Norma and Irene help put the customer first at Magna West Somerset

6/18/2010

Two West Somerset residents have become customer champions for their local housing association.

Norma Stevens and Irene Bigg, who are both from Dunster, are already on the tenants’ panel of Magna West Somerset (MWS) Housing Association. They say they want to make a real difference to everyday lives.

They are the first residents to join the MWS Customer First Group, which up until now was confined to staff across all departments. Customer First is Magna’s programme to help all staff give excellent, consistent service to all customers.

Norma said: “We meet regularly to discuss and put forward innovative ideas to make sure Magna does all it can to deliver the best possible customer service.

“By sitting on this group alongside MWS staff, I can bring things up on behalf of other residents and know that staff will immediately take these views on board.

“Recently, I was able to give feedback on a telephone survey I carried out at Magna. On the whole, the survey results were good but some residents complained about being passed to the wrong person or staff not giving the whole story when they pass the call to another member of staff.

“Several people said they were annoyed about not being able to speak to the same member of staff who had dealt with the initial query and then having to explain it all again.

“So this is now something that will be brought up at drop-in sessions at which staff see the work of different MWS departments.”

Irene said that being part of the group gave her an insight into some of the day-to-day problems faced by staff.

“We have been involved in two meetings so far, and it has been really interesting,” she said.

“We’re looking forward to having an input and being able to give the perspective of residents.”

Irene and Norma are very active members of their local community. They also serve on several important MWS service review groups.

Since it began in 2007, Customer First has become firmly embedded in the way things are done at Magna. There are a variety of Customer First Champions across the organisation who act as departmental guardians and protectors of good customer service.

Recent projects include:
* Reviewing information for all new residents, such as the use of heating systems and location of stopcocks
* Working with contractors so they know what is expected of them
* A trial out-of-hours evening telephone service
* Tenant mystery shoppers
* A standard telephone answering procedure and response times
* Encouraging staff feedback
* Trained dignity champions to give staff support if they are being harassed
* Producing a customer access guide to help staff communicate with people who have visual and hearing impairments, mental illness, physical disability or learning disability

Customer First is constantly evolving and looking for new ways of working to achieve common goals.