Customer Support
“The Grace Hill Kingsley Index is a trusted industry benchmark. For those looking to enhance the ways they can serve their customers, Grace Hill's KingsleySurveys is a valuable tool to increase property performance."
Linda Cogburn
Senior Vice President of Operations
Overview
Carr Properties is a privately held real estate investment trust that owns, manages, acquires, and develops premium commercial properties in Washington, D.C.; Boston, Massachusetts; and Austin, Texas.
Three things drive their corporate philosophy: Thoughtful Design, Distinguished Hospitality, and Engaging Moments. They want their properties to be “More Than an Address” for tenants, striving instead to create environments where customers and guests can flourish. They call this “The Carr Experience.”
Operationally, Linda Cogburn, Senior Vice President of Operations, and her team are instrumental in leading this charge for Carr Properties, where she oversees the property management of Carr Properties’ owned and third-party portfolio.
Company Profile
Industry: New development, office, and retail
Headquarters: Washington, D.C.
Years in Business: 30+
Number of Team Members: 140
Challenge
Carr’s number one priority is customers. Anticipating their needs to deliver Distinguished Hospitality is essential to their day-to-day operations because they know it makes an impact when customers seek to renew their lease or expand their space.
“We are constantly exploring ways to enhance our service through our predictive and preventive maintenance efforts, proprietary technology, healthy-environment and sustainability initiatives, and unique customer programming,” said Linda. “When we do our job well, our customers associate our brand with excellence and want to stay at a Carr property.”
However, the pandemic significantly changed how people work, and its impact on commercial office space delivered challenges as a result. But Carr Properties is not one to sit still, hoping for a return to “the way things used to be.”
In fact, Carr’s CEO, Oliver Carr, took the recent occasion of the company’s 30th anniversary to celebrate the past while casting a vision for the future:
“Over the last 30 years, our tremendous team at Carr has been the constant...[but] another constant has been the need to adapt and evolve as market conditions and customer preferences change. Standing still is not an option.
No one knows what the future will hold; however, if we can maintain a dynamic and adaptable approach with a relentless focus on quality and service, Carr Properties will continue to grow and be successful for many years to come.”
Carr Properties knows what it does well. As a customer-centric organization, customer satisfaction is always top of mind. In fact, it’s their commitment to customers that has made Carr’s relationship with Grace Hill so important.
The reality is that customer satisfaction is constantly in flux. Needs, desires, and perspectives seldom remain static. So, in order to make impactful decisions, Carr’s leadership knew early on that a robust survey solution that delivered quantifiable data would be necessary.
Linda shares, “Although we might have a sense of customer satisfaction, we need to quantify priorities compared to an industry benchmark or prior performance.”
Solution
When Carr Properties needed to implement surveys, they knew a cookie-cutter solution wasn’t the answer. So they turned to KingsleySurveys, a trusted industry leader with a premier survey solution, and over 10 years later, the relationship remains strong.
Actionable insight, trusted industry benchmarks, relevant analytics, and strategic partner — all are phrases that point to the value Carr finds with Grace Hill. Just as Carr strives to be “more than just an address” to their customers, Grace Hill is more than just a technology solution to Carr. It’s an ongoing, strategic relationship that helps their leaders gauge and understand customer sentiment and satisfaction to make informed, data-driven decisions.
By implementing KingsleySurveys across their portfolio, Carr gains a realistic assessment of their customers’ satisfaction — and an invaluable data source when making decisions related to capital improvements.
“Grace Hill provides a complete analysis of the data, highlighting prior years and peer sets. They walk you through the information, cutting through the noise with tailored summaries that fit our specific needs and recommendations for areas of focus."
- Linda Cogburn, Senior Vice President of Operations
Results
Carr Properties needed quantifiable, actionable data and an unbiased perspective of their portfolio performance. In short, they needed a solution they could trust — one that could turn insight into action. And Grace Hill’s KingsleySurveys provided just that.
Linda understands that having a clear picture of customer perceptions and needs makes all the difference. And adding the Grace Hill KingsleySurveys solution has been a mission-critical tool for their business, helping measure customer satisfaction, improve property performance, and increase renewals — not to mention that it is user-friendly!
“The insights we glean from KingsleySurveys ensure we understand our customers and their needs and help us identify opportunities for improvement,” said Linda. ”We love how personalized the survey results are and how user-friendly the KinglseySurvey interface is for our customers.”
Grace Hill has become a valuable partner in Carr Properties’ success, providing them the necessary insight to stay attuned to customers’ needs and perspectives, move forward with excellence, and embrace their CEO’s vision never to stand still.
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