“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” -Benjamin Franklin
Our #1 customer service phone call here at BSI is, “Why do I need to have this device tested?” Our customer service team handles these calls with tender care and patience. Our goal is to inform and educate the caller on the who, what, where, when, why and how on backflow prevention and the importance of backflow prevention in relation to water quality. Most people have a grasp on water quality and the importance of clean, safe water, but not many understand the correlation between both topics. Our customer service phones calls are only a small, minuet portion of public education in regards to the comprehensive marketing and outreach programs needed by cities/towns on cross-connection control and backflow prevention, but we try our hardest to help educate.
We have been consulting on backflow and cross-connection solutions for over 20 years and when onboarding a new city or town to BSI Online, we encourage them to inform the public across multiple informational platforms, repeatedly. Sometimes in our research, we find many municipalities have NO information regarding backflow or cross-connection. Like I mentioned above, the customer service phone call to BSI is only one platform, but many people check websites, city newsletters, city blogs, calls to city information lines and/or information on/in their water bill, before calling BSI Online. Public education is part of a comprehensive cross-connection control program per the EPA and we mentioned it our previous blog post. We always encourage links to cross-connection manuals, local and state code, a link to the EPA Cross-Connection Manual, and if utilizing BSI Online, our customer service contact information.
We also encourage letting testers know where and how to submit the backflow test information. If you have an in-house program, providing testers with information on where to send/how to submit the test reports and/or licensing information. If utilizing BSI Online, let them know they MUST submit the tests and licensing to us via our website. With any type of backflow program you are managing, the clearer the expectations and protocols are, the better your compliance and cooperation will be, making your job easier and efficient.
Since BSI Online is a full-service backflow solutions management and consulting firm, we can help you with public education and outreach. We have an entire graphic design and marketing team on staff for these services. We have helped hundreds of municipalities across the country with ordinance review, policy manuals, printable public education material, website information, surveys, remediation, and outreach to the testing community.
