September 23, 2020 | Irene George , Marketing Enthusiasts & blogger, Dubai
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever to ensure the safety of not only employees, but also customers when non-essential work travel resumes. At Excel Plus, the customer experience team has worked hard to establish effective communication to promote the health and well-being of their customers and employees.
We spoke with Mr. Raju Raghavan, one of the board of Directors for Excel Plus technical services to hear how his team has adjusted amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Raju Raghavan,
Owner and Co-Founder Excel Kitchen LLC
Q: Why are you passionate about working in Customer Experience?
A: It’s important to empathize with the customer, which should be easy to do since we’re all customers of something (a service or product). Creating a positive experience for our customers not only keeps our customers satisfied but energizes our organization to continue to improve. I want to make sure that we’re bringing customers the most efficient, clear and quick implementation possible because the better we deliver our service to of our customers, the faster our customers can see the return on their investment.
Q: How has COVID-19 impacted the property maintenance industry as a whole?
A: COVID has had a reverberating effect on the property maintenance industry. Early on many service providers were forced to shut down building operations, operate with reduced staff, and pivot maintenance activities to track and address disinfection. For us, a key part of our implementation is to be onsite at these facilities to collect asset and floor plan data. COVID blocked us for many months from doing that valuable work.
To support our customers during the travel and social distancing restrictions, we engaged with them to explore a variety of different ways for them to continue getting value out of our service regardless of our onsite collection activities. We focused on getting floor plans and photographs to reduce the site visits, as well as exploring different ways to conduct our implementation process. Some customers were interested in having us guide them through asset collection led by their own teams, who were otherwise not fully utilized due to facility shutdowns. Other customers pivoted to our remote implementation approach. We’ve focused on a high-touch model to make sure customers understand their options so they can make the best decision for their circumstances.
Q: What steps are you taking to ensure the safety and health of your team members?
A: First and foremost, we want our employees and customers to know that health and safety is our highest priority. Secondly, we want to be responsible citizens who understand our actions can impact the health and wellbeing of our colleagues, customers, and the public. We are following a data driven approach and has also educated our customers as to what we’re doing and we engage with them before we’re even onsite to say, these are the requirements that we have, and we need you to partner with us to make sure that these areas are safe for us. We’re also practicing six-foot physical distancing, contactless arrival if possible, or a reduction in escorts, which can be overcome by providing master keys if the customers are comfortable with that.
Q: What steps are you taking to ensure the safety, health and continued success of your customers?
A: Our goal throughout all of this was to be as communicative as possible. I think everyone is empathetic to the fact that in the age of COVID, things change every day, and it makes sense why we may or may not be traveling to certain destinations. We are staying in touch with customers because we want those customers to understand that they are a priority for us. We have not forgotten about them. They are still very much on our minds and as soon as we can get there, we want to be there, but their safety is of utmost importance to us.
I think the other thing is, when partnering with customers, understanding the rules that they are operating under due to COVID is incredibly important. We want to be sure we are aware of those rules so we can educate our teams to be prepared to follow those precautions, as well.
Q: Apart, are there any range of products offered by Excel Plus to help keeping customers safe during the global pandemic crisis?
A: Excel Plus offers a wide range of Social distancing partition and cladding solutions. As the nation thinks how do we get back up and running safely? What extra measures do we need to put into place? These products will help maintain ‘social distancing’ whilst in the workplace to fight against COVID-19.
As the government begin to reopen the communities, barriers and dividers, sanitization tunnels, sneeze guards, and other protective products continue to be in high demand. Architects, designers, contractors, and facility managers across the country are working on both temporary and permanent solutions to help facilitate social distancing in the post-COVID-19 world. To do this, we need to create environments within businesses and public facilities where it is easy to maintain germ-free contact surfaces and other high-touch areas. We are to rethink facility interiors and reshape them to allow for safe distancing between people.
