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Fay Davis discusses how she creates the right environment for her clients, and why a little really does go a long way
If there’s one word that customers use to describe Fay Davis’ service at her Regus Express centres, it’s “outstanding”.
When businesswoman Andrea Riding left Davis’s centre at Leigh Delamare off the M4 recently, she didn’t simply use the facilities and then go about her day without a second thought. Instead, she experienced such great service that she took a picture with the Community Manager and wrote a glowing review on LinkedIn to share with her entire business network.
“How many outstanding customer-facing stars do you meet on a daily basis? They personify their company values and you know they will go the extra mile to assist you,” she wrote. “One word: outstanding. Thank you, I will be back soon.”
For Davis, being helpful and accommodating is the most important part of her job. She looks after two Regus Express centres on the M4 corridor: Leigh Delamere just off junction 17, and Membury. “My job is to create a perfect, professional, welcoming environment for my clients to achieve their work goals,” she says – and takes great pride in making it happen.
The types of people who come to the centres range from those travelling in from the likes of London, Birmingham or Brighton who need a convenient meeting space, to Davis’ regular clients, who she calls her “Regus family”. They tend to be people who work from home in the surrounding area and need a place to focus.
But even with the regular clients, what Davis deals with each day constantly changes based on their different needs. “You have to be very flexible,” she says, and she often goes the extra mile to help a client. “I’ve got a client who has business in Dubai and I will open my centre up early for him when he needs to do a work call.” It means it helps him deal with the time difference, and allows him to get the call done in a business environment without the distractions of home, she says.
Equally important is flexibility with her staff. Davis and her colleague have a good relationship and will work around each other if they need to change their schedule. They also collaborate on networking events in the local area to promote the centres’ services and drum up new business. But being part of the local business community means supporting others too – if someone is putting on a charity event then Davis likes to show up for it. “They value it, and it makes a difference,” she says.
Davis lives in the Cotswolds, and she and her family love taking trips into London to go to shows or exhibitions since it’s an easy train-ride. “We do dip in a lot – me and my youngest go to the V&A,” she says. Their last visit was to the venue sold-out Dior exhibition at the museum, and they’ve got their sights set on the Tim Walker event next.
Before joining Regus, Davis worked in relationship banking at Barclays. It means she’s used to being in a customer-service role: “the skills I learned there I’ve been able to transfer to Regus”, as she puts it. One thing she likes to do when she has a new client is to “find out a little bit about them before they come so I can have a conversation with them”. “It breaks the ice and shows that I’m interested in what they do and why they’re using us,” she adds. “You have to gauge the client, but it can make a difference and make them feel comfortable.”
What she finds really satisfying is getting feedback that clients have been able to achieve something valuable while being in the centres, and having them return to work there again or recommend the service to others. “I always say to people, ‘Have you achieved a lot today? Was it successful?’ And on the whole, they say, ‘Oh gosh yes, I got so much done.’” No wonder clients call her outstanding.
