Are you really getting the Voice of the Customer

In the hyper competitive environment of construction, customer satisfaction is a huge deal. So much so that Construction Management firms have people on staff dedicated to nurturing relationships with current customers and cultivating relationships with prospective customers.

They apply big dollars towards capturing the "Voice of the Customer" and showcasing testimonials.

Some progressive General Contractors even get feedback from their trade contractors. They send their feedback surveys to the Project Managers or Principals of the trade contractor and celebrate the glowing reviews. They even say "Thank you" when they get 1 or 2 pillowed up improvement "opportunities".

All the while Ignoring these 2 facts:

• Fact #1: The trade representative that fills out these surveys are incentivized to keep the feedback as positive as possible. Its called self preservation.
• Fact #2: The trade representative that fills out these surveys did not experience the day to day on site.

More and more of these GCs are jumping on the Lean Construction wagon because their customers want them to. Their trailers have sticky notes on the wall, they are having daily huddles, and even have way finding signage on site. 

With all this effort and energy going towards building backlog, they are still neglecting one important customer.

Ill give you one guess as to which customer I am talking about...

Im talking about the men and women of the trades. These are the customers that have first hand experience of what is making or breaking the project. 

These are the customers that every jobsite needs more of, yet no one is harvesting this enormous resource for the insights that will take the project to the next level. 

Some of you are reading this and immediately thinking of all the barriers to getting this feedback: language gaps, technology gaps, and so on. I wonder if you are as accommodating to other peoples excuses as you are to your own?

And to the forward thinking leader that knows the value in innovation, I invite you to be bold and invest resources towards learning how to improve the customer experience of the trade workers. Doing so will earn you preferred pricing and preferred performance.

And this will enhance the service you provide to all of your Customers