It all started at the end of 2013.
I’d regretted not joining EC Mastermind before so I applied immediately when it was announced. By January and the first Mastermind meeting I realised that if I wanted to achieve my goals for 2015 I had to step it up somewhat.
With that in mind I used Mastermind to try and develop myself and the business.
I understood that there was no point in being amazing at something if you couldn’t find enough people to buy what you were selling but I was also conscious that we needed to be the best at what we did too. I felt we were really good at what we did but I also knew we could improve and boy, have we!
I still have the original piece of paper from when we started FinderMonkey in 2007 that says “To be the best, most customer focused, people-tracing company in the UK” and I think, with all the help and pointers we’ve had from EC we’ve achieved that now.
To give you some indication of how far we’ve come, here’s a list of just some of the things we’ve done in the last 12 months:
- We’ve added Case studies and testimonials to the website and our email sequence to give potential customers a feel for what it’s like to work with us.
- Our TV Show ‘Family Finders’ demonstrated our customer service levels first hand, it showed anyone who was thinking of using our service that we take their search extremely seriously and offer a level of skill and professionalism they were not going to find anywhere else
- We employed two new people with massive customer service experience to process our customer flow from start to finish, their remit is to keep our customers happy
- We’ve added a new process to ensure that any customer with an ongoing search received a weekly update to inform them of the work that had taken place on their case that week
- We are now using Barefoot Funnels ( a business we’ve met through EC) to work on the processes for live cases so that these updates happen automatically
- We’ve improved the functionality of the website to ensure that customers can find the service that is most relevant to their needs. We’ve also made the site mobile friendly
- For our team of researchers we’ve improved all scripts for various situations. We’ve created an ‘Aftercare’ pack that explains the best way to contact the person we have found for them so that this process runs smoothly. This also includes examples of what other people have done in a similar situation
- We have improved staff training to make sure that our team are training in dealing with difficulty calls and situations and can empathise with each customer. This included sending team members on EC Training courses.
- We Added video to our pre sales process to ensure customers can see examples of our work
- We now provide people with a same day response by telephone when they enquire about our service. This is backed up with an email campaign which explains more about our service
- Each customer now has a full consultation with a trained member of the team at the start of the work to find out what their needs and expectations are to make sure we can meet those needs through the services we provide
- We now Ensure the accuracy of information supplied by verifying data from multiple sources and consequently we provide a full guarantee for all work we do
- Once a customer’s report is written it is now checked by another member of the team to make sure all the information is accurate and all spelling and grammar is checked
- We now monitor the length of time it takes to start a case and keeping clients involved in that part of the process
- We now offer an intermediary service to all customers and offer recommendations on their next course of action depending if the trace was successful or not
- We have also taken measures to ensure our service levels are met regardless of if we are dealing with a customer a supplier or anyone else. This lead to us being selected for a second series of Family Finders
Overall, I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved so far…
