{"id":2793,"date":"2017-10-27T10:51:28","date_gmt":"2017-10-27T09:51:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.threesl.com\/blog\/?p=2793"},"modified":"2023-02-09T14:19:43","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T14:19:43","slug":"could-do-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threesl.com\/blog\/could-do-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Could Do Better?"},"content":{"rendered":"

To the parents of…….<\/h2>\n

First reports of the new School year are landing on parent’s laps up and down the country. How have their little prodigies settled into their new class, how are they doing with new subjects? Will the envelope contain a list of ‘Could Do Better<\/em>‘ or will it be a list of ‘ Excellent Effort<\/em>‘<\/p>\n

As a parent you always hope that the report will be positive, but what do you do about the negatives? How do you better support your child at school?<\/p>\n

5 Out of 7 Subjects Great, 2 Need improvement.<\/h3>\n
\"School
Report<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ok, so as a parent we know Geography is lacking, but where. Is it a lack of understanding or a lack of world experience or bad handwriting. We could watch some BBC BiteSize revision clips take a world cruise, or get the lined paper and practice cursive fonts. The feedback lacks a little.<\/p>\n

B2B Engagement<\/h2>\n

3SL are generally in the Business to Business<\/em> market. We want to form a relationship with our customers more akin to the partnership between\u00a0 parents and teachers than that of a Crisps*<\/sup> manufacturer selling to the mass millions and offering a chance to feedback via a popup on their website. The incentive in this case may be the year’s supply of ‘Cheese and Onion<\/em>‘ but the quality of the feedback is likely to be limited to my thoughts on whether 6 or 8 packets is ideal as the size of a in a multi-pack or whether I rate the ‘Beef Goulash – special edition<\/em>‘ higher or lower than my regular ‘Ready Salted<\/em>‘<\/p>\n

(* Crisps: en; Thin slices of potato fried until crunchy and crisp, en_US; known as potato chips)<\/sup><\/small><\/p>\n

Let’s Do a Survey<\/h3>\n

Surveys definitely have their place. They define a set of measurable criteria against which the business wishes to perform. “All posted correspondence must be dealt with within 14 days”<\/samp> is a laudable criterion, you can ask your customers if they received their mail within
\n7\u25d8\u00a0\u00a0<\/big>14\u25d8\u00a0\u00a0<\/big>21\u25d8\u00a0\u00a0<\/big>longer\u25d8\u00a0\u00a0<\/big>N\/A\u25d8\u00a0<\/big>days<\/samp>.<\/p>\n

\""Survey"
Survey<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, this is not much use if the main mail is simply the invoice sent to the company’s finance department. The users of the product, were really more bothered about their email to support being answered promptly, as the project was on the critical path.<\/p>\n

Let’s Wait and See<\/h3>\n

“Businesses will tell us when we’re doing well”<\/em> right? Generally, wrong!<\/p>\n

B2B or B2C will regularly tell you when something is wrong, but far less frequently tell you when something is right. It’s just the way we are. You finish a meal in a restaurant and it was OK you up and leave, you enjoyed it you may leave a tip, you hated it and though the service was awful you may write and complain. (If you’re British you’ll probably say “tut tut, not going there again”<\/samp> but that’s a cultural issue!)<\/p>\n

Ask….<\/h3>\n

If the waiting staff see you are finished and approach your table and ask “Was everything OK? Did you enjoy your meal?”<\/samp> They may well get a range of responses from “Fine<\/em>” to “Great evening<\/em>” to “The steak sauce was superb, I hope it’s on the specials again soon<\/em>“. From this the business can glean more about how well they are doing. You wouldn’t want your waiter to sit down with you and ask if there were areas you felt were lacking and how they could better serve you next time. (It would somewhat ruin an evening). On the other hand getting feedback from that teacher about where improvements could be made, asking what they could do to assist and what you could do to support is a vital way to improve achievements.<\/p>\n

Help Us to Help You<\/h2>\n

3SL are asking.<\/h4>\n

We want to build that relationship and make Structured Software Systems Ltd<\/em>, the company you want to deal with. We want to understand how we can better support you.<\/p>\n

And the Survey Said…<\/h3>\n

We know we can answer the phone within a minute (during UK office hours), we know we can respond to emails within the service level agreement. But what we don’t know is whether these are the most important aspects that you value. We can ask Google<\/a> how fast our pages load, but it may be a piece of vital content that you rate more highly.
\nSo the survey says NO<\/strong> we’re not going to restrain you to a set of tick boxes. <\/em>We know different customers value different aspects and we want to be able to respond to all those things. We are, therefore, throwing the ball into your court, asking you to provide us with a virtual “parent’s evening” to raise your concerns (or lavish your praise) on us, as the parents, of Cradle<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Get in touch…<\/h4>\n

social-customer@threesl.com<\/a>, call us +44 (0)1229 838867 DM us @threesl<\/a> or post a letter Suite2, 22a Duke Street, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, LA14 1HH U.K (and we’ll try and respond within 14 days!). Tell us what you want, what you rate well and where we ‘Could Do Better’<\/strong><\/p>\n

3rd Party Review Sites<\/h3>\n

We are also keen for you to provide public feedback at Capterra or TrustRadius which can help others decide on the value of Cradle. Obviously if you have a problem we’d welcome you contacting us first so we can help resolve it, that will benefit you , us and the rest of our customer base.<\/p>\n

Further reading:<\/h6>\n

This article from TrustRadius for vendors is quite insightful\u00a0 The Engagement Economy: How to build the relationship B2B buyers want <\/cite><\/p>\n

UPDATE: September 2020 – 3rd Party Reviews<\/h5>\n