Customer survey assists Simplex

Simplex Foundations, the new operating subsidiary within Vinci for all the group's piling operations, has improved client relationships by responding to feedback from its customer satisfaction forms.

David Donovan, director of Simplex Foundations, said this week: "We first ran a trial which made us more disciplined. We then started issuing 10 forms every month and now have 60 to work on. The crunch response is the client's willingness to work with us again."

The customer has to enter a figure on a score of one to nine. "That's deliberate so no-one can plump for the mid-point," said Donovan.

If a low score appears, he steps in as interrogator, both internally and with the client.

"I always write back to the contractor (the client) to say what we've done to put things right," said Donovan. "As a result, we are more disciplined."

The 30 questions on the form range from the personal (eg the quality of the foreman and Simplex employees' discipline) to the form of contract.

Donovan himself likes to price and win some of the group's business. On one of the projects he won, the client afterwards scored the question on pre-contract negotiations with a very low figure, just three out of eight.

"I was happy with that as the client had wanted the work done on its own terms and it shows I didn't lay down," said Donovan. "I should add that on the question of willingness to work with Simplex again we got seven out of eight."