Building Trust within a business.
There are a lot of exhausted, wary, fragile people in the working world at the moment. A high proportion of the population is working from home, or at least trying to. Many of the same people are trying to make sure they stay connected to their colleagues, their schedules, their customers. And in times like these, having a confident, reassuring, trustworthy supplier is gold.
A PR company called us on Wednesday this week apologising from-the-off about a last-minute request they were about to ask for. They wanted 100 vinyl decals cut from a logo by Friday to be used on a box, and was it possible? 100 small vinyl decals isn't a big job to produce in two days, but the customer wasn't necessary to know this. So, once we've seen the logo for clarification and reassuring them that Friday would be fine, the customer ended the conversation thanking us again, and saying how grateful they were for The Graphical Tree getting them out of another last-minute hole as we always do.
Now, we're not bigging ourselves up for being an emergency service here. But we do recognise how important it is to be there for people, customers, when needed. Everyone is stressed enough and if you have a supplier you can trust and you know that they're doing what they can to help you out, being honest with costs, providing a quality product, and ultimately making your day easier and smoother, then that's great – it's what we're here for and why we do what we do –
We had a very nice testimonial from long-standing client Blonstein, commissioners of our work for London Fashion Week, stating just this –
"Many years ago, we needed a cut vinyl made and delivered after hours with no notice when a client suddenly added some extra logos. After calling a couple of companies I found that The Graphical Tree was the only one nearby with someone still picking up the phone.
They were about to go home but could they help me? No problem, artworked, cut and delivered in 40 mins. Their attitude and skills made them instant friends and I have lost track of the amount of times the team at TGT have gone way above and beyond to make us look like miracle workers. They soak up huge complex orders and multiple last-minute changes, always with a smile and an unrivalled understanding of what it takes to do it right." *
Anyway, back to the BT part. This piece was inspired by the customer service provided by BT (British Telecom) to one of The Graphical Tree team. Frustrated by patchy wi-fi, trying to work in the only quiet place in the house away from two young children currently home from school, while not being able to connect to the internet, frustrations almost boiling over, the staff member called the broadband supplier, BT, for help. The engineer and customer service team were calm, useful suggestions were made, and a super quick next day delivery of updated equipment with an aim to save the day was made – which thankfully it did. So pleased with the service was the member of the team, that it reached the ears of the rest of The Graphical Tree and inspired this article in praise of BT and customer service.
There are a lot of suppliers in the world all selling much the same product or service. Some are cheaper, some more expensive; some do have an inferior offering of course, and others have something you could easily get from elsewhere. But often what makes a company, a brand stand out, is the answer to the question, “Can I trust you?†And, if you can, that's half the problem solved.
Being a supplier our customers can believe in is at the forefront of our minds. No one wants to be let down in times of stress, so we do our uttermost to deliver each time, instilling and building trust for the future.
* We'd also like to add, while we're great at last minute jobs – any help with a longer deadline is obviously very much appreciated. We do have our own sanity to look after too, and of course, we don't want to let you down if the deadline does actually turn, in the end, to be too short.
