Good service starts when things go wrong…

By Lucia, Sales Development Manager at clixifix®

Before working in technology and housing, I spent several years working in a high-end restaurant. In that environment, service is judged on the details. The things that are working well tend to go unnoticed because they’re expected. What people remember are the moments where expectations aren’t met and how those moments are handled.

A table isn’t ready. An order is delayed. Something isn’t quite right.

The challenge was never just fixing the problem. It was managing the experience around it. I’ve found myself thinking about that a lot when it comes to defects and resident communication. Nobody reports a defect because things are going well. Usually, they’re dealing with an inconvenience, a disruption, or something in their home that has stopped working as it should. By the time they get in touch, the experience is already on the back foot.

The response people want is often similar, regardless of the industry. Of course they want the issue resolved. But they also want to feel informed. They want confidence that someone understands the situation and that progress is being made.

Working in hospitality taught me that people can be remarkably understanding when they’re kept in the loop. What tends to create frustration isn’t always the issue itself. It’s not knowing what’s happening next.

That’s why communication matters so much.

When people can see that something is being dealt with, when expectations are clear, and when updates are easy to access, it changes the experience. It doesn’t magically remove the problem, but it does remove a lot of the uncertainty that surrounds it.

We often talk about technology in terms of efficiency or automation, but I think its most valuable role is much simpler than that. Good technology helps organisations communicate better. It helps people stay informed. It reduces the effort required to get answers. That might sound like a small thing, but when somebody is waiting for a repair in their home, it rarely feels small to them.

The best service isn’t about impressing people when everything is going right. It’s about giving them confidence when it isn’t. That’s as true in housing as it was in the restaurant where I first learned it.

This is something we hear a lot when speaking to customer care professionals in the industry and it’s gratifying to hear how, for many of them, clixifix® is an invaluable tool to reassure their residents when things go wrong.