Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
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SALT LAKE CITY — Robinson Funeral Home in Easley, South Carolina made national news in July when it announced that it would offer Starbucks coffees, lattes and free Wi-Fi. In addition, the coffee shop workers at the funeral home's Coffee Corner will be Starbucks-trained baristas and provide the coffee chain's official menu.
This is quite the upgrade from the basic free coffee the funeral home offered previously. When asked about the change, general manager of the Robinson Funeral Home, Chris Robinson, said, "If we're going to offer a coffee corner, we're going to get the best there is."
This definitely has the sound of great customer service, but are the added services really something customers will appreciate? I would imagine that most don't choose or recommend a funeral home based on coffee selection.
Many companies struggle to understand what customers really want. So how should companies make these critical decisions?
Establishing a council of customers to get feedback is one of the best moves we've made as a company to truly understand the viewpoint of our policyholders.
–Peggy Larsen, WCF
One solution may be to create a customer advisory council.
"Establishing a council of customers to get feedback is one of the best moves we've made as a company to truly understand the viewpoint of our policyholders," said Peggy Larsen, senior vice president of marketing for Workers Compensation Fund. "I encourage other companies to create one as well."
WCF's Customer Advisory Council consists of 40 to 50 current WCF policyholders. Twice a year the council meets with senior management to identify important customer issues and gather feedback.
"It's different than a focus group, because we rotate members after several years," said Larsen. "During their time on the council, members give us feedback through the entire year about their experience with our company. With focus groups, you only get feedback during that one session. We want continual feedback."
Council members are each asked during their tenure to find ways to improve the way WCF conducts business. This has resulted in more than 200 action items during the last 10 years.
"While I've been on the council, I've made suggestions to change specific website applications and claims procedures," said Ron Harris, HR manager at Ruby's Inn. "I've seen many of my suggestions implemented and now understand when certain changes may not be possible. It's been a great opportunity to have my voice heard and see how dedicated WCF is to improving customer service."
One specific example of how the WCF council is used occurred several years ago. Members of WCF's management team were evaluating the distribution of dividends to policyholders. There was a debate over whether dividends should be based purely on percentage or take into consideration a company's claims history. They took the question to the council.
"I was fairly sure that our customers would want to see our dividend formula based on a company's safety trend," said Larsen. "We found out at the council meeting that wasn't the truth."
Michael Lee with the Catholic Diocese was in that meeting.
"I was one of the main supporters of having a dividend based on the percentage of premium paid," said Lee. "As companies, we pay workers compensation insurance premiums based on our safety records. I voiced my concerns about the potential for disparate treatment of policyholders who are owners of WCF. As owners, each policyholder should share in any dividend based upon the percentage we pay to WCF."
Based on the feedback from Lee and the other members, WCF changed its dividend formula to be percentage based.
With the change of members, WCF can also bring up topics again to see if opinions have changed.
"We approached the council this past fall to see if members still felt that dividends should be percentage based," said Larsen. "The answer once again was yes. It's been a huge source of confidence to know what our customers really want."
