Ranking: The best customer service 2022

Cologne When the opening of the garden festival in Bad Schwalbach in southern Hesse was due, the Nassauische Sparkasse (Naspa) didn’t need to be asked twice. In mid-May, 15 employees lent a hand: they helped to decorate the areas for the opening.

Insect death is the main theme of the festival, which runs until the end of June – a support association is putting it on its feet and not only needs helpers, but also money. The voluntary service at the spade was followed by a donation of 20,000 euros from the Nassauische Sparkasse and the Savings Banks and Giro Association Hesse-Thuringia.

Such commitment to nature and the region is typical of the approximately 12,000 branches of the public finance group, says Christina Viebahn from the German Savings Banks and Giro Association. “Local roots are one of our unique selling points and a success factor,” says the department director for private customer strategy.

The Savings Banks decide on their own responsibility which socially relevant projects they support: “The institutes themselves know best what is needed in their business area.” On the other hand, when it comes to marketing, communication or IT, the idea of ​​a network pays off, says Viebahn. “Most institutes largely implement our centrally developed solutions.”

The mixture of local color and central control is apparently well received by savings bank customers, as a study by Servicevalue suggests. The Cologne market researchers surveyed almost 13,500 customers online about their experiences with 755 companies and recorded the results in the “Best Customer Advice 2022” ranking. Naspa emerged as the best regional bank. There are eight other savings banks in the top ten in this category. (Detailed ratings can be found as a PDF download linked in the graphic).

Servicevalue Managing Director Claus Dethloff explains the good performance of many savings banks with the people’s desire for stability. “Customers have not yet ticked off the pandemic. In uncertain times, many customers retreat to the tried and tested. That plays into the hands of large and established providers,” he says. In fact, in the 40 industries studied, there are some large companies with many

Branches at the top of the ranking.

This also applies to the category of car service chains: Here Driver Center takes first place. The subsidiary of the tire manufacturer Pirelli operates around 200 workshops in Germany, including 80 of its own. The remaining 120 are managed by cooperation partners. “In terms of customer perception, we benefit from our image, in which the traditional Pirelli brand is clearly recognizable,” says Managing Director Thorsten Schäfer. Since 2018, all workshops have had a uniform brand identity.

According to Schäfer, the independent workshops in the association are contractually bound to fixed quality standards. This includes the necessary specialist knowledge of the employees, the appearance of the companies and suitable technical equipment. Specialist tire dealers are very interested in being included in the Driver Center network, says Schäfer. Around 30 new partners are added every year. The number of applicants is higher, but not everyone meets the requirements for the quality of advice and service.

Workshops that work under the umbrella of Driver Center are inspected twice a year by the management. Among other things, examiners have to work through a catalog of 150 questions. If it turns out that employees are missing certification, for example, or a technical device is not up to date, improvements must be made immediately.

Of course, the controlled workshop managers not only have to fear negative consequences. Once a year, the company management invites all partners together to the annual conference at a location in Germany. Then there are, among other things, cash bonuses for those who have positioned themselves particularly attractively for customers.

Hornbach is also one of the heavyweights in its branch. The DIY group based in Bornheim, Palatinate, operates 167 DIY and garden centers across Europe, 98 of which are in Germany. In order to be able to offer specialist advice at a constant level, service staff who already have product knowledge from previous jobs are in particularly high demand.

Digital competence increasingly important

“Many colleagues in the stores originally come from the trades and today work in product areas whose product ranges they are also very familiar with from a practical perspective,” says Christa Theurer, operational manager of Hornbach Baumarkt AG. Without experience, no employee is let loose on customers. “New colleagues go through a training program lasting several weeks,” says Theurer.

In workshops, Hornbach employees learn how to use the tools that they will later sell themselves. This not only pays off for customers and employers. Employees also have the opportunity to have this specialist knowledge certified by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

In the meantime, technical knowledge alone is no longer sufficient to provide successful advice. According to Hornbach, service employees must also be digitally fit. A deep product search no longer works without a tablet or PC, because only around a quarter of the 250,000 articles can be found in the stores. The rest is available online. Articles can be ordered from the store during a consultation or delivered straight to the customer’s home.

Study director Dethloff considers the focus on digitization to be the need of the hour. Finally, almost all consumers have had to become more immersed in the digital world during the pandemic. “Their learning curve is steeper than that of many retailers and service providers at the end of the pandemic. This increases their expectations of companies.” The expert sees a danger in this. “For dealers, the risk of not being able to meet the expectations placed on them is increasing.” For the Hornbach workforce, this means that the already high requirements could continue to grow.

Fressnapf has had its own academy for 16 years

An industry giant is also at the top of the service value ranking for suppliers of pet supplies: Fressnapf, with a good 900 branches in Germany and just as many in ten other countries, leads the field in its industry. “Established providers enjoy a leap of faith among consumers because of their previous presence and size,” says Dethloff, who headed the study, mentions a fundamental advantage for the Krefeld group.

It is not surprising that Fressnapf spokesman Simon Langenbach cites other factors for Fressnapf’s success in the customer ranking in addition to the size advantage. The expertise in consultations is also a result of the “company culture shaped by family” and the “passion for our beloved animals”. The vision of the pet outfitter plays accordingly: “Happier Pets. Happier people.” So: if the dog is happy, master and mistress are happy.

The company, founded in Erkelenz in 1990, does not want to leave satisfaction to chance. “The quality of the consultations is regularly checked with the help of mystery shoppers,” says Langenbach.

The group has been training its employees at the in-house Fressnapf Academy for 16 years. The curriculum includes not only knowledge about keeping and feeding pets, but also communication techniques for the counseling session. In addition to the courses in the academy, e-learning courses are held, as well as live training in the store.

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