Customer Service Charter

We will find a way to relate.
Business Advisory is about connecting and helping entrepreneurs to achieve their business goals, build their passion and realise long-held dreams.
All businesses need support in different areas and we are directed by our clients’ expressed needs. If we can’t help out, we’ll ask our network. We won’t jump in and problem solve straightaway. We’ll listen to you, ask and reflect on what you have said and then look for solutions, letting you, the client, tell us what you need in your own words.
Relationships are key in our success, and will be formed in virtual spaces, online and across the region to get business owners the support they need.

There is no geographic barrier to accessing good advice.
It doesn’t matter where your business is located, we can assist you using available free technology (where there’s an internet connection).
As a business owner, you should be able to book a meeting within 24 hours of registering with us from anywhere across the Business Advisory network.
Within 7-days of booking, you, the client, should be attending your first meeting with an Advisor. Where possible first meetings are face-to-face via Skype/Facetime, or in person at Business Advisory’s Bunbury, Busselton or Mandurah offices. From there on, meetings can be virtual, phone-based, after hours, one-to-many sessions or a tailored mix of all these methods.

Every meeting or engagement with Business Advisory will add value.
Every time you, the business owner, has contact with Business Local South West and Peel your business will gain value or benefit.
We take responsibility for our advice, have ownership of our allocated clients, follow up when we say we will and proactively reach out whenever we need. We aim to move each of our conversations with you forward with relevant information, support, acknowledgement, and, even if clients are negative or frustrated with us, we respond as human beings and professionals.

Refer, Resolve, Revisit.
We aim to make every client meeting end in a proactive ‘next step’ for both the client and the Advisor, such that every meeting adds value to our on-going relationship.  We aim to support our clients in the long term, not just as a one-off, quick fix. Advisors are able to refer clients within the IPS network or externally; resolve issues in one appointment or a series of meetings, all the while maintaining a supportive relationship with your business.

We understand the reality of small business owners.
We understand that if you, as a business owner, is frazzled, confused, seems disorganised, or hasn’t yet responded to our communications, it’s probably because they are busy working on their business.  During periods of growth, chaos can be normal, even expected, in small business, and systems and document that might be normal and expected in larger organisations may not yet be in place.
We understand, and we are here to help.

We work with small business owners to encourage and support them to go further and step out of their comfort zones.
We support manageable risk-taking by business owners, where there is a good business case to do so, and explore this through sound boarding, gentle questioning, coaching, identifying alternatives, scenario testing and good old-fashioned number crunching.

We keep it simple. 
Sometimes the best advice is free and simple.
Often if you have been working alone on your business, or are new to running a business, there is value in hearing how other people, teams and businesses do things which can give you ideas, reassurance or inspiration. For instance, we wouldn't ask a client to purchase a subscription to an accounting package such as MYOB if an Excel spreadsheet will do a satisfactory job for your business.
Sometimes the simple solutions, explored properly, are enough for one Advisory session.

We keep it human.
We have found that being human is the best solution when communication issues around business arise. 
If you are struggling to connect with a client, often the best advice is to reset the conversation. So we might have a laugh, talk about family, the footy, the best music to listen to on a 5-hour drive – anything but business, and we often find that the business conversations become much easier. If you are working alone on your business, we’ll bring you ways to become part of a bigger team and make your business decisions easier. And you never know how the seeds we sow, may grow.

We work within our professional capacity and limitations. 
It is not our role to solve all our clients’ problems, but if we come up against issues outside our extensive network’s skill set, we will refer our clients to specialised advice.
Some issues businesses have may have been years in the making, and may require specialised expertise to unravel. We will always make it very clear to our clients when our limits of expertise have been reach, but we will never leave our clients in the lurch.

We create space and empower our clients.
Our role is to support the business idea and concept, but ALSO to support the person.
We consciously create space in conversations with our clients, allowing pauses for thought, not necessarily answering straightaway, but allowing our clients to think their way through the conversation as well. Our team are experts in their fields and transparent in their dealings with clients. We believe in empowering our clients with realistic business advice.

We will not tolerate aggressive, abusive behaviour, implicit or explicit.
This includes bullying, sexual harassment, racism or shaming and we will not talk about others in a way that is unprofessional and undignified.
We believe no-one should have to work with anyone who make them unnecessarily uncomfortable. We take harassment and bullying claims seriously, and if you experience this when dealing with our service, please tell someone about it immediately.

We are here for ALL businesses in the community, at every level.
All people, regardless of gender, social status, physical ability, sexuality, race, or religion are equally deserving of our time and business support.
Business Advisory South West and Peel is open to businesses at all ‘ages and stages’ of development, be they intending, start up, established or in decline and exit.  We will do our best to overcome language barriers and will proactively work with multicultural and Aboriginal entrepreneurs in the region.

“T” is for Team, Technology, Tools, Targets, Trust and Tracking.
Good systems are essential for business efficiency.
At Business Local we use the Cloud, Sharepoint, Hubspot, Google docs, YouTube, Skype, Teams and more, to enable us to connect as a team and deliver for the business community.
Technology will help us target our tools and services to businesses, and track and report engagements. All matters that are client-related will be securely recorded in our CRM and shared internally via Sharepoint. We trust one another to pick up new skills and use technology to best effect.