Yesterday, I visited a new building development near where I live. The site is high profile, next to the High Street, and it involved the demolition of existing low-level social housing and the construction of 4 new apartment blocks, again for social housing—specifically for older people. Friends I had made during volunteering as part of a Sage Foundation day introduced me to the development company and the local project staff.
I wanted to meet the development company partly to learn about their corporate social responsibility programme and partly because I was intrigued by how they handled the amount of interest and scrutiny the project was under.
Effective communication is critical in construction projects, particularly redevelopment and housing. In the UK, companies like the one I met take on large-scale projects to build mixed social and private housing, where they must navigate a complex landscape of stakeholders. These include local councillors, council officers, former estate residents, prospective tenants, local businesses, and the wider community affected by construction activities. Ensuring clear, consistent, and timely communication with all these parties is a challenging but essential task.
I met their senior site manager and their Resident Liaison Officer. The developer is not unique in employing a Resident Liaison Officer (RLO) for their projects, and she outlined their communication strategy. To keep residents informed, they email a bi-monthly newsletter in PDF format. The purpose is to provide updates on project progress, address concerns, and highlight community benefits. However, the surprising aspect was their reliance on Outlook and Excel for tracking correspondence. While these tools are widely used, they are not designed for structured stakeholder relationship management, leading to inefficiencies and potential communication gaps.
The challenges with spreadsheets and email.
Fragmented Information Storage – Using separate tools like Outlook and Excel means that emails, resident queries, and stakeholder interactions are stored in multiple locations, making retrieval and tracking difficult.
Lack of Automation – Each newsletter requires manual email distribution, increasing the risk of missed recipients and inconsistencies in messaging.
Limited Visibility – There is no centralised record of communications, making it harder for team members to stay updated on past interactions.
Inconsistent Follow-Ups – Without a structured system, tracking follow-ups and responses to resident concerns becomes cumbersome.
How Sage CRM Can Help
Implementing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system like Sage CRM can transform stakeholder engagement by offering a streamlined and efficient approach to communication.
Centralised Stakeholder Database – Sage CRM enables the team to store all stakeholder information in one system. Every interaction with residents, councillors, and local businesses is logged and easily accessible.
Automated Communication & Newsletters – Instead of manually emailing newsletters, Sage CRM can automate bulk emails with personalised content, ensuring timely and consistent communication.
Tracking & Reporting – With Sage CRM's integration with Mailchimp, the team can monitor which residents received emails, who engaged with them, and any subsequent concerns raised.
Task & Follow-Up Management – The RLO can schedule follow-ups, set reminders, and assign tasks to team members, ensuring no query goes unanswered.
Stakeholder Insights – The team can identify common concerns by analysing communication patterns, allowing for proactive engagement and improved relationship management.
Effective communication is crucial for construction companies to maintain trust and transparency with local communities. By moving from disconnected tools like Outlook and Excel to a robust CRM solution like Sage CRM, the Resident Liaison Team can streamline their processes, improve stakeholder engagement, and enhance the overall efficiency of their communication strategy. Investing in the right technology saves time and strengthens relationships with the communities they serve, ensuring smoother project execution and better outcomes for all stakeholders.
I am very interested in your experience using Sage CRM to support stakeholder communication in sensitive construction work. Yesterday's customer visit made me think, and I will share my thoughts in another article.