Facilities Manager's Desk Reference, 3rd Edition

34Customer and Stakeholder Relations

34.1 The importance of good service delivery

FM (facilities management, or facilities manager) is the provision and management of services to both internal and external customers. Service delivery performance against agreed standards will therefore highlight the efficiency, or otherwise, of an FM department. The most common standards used in FM are service level agreements (SLAs).

The future of many businesses and organisations depends on current and potential customers and how they are treated. Customers are people, and so the skills of customer‐service‐focused activities, such as the helpdesk or FM service centre, are people management skills. There are many types of customers in FM, also known as stakeholders. There are many definitions or expressions of good customer service:

• Putting the customer first and at the centre of everything we do.
• Finding out what customers want and making sure it is delivered.
• Making sure that every customer recommends the service provided.
• Getting the details right first time and every time.
• Exceeding customers’ expectations.

Excellent customer service therefore depends on the people management skills of the team and:

• Their attitudes.
• Their interactive listening skills.
• Their ability to build emotional relationships that encourage customers to return.
• Their willingness to go the extra mile.

34.2 Customer care

FMs need to adopt excellent customer service and customer care skills across all the services ...