Certainly social media is a new and exciting way of capturing and acting upon customer feedback. Twitter and Facebook have opened up a world where customers can do what they have always done – moan about bad service. The big difference is that now it reaches hundreds or thousands of people, rather than a handful of friends and family. The smart organisations have seen this as a positive too, because, whereas once they would never have known about it (remember that the majority of dissatisfied customers don’t tell anyone, they just leave), they can now view and even engage with these customers.

But, for some organisations, this is literally years away. For them, it is not about whether social media is better than traditional research, but whether they are gathering any feedback at all. And, if they are, is it effective and adding any value?’

And that’s just customer feedback. Delivering excellent customer service relies on a high level of customer intelligence, but it’s only useful if the other aspects are there too. For example, does an organisation have the right strategy? Do they have the right people? Are the processes and policies right? All of these need to be considered and put in the mix to be a service excellence provider.

It’s little wonder that organisations don’t know where to start. But for all the apparent complication, it really is quite simple. Organisations need to understand their customers and what they want. What steers their behaviour. What makes them stay, come back and tell others to do the same?

Then they need to put the strategy, processes, policies and above all, people, in place to deliver it. It’s not really complicated at all. That’s not to say it’s easy. It requires commitment and resource and a significant amount of patience (you don’t always see results – even in the first year!). And that’s a challenge in a world where we want everything now, including instant gratification for our efforts.

The reality is that it has to become cultural and that will only happen in the longer term, when the right strategy, people and processes meld together using the information about those customer “moments of truth”.

The truly excellent service organisations have understood this for a while. But for many more it’s only just beginning to sink in. So the starting place is surely to take a look at where you are now, identify the gaps and put a plan in place to fill them. It may take six months, or even six years, to get there but the journey will be worth it and the organisation that emerges will have a sustainable framework that means they can grow and develop their brand and reputation long into the future.

The next CSN Event “Service Excellence: Starting Your Journey” is on 15 March 2012 in London. For more details click here

How to make benchmarking effective for your organisation

Just how good could your organisation be? To find out, make sure you book your seat at our next event in London on 28 February. “Benchmarking Your Organisation” will give you the insight you need to understand how to compare with the best – both inside and outside your sector. 

Key speakers are David King from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and Tim Hughes from Welsh Water. “It’s all very well having data but it has to have some context. This event will help you to make benchmarking effective,” says CSN’s Darren Young. 

Interested? For more information or to book your place, click here or call us on 01902 311641 

Who are your customers comparing you to? Read the latest CSN Blog to find out

Events for 2012                                                                                                                        

The next key date for your diary is 15 March 2012 – don’t miss “Service Excellence – Starting Your Journey”. For any organisation that wants to be excellent, or to move to the next level, the key is to know where you are now and what to do next. Take your next step at this insightful event by clicking here for more details. 

Or, if you just want a quick preview of CSN’s service excellence events for the coming year, go to http://www.customernet.com/customer-service-events/

Learn from the best on YouTube

Did you know that poor customer service is costing the UK economy £15 billion each year?  This scary statistic set the scene at our annual conference, sponsored by eGain, in November last year. If you missed it – or want a quick recap on The Business Case for Service Excellence – then watch our short video on YouTube 

Andrew McMillan, who headed up the Customer Service Programme at leading UK retailer John Lewis, tells you how they built their reputation for great service and looks at other big brands that are getting it right.

Highlights of our year

If you missed the CSN headlines from last year, here’s a quick reminder.

• Over 100 people attended our Annual Conference on “The Business Case for Service Excellence” [see highlights…]
• We launched our CSN Starter Pack for organisations who want to start their journey to service excellence [read more…]
• We won our a contract to provide Home Group with all of their customer surveys  [read more…]
• John Hughes, CSN’s MD judged at the Customer Experience Awards
• CSN presented and hosted a round table discussion at ECEW

Are we ready to let the games begin?

We have just passed the “six-months-away” marker for the London Olympics. There can be fewer greater experiences than that, and over half a million people are expected to visit the UK during the games.

