could it be argued that a person who knows of an act of wrongdoing (e.g. an unsafe hotel or poor customer service) and does nothing about it, acts as an accessory to it?

The Ethical Hazard

So next time you feel like firing off a critical restaurant review after a lousy meal or hotel stay remember that with power comes responsibility. The giving and receiving of customer feedback can be a power for good but watch out for the ethical hazard.

This is an abridged version of an article published by JABE in The Business Ethical Review – November 2011

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