Even though they were recommended to me, my initial concerns were that I hadn’t heard of In-house Research and Training and I didn’t know very much about them...

...but I needn’t have worried, because they reacted very fast to our research project and delivered what I was looking for, despite being under pressure to deliver something very quickly over the Christmas period.

There was clarity without the need to dig too much deeper
They had the ability to analyse the data and present the results of the research in a way that was clearly and easily understood, with an executive summary and not too much graph work. So there was clarity without the need to dig too much deeper. It was very competent and delivered effectively.

Responsive to ideas and to the brief
They were responsive to ideas and to the brief, which is very important for us, and they had ideas and thoughts about how we might go about things.

An effective piece of research, no hesitation in using them again
I would recommend In-house because they stuck to the brief, they responded and delivered an effective piece of research. I have absolutely no hesitation in using them again for the next piece of research we do.

I was worried that Malcolm wouldn’t understand my business and that it would be just another boring course.

But it was brilliant. Malcolm certainly did know our business; in fact he came to see us a few weeks before the training to make sure that he did know.

We were entertained and interested throughout the whole day – it’s made such a difference.
We were entertained and interested throughout the whole day. It was certainly not boring. In fact the staff haven’t stopped talking about the course, and it’s great to hear them using what they learnt when they talk to our clients. It’s made such a difference.

We are always trying to find positive outcomes for our clients
The course instilled in us the need to take our time before saying anything to a customer, time to enable us to think about what we are going to say. The session on empathy has also had a big impact, we certainly didn’t empathise enough before the course, but we do now. And the Can-Can technique is now second nature for us, we are always trying to find positive outcomes for our clients.

I would recommend without hesitation
Would I recommend this course? Absolutely and without hesitation, it‘s just so relevant to everyday life, not just life in the office. We can’t wait until the next course.

We were convinced that the surveys from In-house would only be completed by dissatisfied customers

But we’ve found that the vast majority are from satisfied customers who would recommend us and the high response of rate, around 70%, gives us a lot of confidence in the results we get.

It helps me to individually motivate and mentor my staff.
Having surveys by individual home-owners means that I can give direct feedback to staff. I can thank them for a good job done and offer clear advice on areas that they need to improve upon.

All our staff are very interested in customer feedback as we all want to work for a company with a good reputation.
In-house presents our customer satisfaction results to all our staff which means everyone ends up taking an interest in what customers think of us.

We all want to work for a company with a good reputation and having that independent affirmation that you are doing well really motivates us all.

We get early warning of potential problem areas.
In-house is delivering close to real time information from our customers which means that we are quickly made aware of anything that is going wrong and we can fix it before it gets out of control.

We get big samples and meaningful data and that’s worth a lot.
In-house is one of the biggest and therefore its samples are more meaningful. When they stick their slides up telling us how we’ve performed as a business, and how we’re performing when compared to other businesses in the group or to other house builders we have a lot of confidence in the results.

If someone told me they could do the same service for a lot cheaper and we were going to be their only customer I wouldn’t use them because it isn’t as meaningful if you can’t compare yourself.

I would recommend In-house - the evidence is irrefutable and you know what needs to be done.
In-house provides irrefutable evidence that you can use to change direction. The first thing you may do with poor customer feedback is go into denial and assume it’s a difficult customer. Then you start looking at more surveys and you have to accept there is a problem. If you’re serious about customer satisfaction you’re motivated to do something about it.

With the way the data is broken down you can know exactly where your poorest performing areas are. You are able to dissect the problem and understand what the main issues are more quickly.

I thought the course would cover a lot of things we already knew...

...but I was wrong; the content was brilliant. Everybody I’ve spoken to says it was really worthwhile and it should have been done before now.

Cary was an excellent trainer – she knew everything about the house.
Cary was an excellent trainer and was very in touch with what we needed to know; she knew everything about the house. The production managers, who have been in the industry a long time, found that Cary was more knowledgeable than them on some things and the Sales Executives are now going to be able use their knowledge to play a much fuller part in the demonstrations.

All house builders should do it
I would definitely recommend this course, it’s really beneficial. I think all house builders should do it and I would recommend it to all of our regions too.”