Published

2 min read

Plugging the holes with B2B International in Wolseley’s customer journey

B2B selling can be a brutally competitive business. Our Forsta platform gave B2B International the insights to gain an edge with one of their clients, Wolseley UK.  

The challenge

How to stand out with high customer service, rather than low prices

Wolseley is a leading seller of plumbing and building materials to UK businesses. It’s a very competitive market. If another business can beat your prices, they’ll often take your customers. Wolseley wanted to distinguish themselves another way. They wanted to have the absolute best customer service in the business. They just needed the right insights. 

At Wolseley UK, in an organization of over 600 branch locations and a rapidly improving multi-channel offer, it’s essential that we can gather insight regularly, and share it quickly and easily so that the correct business area can take action and close the loop on any issue. Our insight program has not only enabled us to do this successfully but has also underpinned a significant overall NPS improvement of more than 10 points.

Gary Hitchens

Customer Service Director, Wolseley UK

Our solution

Turning on the insights tap

Wolseley got in touch with B2B International â€“ a market research specialist, running on the Forsta platform. B2B International gave Wolseley’s insights team a Forsta dashboard that broke down feedback from all their touchpoints in a single place, with NPS as a key metric. As soon as any negative feedback arrived, the right people immediately had the data to turn mediocre experiences into outstanding service. 

The results

A fast-reacting, customer-first culture

Wolseley soon became the plumber’s place to be for excellent service, using their insights to make sure over 600 ‘everyday essentials’ were never out of stock. They answered calls quicker. They gave their new starters better training. They picked up on problems immediately and fixed them. Customers even got free coffees. Wolseley now has 21 customer champions who visit and improve branches with the least brilliant NPS scores.

Tools used

  • Survey design  
  • Feedback and data collection
  • Genius and computer assisted telephone interviewing