From Hello to Goodbye – how good is your customer service?  

by Richard Ellithorne, Membership Services Director
19 June 2018


Every merchant will say that customer service is essential to their business. But do they know what their customers really think of service they receive in branch?  

As Lynda Moore, head of talent management at Bradford Building Supplies, says: “We may think we do it well, but we can always do better.”  

Bradfords, which has over 40 branches serving south west England, used the BMF’s From Hello to Goodbye service to get a clear understanding of customer service at four of those branches and is using the report as a starting point for a targeted training programme for staff at all levels.  

From Hello to Goodbye is one of three bespoke services that the BMF offers under its In-Branch Mentoring programme.  Jason Routley, who heads up the programme, has worked in every aspect of merchanting with TP and Builder Centre and has also experienced life on the other side of the counter running his own building company.  His background gives him a complete understanding of how the industry works.  

Jason spent half a day at each of Bradford’s nominated branches observing activities and interacting with staff and customers before drawing up a detailed, illustrated report for each one.   

Bradfords wanted to find out what they did well, so they could use examples of good practice elsewhere, to see if their people were engaged and enjoying their work, and to understand the areas they needed to work on and improve.  Jason was briefed to look at how they merchandised, what customer service was really like for the customer, how their people interacted with customers – were they helped or left alone – and overall what they did well and where and how could they improve.  

Lynda Moore says having someone from outside the business undertake this research was invaluable.  “We hadn’t come across this format before.  It sounds so simple, but it was a huge advantage to have Jason look at everything with fresh eyes. Our managers regularly visit all the branches but are so familiar with them, they may stop noticing things.  For example, parking at one branch may be a nightmare, but we just accept that and don’t think what effect it may have on customers.  

“By observing what was going on in each branch and asking staff to talk him through why they were doing something in a certain way, Jason was able to produce extremely detailed and insightful feedback, complete with photographs illustrating the points he made.  The images were very powerful and caused us to look at our branches in a different light.   

“He highlighted a lot of the good stuff that was going on, but his report has given us a springboard to do much more to improve.  We have clear parameters for some initial wins as well as those requiring a longer-term focus and will be creating a training programme for every member of staff involved.”  

From Hello to Goodbye is one of three bespoke in-branch services offered by the BMF.  The others focus on Effective Team Building and Selling Success.  

To find out more about BMF’s bespoke services or any other BMF course or apprenticeship, please contact BMF’s Membership Services Director at [email protected] or telephone 02476 854980.


This article appeared in the May 2018 edition of Professional Builders Merchant (PBM)