Our Estate Service Champions initiative has been shortlisted for the Best Customer Engagement Initiative category at the European Contact Centre and Customer (ECCC) Awards.
We launched the programme in early 2020, initially as a pilot, to provide customers with the opportunity to feedback on grounds maintenance services, communal cleaning and communal fire alarm testing and make recommendations for improvement and to discuss contractor performance.
With a target to have an Estate Champion in at least 40% of our neighbourhoods, the ambition is to directly increase satisfaction levels with value for money of service charges and to provide a digital solution for customers to provide feedback
The grounds maintenance contractors employed by LiveWest are part of the overall Estate Champion programme and are keen to support its development.
Our contractors participate in estate walks, embrace customer feedback and proactively work with customers and LiveWest to promote successes and opportunities for improvement.
Following customer feedback, we recognise that having well maintained open green space is a key priority for customers. We want customers to be proud of the green spaces we provide and how they are maintained.
We wanted to create a group of customers to provide real time feedback on the service and quality provided by the grounds maintenance contractors following their visit to the estate.
It was important to create an easy solution for customers that allowed them to provide feedback, get involved in a way that suits them and to ensure that the feedback received drives up standards and consistency.
Following our recruitment drive, 130 customers signed up to be an Estate Champion and they now draw up monthly reports.
Most of their feedback is received directly following a visit of their grounds maintenance contractor and is having a positive impact on raising standards and addressing satisfaction with the value for money of service charges.
A LiveWest customer said: “Being part of the estate champion programme has been really beneficial for me.
“The information provided by the LiveWest team is very clear and the form each month is very quick and easy to use, with picture guidance on what poor and good would look like.
“The report happens at the start of the month, so easy to remember and you get a reminder too, and anything I have reported (such as littler on site) has been managed quickly and effectively.
“It's helped to establish a really good relationship between LiveWest and myself as a resident and the whole estate has benefited as a result, and its helped me to understand what the staff looking after the grounds are expected to do, such as getting the big ivy hedge cut, big win.”
Sharon Creswell, our Customer Experience Manager, said: “I’m delighted that LiveWest has been shortlisted in the Best Customer Engagement category for our Estate Champions initiative.
“The ECCCSA Customer Service awards really are the pinnacle in customer service awards and to be shortlisted in this category highlights our ongoing commitment to providing opportunities for customers to get involved and have their say.”