Why are Crown so different from all others?
The biggest difference you will notice when dealing with Crown is that we like to do things a little differently and don’t subscribe to industry norms. Even with many of the mainstream movers, standards in the removals industry are not what you would expect. While removalists have modernised their marketing and sales pitch to attract today’s consumer, it is important to understand that this is just talk as no service has actually been delivered.
When an expectation is created at the ‘point of sale’ it is disappointing that many movers have not made the investment in their people, infrastructure and systems to deliver what they say they will. In other words they will sell a service and deliver a commodity. So how does Crown manage to deliver on our service promises when others consistently fall short of expectation?
The Crown formula is simple. Our business is aspirational and based upon values, personality and delivering positive surprises whenever we interact with customers. While we are known as an experienced and well-resourced relocation company we have a lot more to offer than logistics. For us it’s all about delighting our customers and if we achieve this we will go a long way towards growing our customer community and subsequently growing our business.
Our ‘Values’ are at the heart of the business, they define the character of our company and the expectation we have of ourselves in our day to day interaction with our customers and each other. Here’s a summary of our core values;
Determined: Determined to be the best we can for our customers, our colleagues and ourselves Open Minded: To overcome challenges we have to think differently with open and inventive minds Caring: We care about people. We care about their experience, their feelings and their environment There: We are truly there for our customers and colleagues, when and where they need us Sharing: Sharing knowledge, wisdom and experience between people and countries, that is our network
Of course to consistently delight customers requires a lot more than talk and promises. We view each individual relocation as an ‘event’ requiring a chain reaction of customer driven activities. This starts from the moment we are contacted for a quotation right through to settling in at destination. To achieve this requires a high level of training, co-ordination, systems integration, commitment and staff engagement. Our online Crown University is at the heart of our training effort. Every Crown employee starts their career with an online induction and this training continues for the lifetime of our employment. In addition to online and onsite training our National Quality team deliver specialised individual and group training sessions using video conferencing facilities to connect our 11 branch offices.
Another primary difference between Crown and others is our commitment to having great people in all aspects of our business. One of the biggest concerns for a customer is who will arrive at the home to pack and load their precious possessions. After all the operations crew will be house guests of the family for several days and also entrusted with the care of their personal effects and family heirlooms. During this stressful time it is vital that customers do not feel uncomfortable or ‘at risk’. We understand these concerns and take them very seriously. Crown do not employ anyone without a ‘clean’ Ministry of Justice report and have an active drug testing programme to ensure we are not knowingly putting families at risk.
Our crew members are professionals and enjoy the same level of company engagement as our office based staff. This includes clear career pathways, formal performance appraisals, company funded life insurance and income protection cover and quality incentive programmes based upon individual performance. While they are trained in logistics our unique Crown Touch programme forms the hub of our operational training. It is a behavioural based training consisting of 18 classroom modules that teaches our crews how to be great guests in our customers’ homes. A key strategy for the retention of operational talent is our SmartWork programme. This opportunity enables selected team members to effectively enjoy the financial benefits of owning their own business while still being a full time employee of the company. Of course continuous improvement is not possible without measuring performance and identifying improvement areas. Our QUEST quality initiative is the envy of all others in the industry. Every Crown office in 60 countries receives a quality score and ranking every month. The QUEST results are customer driven and include scorecards for customer satisfaction, financial accuracy, insurance claims ratios and systems management. At Crown we achieve a full relocation debrief with over 95% of our customers and these results form the basis of our QUEST scorecard. Alongside QUEST we have a strong emphasis on our ISO9001:2000 accreditation. With nearly every Crown operation being externally audited every 12 months customers can be assured of our commitment to common standards whether they are in New Zealand, Australia or anywhere else in the world. As you can see there really is a significant difference between Crown and all others in our industry. We are not perfect but in the event a customer has issues during a Crown provided service you can be assured we will not hide behind the fine print in our contracts. We will communicate and resolve issues in the proactive and relational manner you would expect of a market leader. Over 98.5% of our customers are either Satisfied or Very Satisfied and we take great pride in delivering a positive relocation experience every step of the journey.
Written by James Logan, Country Manager of Crown Worldwide (NZ) Ltd
http://www.crownrelo.co.nz/