But in a survey by People 1st, it emerged that almost three-quarters of business leaders believe the UK needs to improve customer service delivery and very few (14%) of those think that this will be one of our strong points as hosts for the games.

In fact, regardless of the Olympics, how many organisations are committed to improving their customer’s experience in 2012? [For the full article, read the CSN Blog] 

This was my own personal benchmarking system whirring into action. It could easily compute into a league table – by recalling my experiences and how they felt. And like most people, I will use the organisations at the top of the list more often when I need that service in future. 

But this kind of “apples with apples” comparison is not always possible in reality because, as customers, we don’t always get to compare service directly with a range of providers in the way we can with, for instance, hotels. 

Yes, there are exceptions, mostly in retail where we can compare the experiences when we use various stores in the high street or on-line. John Lewis or House of Fraser, Costa or Starbucks, Amazon or Play.com to name but a few. But in other parts of our lives it just isn’t practical. 

We can only compare the service from our local authority if we have moved house. And if we don’t like the service we now get, short of moving again, we are stuck with it anyway! It’s the same with water companies, our GP and dentist or our social landlord. 

We can compare our providers of gas, electricity, telephone and broadband for service but only when it’s too late and we have already moved around. I do recall being visited once by a customer representative of a very large utility company who (whilst trying to handle a serious complaint) said “yes our customer service is bad, but it’s better than our competitors”. Well that’s alright then! 

So we begin to compare every service we receive against the other service we encounter – regardless of what it’s for – because it’s our point or reference. And it’s easier than keep moving house!

 It’s not always fair but if I have emailed Amazon to find out where my book is and get a response in less than half an hour, I am left frustrated when an email to my council telling them they forgot to empty my bin is still unanswered after a couple of days. The council may have a five-day SLA and consider that perfectly reasonable, but for the customer, surrounded by great practice in other walks of life, it’s not. 

I ordered a toy for my daughter from a small on-line toy shop. The service was phenomenal because they had clearly identified what best practice looked like and made sure they matched it, or even tried to better it (a text message saying they would be delivering within the hour, for example). I was delighted with the experience, but it did make a lot of other organisations I use look pretty poor by comparison. And that’s the point. 

If organisations continue to compare themselves to their competitors, they are going to fall short of customer expectation in many cases. That’s because the customer simply isn’t making the same comparisons. 

And a further advantage of benchmarking outside of the sector and comparing to best practice is that it gives an organisation the opportunity to see what CAN be achieved. Aiming to be the best, not just the best of a bad lot, will differentiate service excellence organisations from those that merely talk about it.

For details of the next CSN event, “Benchmarking Your Organisation” click here

Because of the increase in customer expectation, demand and understanding, organisations have found customer service to be one of the few competitive battlefields in which they can move ahead of the competition. But the best have realised that it is the whole customer experience that counts, not just what you do at the obvious touch points (a telephone enquiry, delivery or when and when there is a problem, for example).

This experience can start very early – maybe with a customer or even a prospect browsing a website. That customer’s experience has started at that point. They are already forming opinions that will shape their future behaviour and impression of the organisation.

We have just passed the “six-months-away” marker for the London Olympics. There can be fewer greater experiences than that, and over half a million people are expected to visit the UK during the games.

But in a survey by People 1st, it emerged that almost three-quarters of business leaders believe the UK needs to improve customer service delivery and very few (14%) of those think that this will be one of our strong points as hosts for the games.

So how much of a priority is customer experience? And how many of the organisations who will be at the forefront for those two weeks in July and August are going to do something about it.

In fact, regardless of the Olympics, how many organisations are committed to improving their customer’s experience in 2012?

As I sit here today, in a popular coffee shop, contemplating this question, the Area Manager of the shop sat down on an adjacent table for a meeting with a customer. “Thank you for meeting with me today” he said. Interesting, I thought.

“Now can I just understand a bit more about your complaint?” And I’m hooked.

I don’t make a habit of eavesdropping on coffee shop meetings, but this was a must-see (or a must-listen at the very least). The customer went on to describe how he had been at another of the chain’s shops and had been witness to an argument between the manager and a customer over a broken glass. When the customer had walked out, followed by a volley of abuse, the manager had turned on the other customers as one of them had apparently agreed that she was out of order.

