Next level trade support

Your relationship with PlaceMakers just got bigger – thanks to a massive shift in how the trade support team can meet your business needs

PlaceMakers staff are proud of their ability to retain hundreds of customer details at the drop of a hat – and now they can now retain thousands, thanks to a new system that backs up their bulging brains!

Trade Support 2.0 – which you may have already encountered – is the outcome of a commitment to increasing the capability of the trade support team (and, for some, restoring their work-life balance).

“Almost every request that comes through PlaceMakers is actioned by a member of the trade support team,” explains CRM Product Owner Blake Johnson.

“While many team members exceeded builders’ expectations, relying solely on their own system, we needed to support their hard work with a PlaceMakers-wide approach that allowed for consistency and crossover.”

On the same page – literally

What Trade Support 2.0 means in practice is that everything that happens with a customer is captured in one place. Orders, emails and auto-transcribed phone calls are all documented in the new customer engagement centre online. This means there’s not only a record of it, but it can also be accessed by any member of the trade support team – ensuring everyone who views it is on the same page.

“This new approach has numerous benefits for customers and staff,” explains Blake. “It avoids customers having to be team-member dependent, which means less wait time and no need to factor in their contact’s work and holiday schedule. For team members, it reduces the pressure on specific individuals (that go-to person that everyone uses) and enables everyone to have a better work-life balance.

“We know many of you value your trade support team member relationships, and there’s no reason for that to change, but it does mean that if your go-to person is unavailable, someone else can serve you with all the information they need in front of them.

“Basically, your relationship with PlaceMakers just got bigger!”

Order messaging added

The launch of Trade Support 2.0 coincides with a similar communication-capture feature on the Trade App and E-Portal – Order Management.

“For a while now, builders have been able to use the App or Portal to view any orders they have on the go, but, if they wanted to make changes, they needed to email their request,” says Blake.

“With the new feature, builders can start a chat with their rep within the order about any requests, additions or changes they might have. Not only will these be actioned as normal, but the message history will be recorded against the order!”

Live Account Dashboard

In line with the move towards having more information at people’s fingertips, the Invoices feature on the Live Account Dashboard has also been updated.

“There’s always been a feature, where customers can see statements and invoices, but this now also has their live account balance,” says E-Commerce Lead Bridget Harding.

“This can be seen by the customer and the trade support team, so they can let someone know if their account is in overdraft.”

So, in summary, that’s more features, which are easier to access, with improved support across the board – which means less time and less stress for all involved. We hope it changes our relationship with you – for the better!

More to come

These changes in how the Trade Support team can serve your business needs are all part of a greater shift to ensure that PlaceMakers is providing the best service possible to customers. Keep your eyes peeled and ears open as PlaceMakers Account Managers are enabled with further technology in the coming months.