With a firm belief that great customer service is all about good communication, Facelift for Homes founder Peter Wishart shares the changes he’s made to keep his business thriving.

Having been in the business of giving homes a facelift with refreshed, replaced or even re-imagined windows and doors for more than 40 years, the Melbourne-based carpenter is no slouch when it comes to listening to clients and giving them what they want.

While it is certainly a gig centred around craftmanship – not to mention being savvy about the latest trends in home design and how they’ll work long term – Peter’s entire business relies on quality customer service.

“Good customer service is about listening,” Peter tells Kochie’s Business Builders. “It is about being honest and it is about doing exactly what you say you are going to do – and if there are any changes along the way, making sure the customer is kept up to date.”

Changing with your customers

As well as the obvious things like being friendly and helpful, Peter says to really shine at customer service, you’ve got to have a passion for not just what you do, but also your role in the business.

“Every member of staff is educated on our strategy, our targets, who our demographic market is. It’s important to build a team that can uphold the business values and be passionate about it,” he explains.

But having the right communications systems in place to make life easier for both staff and customers has also been integral to Peter’s ongoing success. With people investing more into their home spaces during the pandemic, Peter has seen business growth – and given his business a communications facelift in the process.

“The business has expanded; we’re up to eight staff, and we’re now operating across three sites as well, so having a very reliable phone system that is quick to connect everybody is crucial,” Peter says.

The Facelift for Homes team looked at all the different systems that were in the marketplace and decided the cloud-based system – or more specifically, the Hosted PBX system, was the way to go. He connected with Melbourne-based cloud phone specialists BusinessCom, who provide flexible, affordable plans for small businesses.

“They treated us like a name, not a number. In all these years, it’s never faltered, even as both our businesses grew,” he says.

“Our building is the furthest from the phone exchange, and when we couldn’t get the quality that we needed from our phone and internet connections in the very early days, [BusinessCom’s Sales Director] Monica organised to put an antenna up on the roof which made it a lot better.”

Simone Cooper, Facelift for Homes’ Customer Support Co-ordinator, says it’s improved their office communications systems.

“You can have multiple offices, but you’re all connected on one system,” Simone tells us.“You’re able to see who’s on the phone and make internal calls as though we are all working from the same office. This system has also never skipped a beat on us – it is always clear as a bell, with no downtime.”

Watch Kochie’s Business Builders segment: Business communication systems with Monica Fry

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Upgrading before the pandemic made for lucky timing

Simone says making the upgrades not long before the pandemic hit turned out to be a very happy accident.

“The Hosted PBX is multi-device compatible –so you can make and receive calls on multiple devices such as a smartphone or laptop with the SoftPhone app. When everyone was suddenly working from home, we were able to work remotely, but from a fully linked communication system,” she tells us.

It’s even more useful in today’s hybrid age, considering Peter and other team members are frequently on site working, the office staff can easily patch him into a call made to the office.
BusinessCom’s Hosted PBX has also become a helpful training tool.

“My colleague can hear the whole conversation without needing to speak. She can hear how the questions are asked, how the answers are given, and where the information comes from, and again, clear as a bell with no interruptions to the call itself,” Simone says.

Improving efficiency one ‘time-out’ at a time

Anyone who has worked in an office knows the singular pain of trying to get a few things done with constant interruptions.

“It can take you 20 or more minutes to get back to where you were when you get interrupted on a task that requires focus,” Simone says. “I do a bit of video content writing for the website which needs my full attention, so I just put my phone on do not disturb, and this is displayed on the handset so no calls can come through, meaning I can really get that focus.”

The system has features that work for the floor staff too.

“The system has three phones that ring – one downstairs in the showroom and two upstairs. If I’m busy with the client, the phone immediately rings upstairs, so we’re not missing out on potential business, or letting existing clients go through to an answering service. When it gets busy in the height of the season, it’s just a brilliant feature,” Peter says.

Another feature that Simone and her colleague who takes incoming calls appreciate is the number ID and call history.

“It’s easy to write down an incorrect number, but we use this feature to quickly go back and check their number if we have an issue when we are trying to call someone back. It saves wasted time and unhappy clients or potential customers,” says Simone.

While giving homes a facelift with new windows, modernised concertina doors or even a gas lifted window servery is Peter’s specialty, it’s the customer service that has earned him and his team a steady stream of great online reviews. At the time of publishing, they’ve got 107 Google reviews with a 4.9 star rating.

Having the right communications systems has clearly given them a window of opportunity to future success.

To find out more, visit businesscom.com.au.

This article is brought to you by Kochie’s Business Builders in partnership with BusinessCom.