Now two things struck me about this. The obvious one was that the manager, even if the customer was at fault (and it sounded like it was an accident), shouldn’t have turned it into a very public incident that impacted on several people’s experience that day. And they certainly didn’t need to introduce other customers into it either.

A one-off, from someone having a bad day or someone who was ill-equipped with the skills the role required? I guess I will never know, but clearly there has been a breakdown in training or recruitment here for this incident to even take place.

But the second thought was possibly more concerning. Why was the Area Manager listening to the customer’s complaint in the middle of a busy shop and in earshot of several other customers (although they probably were not listening quite as intently as me!)?

This is kind of my point. The experience for a customer is all about the whole. And my experience had been affected by what I had heard. I left the shop half an hour later thinking…

• I might get shouted at if I accidentally break a glass or cup

• The other shop is probably one to avoid, especially if the manager is on duty

• This chain doesn’t recruit the right people or train them properly and;

• They don’t care about the overall customer experience

On the plus side, at least they were happy to receive and listen to that customer’s feedback. Just maybe not quite so publicly next time.

But if the UK is going to get the customer experience right at the Olympics, judging by the experiences above, we still have quite a way to go.

Location: London

It’s all very well having data but it has to have some context. This event will help you to understand how to make benchmarking effective, and also to use it both inside your sector to compare against your competition or peers, and outside of your sector to compare against the best service organisations and see how good you could be.

Agenda:

10:00 Registration and Welcome

10:30 Introduction to Benchmarking

• The Role of Benchmarking
• Types of Benchmarking

11:00 David King, Financial Services Compensation Scheme
11:40 Coffee
12:00 Tim Hughes, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water
12:40 Q&A with Speakers
13:00 Lunch
13:45 Industry-related Breakout Session & Discussion Groups

• Barriers
• Advantages

14:20 CSN Benchmarking
14:45 Event Summary
15:00 Close

Cost:
This event costs £250+VAT per person

CSN Customers with an “Events Package” are eligible for one free place

To book a place onto this event, please Click Here

Location: London

One of the most common questions we get at CSN is “where do we start with service excellence?” This new event will help you to start (or restart) your journey and provide insight into strategy and assessment so you can understand your starting position, the only place to begin any journey.

Cost:
This event costs £250+VAT per person

CSN Customers with an “Events Package” are eligible for one free place

To book a place at this event, please Click Here.

Location: London

Complaint management and handling can be a lonely job in any organisation. Come and share your experience with like-minded individuals and see complaint best practice in action. We bring in experts that can demonstrate the ways they have turned complaints in positive and vital parts of their customer service feedback.

Cost:
This event costs £250+VAT per person

CSN Customers with an “Events Package” are eligible for one free place

To book a place onto this event, please Click Here

Location: London

Customer intelligence is a key cornerstone of any service excellence strategy. This event will demonstrate best practice in gathering and using customer feedback (of their specific experience) to create actionable insights and improvements. Net Promoter is a growing measure based on customer advocacy and “word of mouth” and will also be covered in this event.

Cost:
This event costs £250+VAT per person

CSN Customers with an “Events Package” are eligible for one free place

To book a place at this event, please Click Here

Location: London

Ever wondered how the excellent organisations do it? We have worked with some of the vey best and over the years we have developed a tool kit of best practice that we share with you in this workshop. From lean thinking and Six Sigma through to measurement and customer journey mapping we identify the key tools that will help organisations improve their customer service and out them into one fantastic event.

Cost:
This event costs £250+VAT per person

CSN Customers with an “Events Package” are eligible for one free place

To book a place onto this event, please Click Here

Location: London

In 2012 we focus on the Call Centre sector to show how service excellence should be a vital part of their strategy. This event is open to call  centres of all sizes and from any sector. We will have guest speakers from service excellence call centres who will tell you how they did it and the benefits they have seen.

Cost:
This event costs £250+VAT per person

CSN Customers with an “Events Package” are eligible for one free place

To book a place onto this event, please Click Here