F
finchy
Hi Chaps as promised I said I would give you some feed back from my REAL audit.
The day went really well and to be honest found it very constructive. Its not a pass or fail, as you go through your processes he/she might highlight areas that need some work (which you probably know). Its not interrogation, its ensuring you are trading within the code and being proactive in your approach.
Firstly download the audit compliance check (Guidance - Members - REAL Assurance Scheme ). Complete the background questions then and go through the Audit Questions print off and write your comments and refresh yourself where the information is. Its to be organised which helps with the process, if you havent anything to hide its best to co-operate (if you have then go look for another job!).
QMS- just ensure its in order and your customer database is up to date. I did'nt have a process for recording cancellations (eg within the cooling off) however thats because I've never had any but I will add this to my customer database you need to record the reason and be able to analyse (this is for spotting corroelation with pressure selling).
Ensure your REAL cert, insurance info is displayed in the office - we have just build a new office so haven't got around to getting frames etc. You could think its ---- but its what the code asks.
Client account - Ensure your client account is a proper client account, this is a weird one as our client account is called a client account but has a account type "business account". I need to clarify this with hsbc to ensure this is the case.
Contract - We have developed our own contract taking parts of the REAL, however I get the opionion they want to use their contract with adaptions to your specific company. I wanted ours to fit 2 pages but REAL want it being clear so 14 pages it is !! So I'm going to use their one in entirety.
Training - have a procedure for training an reviewing updates to the code, you can link this into your monthly review meeting as part of the mcs qms process. But this does depend on the size our your organisation, if your have several people selling then you need a comprehensive policy to ensure compliance to training (A record must be kept!).
These are just a few pointers, but if you read the Audit Questions you will get a clearer picture on what they expect. I have a few things to do but nothing major just housekeeping and I'm pleased I had a visit as it gives me confidence in what/how we are conducting ourselves is up to standard. Without blowing my trumpet he was very impressed with the processes and how we conduct selling, which we need to focus on as our unique selling point.
We did also discuss rogue traders and how this may bring the REAL organisation into distrepute however they are working to clamp down on offending businessess. They have something like 5000 members, and I guess they are dealing with the explosion of new members. They do need us to report instances of firms blatently abusing the code, it is very hard for them to catch firms however we probably have the evidence from customers who have experienced pressure selling. So he said to report them to REAL with the evidence.
The day went really well and to be honest found it very constructive. Its not a pass or fail, as you go through your processes he/she might highlight areas that need some work (which you probably know). Its not interrogation, its ensuring you are trading within the code and being proactive in your approach.
Firstly download the audit compliance check (Guidance - Members - REAL Assurance Scheme ). Complete the background questions then and go through the Audit Questions print off and write your comments and refresh yourself where the information is. Its to be organised which helps with the process, if you havent anything to hide its best to co-operate (if you have then go look for another job!).
QMS- just ensure its in order and your customer database is up to date. I did'nt have a process for recording cancellations (eg within the cooling off) however thats because I've never had any but I will add this to my customer database you need to record the reason and be able to analyse (this is for spotting corroelation with pressure selling).
Ensure your REAL cert, insurance info is displayed in the office - we have just build a new office so haven't got around to getting frames etc. You could think its ---- but its what the code asks.
Client account - Ensure your client account is a proper client account, this is a weird one as our client account is called a client account but has a account type "business account". I need to clarify this with hsbc to ensure this is the case.
Contract - We have developed our own contract taking parts of the REAL, however I get the opionion they want to use their contract with adaptions to your specific company. I wanted ours to fit 2 pages but REAL want it being clear so 14 pages it is !! So I'm going to use their one in entirety.
Training - have a procedure for training an reviewing updates to the code, you can link this into your monthly review meeting as part of the mcs qms process. But this does depend on the size our your organisation, if your have several people selling then you need a comprehensive policy to ensure compliance to training (A record must be kept!).
These are just a few pointers, but if you read the Audit Questions you will get a clearer picture on what they expect. I have a few things to do but nothing major just housekeeping and I'm pleased I had a visit as it gives me confidence in what/how we are conducting ourselves is up to standard. Without blowing my trumpet he was very impressed with the processes and how we conduct selling, which we need to focus on as our unique selling point.
We did also discuss rogue traders and how this may bring the REAL organisation into distrepute however they are working to clamp down on offending businessess. They have something like 5000 members, and I guess they are dealing with the explosion of new members. They do need us to report instances of firms blatently abusing the code, it is very hard for them to catch firms however we probably have the evidence from customers who have experienced pressure selling. So he said to report them to REAL with the evidence.
