Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/682797
6 | june 2016 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk Comment A recent competition organised by the Institute of Water - the finalists of which were presented at the Institute's engrossing annual conference which I attended recently – asked entrants to come up with a thirty-second commercial to sell a glass of tap water. A variety of approaches were attempted, from the humorous, to the artistic, to the passionately argued, with the winning filmmaker receiving a generous prize and round of applause from the audience. While the idea of advertising tap water itself may be a slightly fantastic one, the possible introduction of domestic retail competition means it may not be too long before TV adverts for water companies, or at Selling water least their associated retail brands, start to be seen on our screens. One of the themes that emerged from the Institute of Water event was customer service and branding, with delegates hearing about Institute of Customer Service research that compared customer perceptions of brands when it comes to customer service. Utilities lagged a fair distance behind the likes of Amazon and John Lewis, although it will give the industry some cheer to learn that water companies scored slightly better than their energy counterparts. However the research uncovered a difficulty with notions of customer service when it comes to water. The best water company service, it was noted, is no service at all: in an ideal world, the customer should not need to have any contact with their water supplier through the year, and for many people indeed this is the case. The water service is performing perfectly and yet the water company gains very little brand benefit from the happy situation. One only has to look at the frequency with which bogus callers manage to gain entry James brockett eDItor jamesBrockett@fav-house.com Twitter: @wwtmag to victims' houses by claiming to be 'from the water board' to realise that many customers have little awareness of their water supplier as a unique company, let alone brand awareness in a consumer sense. Yet all the experts in the subject, and for that matter the industry's all-important SIM scores, tell us that customer service is judged on personal contact that an individual has with a company's employees in person or on the phone. One problematic contact can result in negative associations that last several years, so the handling of complaints is crucial. And in this era when a disgruntled customer is far more likely to tweet a complaint than send a letter, responses need to be quicker and more complete than ever if they are to keep the ever-demanding customer satisfied. The quick resolution of problems and great customer communication are certainly the way to raise a water company's SIM scores, but will these actions be sufficient to create a brand identity and consumers who are as happy as Amazon customers apparently are? Only time will tell. Ultra low NOx, high efficiency combustion Dunphy manufacture low NOx burners purpose designed for sludge and wastewater treatment processes • key plant for compliance with the Medium Combustion Plant Directive • high turndown ratios for high efficiency (10:1 on gas) • state of the art digital boiler/burner control and command software • simultaneously and safely co-fire biogas and natural gas (or gas and gasoil) We specialise in the off-site manufacture of complete containerised boiler houses • space is at a premium • on site construction would be expensive or disruptive • supplementary biomass, biogas or liquid biofuel combustion is required • a high spec Energy Centre is needed for a new development For further information, contact sharon.kuligowski@dunphy.co.uk These units are ideal when: