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Benchmarking can be a very powerful way of identifying sources of improvement. You need to benchmark firms to use as role models. These might be either from the construction sector or exemplars from outside the industry, who are ahead of everyone. Frequently one company will have developed in one area, while others have developed in other specific areas. It is invaluable to analyse these companies’ strengths. This may include their management structure, cost base, IT investment, market specialisms, ways of doing things etc. Then you will get some really useful market knowledge on which to base future decisions.

The Leading Edge Audit of Customer Service ‘expectations and perceptions’ (©ACE) has been designed as a tool for benchmarking customer service, at both a macro level and at ‘moment of truth’ levels. It can compare you with your immediate competitors and identify the ‘best in class’ companies to watch. It provides a huge amount of actionable data.

KPI-online is a new simple benchmarking tool for customer satisfaction, developed by Leading Edge, for contractors and designers. It is easy for clients to complete, yet gives a rigorous analysis of trends and performance gaps on your projects. For more information on KPIs, click here: FAQs on Key Performance Indicators

Case Study - Benchmarking

A decorative coatings manufacturer wanted to focus more effectively on its customers. Using our ACE methodology adapted to focus on areas relevant to our client, market research was carried out across over 400 respondents. By talking to merchants, contractors, distributors and specifiers, both face to face and over the phone, we were able to gain valuable insight into the issues most important to them.

By reviewing the data against over 2000 other ACE respondents from a variety of markets, we were able to benchmark our clients against similar product groups.

The findings of the research were then played back to the management team highlighting the areas that they needed to focus on. A project manager was made responsible for implementing the changes and teams were made accountable for those improvements.

What our clients have said when using us for Benchmarking consultancy:

• "Good knowledge of our market"

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