Communication

Communication.

WE WANT TO BE A COMP ANY WHERE EMPLOYEES HAVE A VOICE. ETHICS POINT A 3rd party reporting service which provides for anonymous feedback directly to the executive team. Posters are displayed in the work rooms at all locations EMPLOYEE INTRANET Employees are kept informed via the company intranet site which highlights birthdays, anniversaries and new employees in addition to company news and achievements as well as serves as a resource document library.

Annual Employee Satisfaction Survey

For the last 3 years, we have received the Circle of Excellence Award for ranking in the top 10% of companies benchmarked.

Team Huddles

Ensure that communications are pushed to everyone on the team.

95% of employees agree that “the Company uses employee feedback to improve the organization�.

Ask Us Why

Do you want to know why we do something? Just submit your question here and your questions will be reviewed by Richard Roos, COO and his senior team. You will get a response back in 15 days with an answer to your question.

Our goal is to be able to explain why things are the way they are and if something doesn't make sense, look into how e can improve the situation.

In addition to getting your question answered, any questions that lead to a change in our operating processes will be eligible for an entry into the Better Way contest periodic contests in addition to the grand prize drawing.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas. Click here for more details regarding the promotion and 2013 guidelines.

WHY DO WE DO THAT? Our Why Do We Do That? Forum allows employees to ask our Chief Operating Officer and senior management questions about anything.

In 2013, over 33% of questions submitted led to a change in business process.

Chief Operating Officer’s Blog

THE GOOD STUFF

BY RICHARD ROOS

My thoughts and opinions on stuff happening at Venterra, in life & what I’m passionate about!

Years ago when I first read a book called “What’s the Secret to World Class Customer Service?” by John DiJulius, one of the things that really stuck with me was his emphasis on being world class at service recovery. It was a recognition that “Stuff Happens” and that employees need to be able to respond appropriately. The book also made the very accurate point that service failures give you the opportunity to create raving fans if you can recover really well. Being great at service recovery can make you a “Zero Risk” company for your customers as they know you will eventually get it right, even if you got it wrong the first time. That is exactly what I want Venterra to be.

I heard a great story the other day that demonstrates great customer service by an organization Venterra does business with. In Jacksonville, Maitina’s favorite hotel is the Hilton Garden Inn, and when she was booking flights for employees helping out at the recent takeover for Village Walk, she naturally booked rooms at the hotel. One employee who stayed at the hotel was Damion Jackson, a leasing consultant at Northlake Apartments in Atlanta. At first, Damion was not such a fan of the Hilton Garden Inn…….

Damion’s Story: “My experience with Hilton Garden Inn ended up being a great memorable experience... Although it didn't start off so great... After waking up in Atlanta at 5:00am and then traveling through the Atlanta airport to Jacksonville, and working at the property until 6:00pm, I was looking forward to a good night’s sleep, unfortunately that did not happen...

At 12:15am, my room phone began to ring and would not stop until I got out of bed to answer it, when I answered the phone there was some gentle music playing on the other end; at this point I realized that I had received someone else's wake-up call L. After an hour and a half I was able to go back to sleep. When I went downstairs for breakfast I stopped by the front desk to explain what happened in my room that night, the front desk was very apologetic and offered breakfast, but I had a breakfast coupon they said they could not offer a room comp for the night because the room was in my company’s name. Before I left the front desk, they asked if there was anything they could do for me; I politely said no but asked them to make sure that the wake-up calls were turned off in my room. When I returned to my room later that day I found a fantastic tray off 3 martini glasses (my favorite glass) filled with treats from candies to nuts... and very unexpectedly there was an American Express gift card for $25.00 and a very nice note from the hotel manager apologizing for my experience.... What a WOW!! I have told this story to numerous people so it really has been a good move for them...”

Now stop yourself and think, does anybody remember the fact the hotel really screwed up and woke Damion up in the middle of the night? The Hilton Garden Inn recovered so well, that not only do you forget about the mistake, you end up thinking they are awesome. Now think about how many people Damion has told, the number of times others have repeated the story and the 400 plus people that get this blog posting. The Hilton Garden Inn did the right thing and as a result created several raving fans and received a ton of free publicity for less than $50. Never doubt the power of a great service recovery – it can be a great opportunity to build high levels of customer loyalty. Certainly we can learn a lot from the Hilton Garden Inn in our own pursuit of being a World Class service organization.

Chief Operating Officer’s Blog

THE GOOD STUFF

BY RICHARD ROOS

My thoughts and opinions on stuff happening at Venterra, in life & what I’m passionate about!

Comments _____________________________________________________________________________ ___ Re: Customer Service Recovery - Hilton Garden Inn Anybody that gives me chocolate is a winner in my book! Great example—thanks for sharing!

Jessica Nofsinger on 8/2/2013 2:21 PM _____________________________________________________________________________ ___ Re: Customer Service Recovery - Hilton Garden Inn This has really inspired me, I am going to assimilate these values with any future recovery efforts. Thanks for the read.

Jens Gilbertson on 8/3/2013 1:00 PM _____________________________________________________________________________ ___ Re: Customer Service Recovery - Hilton Garden Inn Thank you so much for sharing. Recovery is such a big part of customer service!

Mollie Witt

on 8/3/2013 4:13 PM

The blog generates much interest with 164 comments posted by our employees in the last year.

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