When it comes to customer service, Anthony J. Filippis takes his father’s advice.
“He always said treat that customer like your mother,” says the president and CEO of Wright & Filippis Inc. “If you do that, you won’t have any problems.”
His father, Tony Filippis, who founded the company in 1944, passed away in January 2007. But his legacy for customer care lives on in the company’s 931 employees.
First, response cards go out to everyone who uses the company’s prosthetics, orthotics and home medical equipment. Filippis uses negative feedback to patch gaps in the company’s procedures and positive feedback to reward employees for stellar service.
But whatever action is spurred by the feedback, Filippis communicates the next move to everyone — customers and employees alike.
“It’s a matter of listening to your customers and your employees and letting them know what’s going on,” says Filippis, who guided the company to 2007 revenue of $136 million.
Smart Business spoke with Filippis about how to gather and use feedback to build strong customer service.
Gauge customer responses. We’ve tried to take that patient care philosophy throughout all the products and services we provide. So every one of our patients gets a survey card, no matter what they’re buying or what service they’re receiving.
First of all, things need to be easy to understand and easy to respond to. You want it to be quick and easy. You don’t want a 20-question survey. We keep ours to five or six questions, focusing on were they attended to properly, was the speed of their service good.
Whatever line of business you’re in, focus on what your key elements are and then get questions that can help to make sure that whoever you’re servicing gets those services in the most economical and efficient way.
Reply to feedback. Listen to what they’re saying and make sure that you’re dealing with those concerns. Make sure that when you have a problem that you solve it, and you solve it quickly.
There’s a group within our organization called Organizational Improvement. When a phone call comes [or] someone has a problem, they’re the first line. They’re the ones that field the calls and then research. They do analysis, finding out, ‘Is this a one-time problem, or have we had ongoing problems?’ If we find an issue that’s consistent … we’ll do training.
If it’s a specific problem, it’s addressed and obviously moved on. If it’s a general concern, even if it’s not something that affects them necessarily, we always get back to them and let them know what we are doing.
