Gleeson Homes appointed a new CEO with a directive to transform the culture of the business and how it was received in the marketplace.
When James Thomson joined Gleeson Homes, his motto for the business was, “We have moral duty to do right by our customers”. His directive was to bring about positive change across Gleeson from Health & Safety to the Customer Experience and everything in between. Gleeson had strong growth plans and needed a way to ensure they continued with their growth in a sustainable way that maintained an eagle focus on the things that mattered.
In-house were first introduced to Gleeson in late 2019 by Mark Knight, Managing Director and Amy Wright, Head of Customer Relations, both industry veterans with previous experiences working with In-house. Knowing In-house’s reputation and the power of the voice of the customer in driving transformational change, they worked with In-house to introduce customer feedback into the culture of the business.
In-house recommended its tried and tested approach to customer satisfaction research and implemented the strategy within six weeks of the original enquiry; and results followed shortly after.
“The industry benchmark was important; we wanted to be a business that people wanted to be involved with, want to come and work for, and wanted to buy from.”
Amy Wright (Head of Customer Relations, Gleeson Homes)
In-house setup the surveys to provide proactive insights into where Gleeson needed to focus its attention in its rapidly growing business. The industry benchmark produced by In-house supported Gleeson by offering insights on wider industry trends and performances to be able to identify weaknesses and strengths.
Within six months, the insights obtained by In-house quickly identified the weak areas for the business, both in terms of process and service delivery alongside the regional areas in which the business operates. From identifying these, Gleeson engaged with In-house’s Client Liaison team to work with the regional teams to better understand why customers felt the service was lacking and what they could do better. This was delivered through In-house’s industry knowledge and expertise from operating in the sector for over 20 years.
“Lots of research companies just want a number or yes/no responses, but In-house is different. They have conversations with our customers and capture stories. This makes a significant difference and means we can measure the improvements in our customer journey over time which is far more powerful than just a statistical result.”
Amy Wright (Head of Customer Relations, Gleeson Homes)
The power that the In-house data provides is evident in the transformation that Gleeson has undergone.
This can only be achieved through the collaboration of both Gleeson and In-house, and a desire to see the change implemented.
The speed in which results are delivered to Gleeson also enables it to react quickly to any causes of customer dissatisfaction. This means that relationships can be saved before it is too late, and the relationship is irreparably damaged.
“There is always a bit of nervousness when proactively obtaining customer feedback on this scale, however, since introducing In-house it has provided the evidence to support the cultural and behavioural changes within Gleeson. Everybody is now heavily focused on the customer experience”
Amy Wright (Head of Customer Relations, Gleeson Homes)
The changes in Gleeson are not just superficial. Within 12 months of beginning the surveys, Gleeson was awarded the In-house Gold Award for customer satisfaction, an award that has been maintained for the last three years and is determined purely based on customer feedback. And it isn’t just customers who are recognising Gleeson’s performance. In the last year, Gleeson received the highest response to its employee satisfaction survey, with significant positive experiences around customer satisfaction.
“The reporting that In-house provides gives us every bit of granular detail that we need. We now have a clear vision of where we need to improve and have clear direction in every region. Not only can we identify challenges before rumblings start, we can also see the strengths in our performance. In a short space of time, we have gone from 3 star to 5 star and every department is making a difference every day.”
Amy Wright (Head of Customer Relations, Gleeson Homes)
Looking into the future Gleeson is setting its benchmark high, aiming to consistently achieve recommend rates of over 95% across all regions. It is not shy on what it needs to do. In-house have rolled out a series of divisional presentations to the organisation. As an outside organisation, In-house bring a wealth of expertise from the last 20+ years in analysing and scrutinising the data, and presenting this in an easy to follow format that all departments can buy into. This cross departmental collaboration is essential in achieving world leading customer experiences.
“When looking at customer satisfaction levels within our business, the voice that carries the most weight for us is that of our customers. Customer research via In-house Research provides us with actionable verbatim insight that allows us to look at the things that matter most to our customers. We have seen our satisfaction levels grow year on year through the changes we have made to policies, procedures, and training with our staff off the back of this intelligence, but the work in this area is never finished. Customer’s demands are constantly evolving, but by continuing to listen intently through all our insight channels, we are confident that we can continue to follow the strong, positive trajectory that our customer satisfaction scores have shown in recent years.
Delivering a quality affordable home, and an ongoing ‘5 Star’ experience for each and every deserving Gleeson customer is a mission we continue to be passionate about. With data led insight and a keen ear for what our customers say, we are confident we are up to the ever evolving challenge”
Mark Phelan (Customer Experience Director, Gleeson Homes)
About Gleeson
MJ Gleeson has over 100 years of construction experience
Founded in Sheffield and floated on the LSE in the 1960’s
Currently the fastest growing listed housebuilder
Goals
To spark a cultural change and put the customer at the heart of the business
To change lives by building affordable, quality homes. Where they are needed, for the people who need them most.
To promote their reputation as a passionate, collaborative and respectful business to all stakeholders. Employees, subcontractors, customers and investors.
Approach
Telephone customer satisfaction surveys
Online reporting throughout the business
Real-time survey call reports
Presentations to divisional and regional management teams
One-to-one sessions with senior management to discuss survey strategy and key stories
Results
Customer recommendation scores have improved from 76% to over 92% within 18 months
Gleeson awarded the In-house ‘Gold’ award for customer satisfaction
Positive feedback from employees on customer satisfaction in employee engagement research
Clear vision for the future fuelled by accurate and powerful customer stories
About In-house Research
In-house Research Ltd specialise in in-depth customer satisfaction research with around 95% of customers being within the UK building and construction industry.
We help clients improve their customer experience by providing timely, and actionable insights through research on key stages of their customer experience. We do this by carrying out bespoke telephone and online surveys with average response rates exceeding 70%.