THE EAST SIDE
Editorial comment from Steven A. East President
of CSM Group
NOT AFRAID TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR.
As a talent based organization
we firmly believe our most valued
assets are the talents and skills of
our outstanding workforce. In
addition, we realize even the most
talented and skilled individuals need
state of the art equipment and training
to perform at their optimum level.
When successfully combined, you
have an environment where you can
produce "pro" players on a regular
basis. We’ve staked our reputation and
our future on that concept. And it is
our firm belief each and every CSM
pro is out there making a positive
difference every day.
But with all these “pro” players out
there, how do you keep score? Some
companies do it simply by measuring
the bottom line on the P and L
statement, but we don’t think that’s
enough. We too have a focus on
financial performance but we also have
a much different business strategy—
and as a result we need to know how
we are doing with respect to our
clients, consultants, trade contractors,
and teammates.
So, how do we know how our team
is doing? Thanks for asking. As
innovators in the industry we have
created some unique methods for
reaching out and gathering feedback
from a variety of stakeholders with
some interesting results I would like
to share with you.
You may know about our CSMSelect
Program, which rates the performance
of over 200 trade contractors on a
monthly basis. We have seen
measurable increases in rating scores
and engagement on a consistent
basis. We can now speak to owners
and consultants with objective data
that fully describes how each
contractor performs in all the critical
areas of this business (Safety, Quality,
Schedule, Communications).
But we also have “reverse engineered”
that program to turn the magnifying
glass on ourselves, with three other
programs: SelectCSM, CSMPartners,
and RateCSM. And those results are
equally interesting (yes, we are very
proud of them) as you can see.
Let’s look at what we’ve learned
through SelectCSM, which is designed
to tell us what our customers think
about the value of our services:
• When asked to rate the knowledge
and skills of their CSM Project team,
67.9% of the clients who responded
selected “Exceptional” while 32.1%
rated us as merely “Above Average.”
You may notice that those numbers
total 100%!
• Other very satisfying results came
when they evaluated us on specific
issues, and “Exceptional” and
“Above Average” remained the
overwhelming choices.
º Timeliness of work—75%
(combined)
º Responsiveness—75%
º Commitment to our client’s
success—90.9%
• And on another very revealing
measure—“Would you recommend
CSM Group to a friend or client?”—
the combined total again reached
“100%.” Not your “average” survey
results!
It’s easy to understand the importance
of pleasing the customer; “no duh,” as
I believe today’s teenagers would put
it. Our business thrives when we
deliver a performance that builds
relationships along with buildings.
At CSM Group we have come to
believe that it is every bit as important
to build solid relationships with our
other partners in the project as well
as with our clients. In our case, that
means also getting feedback from
designers and trade contractors. And
we do, through those other programs
mentioned above.
Let’s talk more about that next time.
I’ll clean the mirror. |
