When Tony Cassar bought Victory Blinds and Curtains, the company was in deep trouble. Now it is an award winner.
| Entrepreneur |
Tony Cassar, Managing Director & Gino Venegas, Financial Controller |
| Company |
Victory Curtains and Blinds |
| Business type |
Design, manufacture, supply and installation of curtains, blinds, awnings and shutters |
| Founded |
1987 (Purchased 1993) |
| Head office |
Mulgrave, Victoria |
| Contact details |
+61 3 9561 9499 |
Key Learning Points |
|
Award lessons
See the awards process, which involves surveys of customers’ experiences and opinions by an independent party, as a learning opportunity. Cassar says: “The real value of the customer service award, [apart from] saying that someone out there thinks you’re worthy and good enough, is learning where you need to improve. Our lowest score (91%) - on communication - means the company is now working very hard on that area. Team development weekends [that] focus on how we interact with each other also teach us how to interact with our customers.
Staff feedback
Use awards to provide great feedback to your staff, to give them credibility with customers and confidence in their own capacity to deliver quality. Cassar says: “Our quality management system requires staff to go slowly through certain steps with each customer, putting ourselves in the customer’s shoes to understand how the customer feels, asking the right questions to find out what the customer actually wants and needs, clarifying everything so they fully understand what they’re getting, when they’re getting it, what it’s going to look like, and at a price that fits into their budget.”
Building customer confidence
Promote your awards to give your customers confidence in the company’s capacity to deliver. Cassar says: “We spend the time necessary to leave each customer super-confident that the whole job will be done not just to a measure and price but to a quality standard. From the initial telephone inquiry - always answered with both company and personal identification; to the uniformed, slipper-clad installation technician (male or female as the customer chooses) wearing ID tag who routinely places drop-sheets during and vacuum cleans after each visit; to our final “thank-you, it was a pleasure doing business with you. If you have any queries this is the number to call. My name is__”, we’re trying to make the process an enjoyable experience.”
|
The Victory Curtains And Blinds Story
When Tony Cassar took over Victory Curtains and Blinds in 1993, the company was literally in tatters. Four owners in as many years, repeated shifts of premises, and a workforce that had never been exposed to quality customer-service principles or practices had left Victory Curtains and Blinds with a poor reputation among customers and in its industry.
Cassar says: “I was not going to leave my name against a company with that reputation. Things had to change and one of those aspects was to go for customer service awards because it does give you a great deal of credibility - not just in the industry but with customers who look for past history or performance.”
Victory collected the 1999 Australian Achiever’s Award for Excellence in Customer Relations in the Interior and Industrial Design service areas. It scored an average of 96.8% across the six performance areas canvassed: communication, attitude, value, care and attention, client needs and time-related issues.
Despite exceptionally high scores, which reflect the value the company now places on customer service, Tony Cassar believes the company can still improve.