We believe that effective feedback, both positive and negative is very helpful. Feedback is valuable information that will be used to make important decisions moving forward. Top performing companies are top performing companies because they consistently search for ways to make their best even better. For top performing companies ‘continuous improvement’ is not just a showy catchphrase, it's a true focus based on feedback from across the entire organization – customers, clients, employees, suppliers, vendors, and stakeholders. Top performing companies are not only good at accepting feedback, they deliberately ask for it, and they know that feedback is helpful only when it highlights weaknesses and in the case below its strengths.

This week as part of a Regional Retail Deep Clean Project, our client Interserve, received the below email from the Store Manager which was passed to our Helpdesk.

On 23rd May 2018 we had a deep clean service by Steve Butler and Lewis Smith at our Wellingborough store.

They arrived at 530pm and I collected keys from them at 11pm as I had been to a  show and was passing the store on the way back. I was amazed at how long they had spent working. We have had deep cleans before (usually lasting 2 hours) with disappointing results.

 They showed me round at what they had done and I could not believe the difference they had made. The shop smelt clean and fresh like never before. I was so impressed and feel I need to let you know how pleased I was with the quality of their work. They were extremely friendly and I would like to thank them and your company for providing such excellent service.

We are all incredibly proud of both Steve and Lewis, and the whole team for their hard work which enables customer feedback such as the above.

Effective feedback has benefits for the giver, the receiver, and the wider organization, and to finish below are five reasons why we as a company believe that feedback is so important.

1. Feedback is always there. If you ask someone in your organization when feedback occurs, they will typically mention an employee survey, performance appraisal, or training evaluation. In actuality, feedback is around us all the time. Every time we speak to a person, employee, customer, vendor, etc., we communicate feedback. In actuality, it’s impossible not to give feedback.
2. Feedback is effective listening. Whether the feedback is done verbally or via a feedback survey, the person providing the feedback needs to know they have been understood (or received) and they need to know that their feedback provides some value. When conducting a survey, always explain why respondents’ feedback is important and how their feedback will be used.
3. Feedback can motivate. By asking for feedback, it can actually motivate employees to perform better. Employees like to feel valued and appreciate being asked to provide feedback that can help formulate business decisions. And feedback from client, suppliers, vendors, and stakeholders can be used to motivate to build better working relations
4. Feedback can improve performance. Feedback is often mistaken for criticism. In fact, what is viewed as negative criticism is actually constructive criticism and is the best find of feedback that can help to formulate better decisions to improve and increase performance.
5. Feedback is a tool for continued learning. Invest time in asking and learning about how others experience working with your organization. Continued feedback is important across the entire organization in order to remain aligned to goals, create strategies, develop products and services improvements, improve relationships, and much more. Continued learning is the key to improving.

If your looking for a company that has a proven track record of Customer Focus and Service Delivery, give our Helpdesk a call and we can move forward together. #strongertogether