Same page trade support

Six months in, PlaceMakers continues to bring together all the pieces of our builder support network – providing the supply partner you need to make life easier and help grow your business  

While PlaceMakers builders have long had support from a dedicated account manager and the national trade support team, communication between the two remained ‘traditional’ for far longer than one might think. 

“Until three months ago, account managers would take notes on site when visiting their customers, then hop in their car and either phone or email it all to the trade support team to action and enter it into the system,” explains CRM Product Manager Blake Johnson. 

“Now that the trade support team and account managers are both in the system, account managers input all that information while on site, making it immediately visible to both. 

“This means they can see all interactions and, as a result, know the wider context of everything that’s happening. This is the final piece of the puzzle – all our service teams are in one place talking to each other – making sure quality is high, and turnaround time is low.”

All part of the plan 

This development is part of PlaceMakers journey to empower the entire team to deliver the best service possible to builders, by ensuring all customer information is captured and collected in one place, and visible to anyone providing support at any time. 

“This reduces the need to interpret emails or phone calls, and also means the buck doesn’t stop with the account manager. No matter what happens following that site visit, it flows into the supporting team seamlessly,” says Blake.

“This helps teams work better together, so the customer gets better outcomes. It’s all part of our commitment to doing everything we can to support and grow our builders’ businesses, by ensuring all of their requests are taken care of quickly and smoothly.”

Calling on our support 

“We now have more customers calling than ever before, and the team is responding to more of those calls,” says Blake. 

“If we don’t manage to answer a call, we know that it has come in and we can make sure those customers are called back.”

Blake says that feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with builders calling it “the best support out there” and passing on comments such as “the trade support team I deal with multiple times every day is amazing” and “having all staff being able to access my account, as opposed to just one person, is great”.

Next-level service

These changes are all part of a greater shift to ensure that PlaceMakers is providing the best service possible to its customers. In the coming months, the estimations department will also be integrated into CRM, ensuring the delivery of high-quality estimates you can rely on in short turnaround times.

And here’s a reminder of the latest features! 

Order messaging 
Builders can use this to start a chat with their rep within live orders, to make any special 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! 

Available on Trade App and E-Portal – Order Management services. 

Live Account Balance 
You can now see your live account balance on the Invoices feature on the Live Account Dashboard, along with statements and invoices. 

This can also be seen by the trade support team, who will let you know if your account is overdrawn.