Archive for January, 2009

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Virgin Customer Service Award

Saturday, January 31st, 2009

The British airline operator Virgin, owned by entrepreneur Richard Branson, has won a customer service award from the Institute of Customer Service (ICS), making them the leading practitioner of customer service in the aviation industry.

Twenty-four thousand consumers were surveyed and asked questions relating to issues such as their efficiency and effectiveness in handling complaints, professionalism, and the friendliness and competency of staff. Virgin scored seventy-nine out of a possible one hundred points.

The chief executive of the airline that beat its rivals such as BA, was delighted that his company received the award:

“Virgin Atlantic took to the skies in 1984 with the passionate belief that we could revolutionise the customer experience. Winning the ICS award at the start of our 25th birthday year is testament to our ongoing commitment to this philosophy.”

This is a good example that should inspire business leaders and managers alike to continue investing in the personal development and customer service training of their staff. Many would agree that if the aviation is industry is likely to suffer during this economic downturn (since they could be argued as a ‘luxury item’), then Virgin’s commitment to customer service is only going help them ride it out.

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Management Training Shift

Friday, January 30th, 2009

Over the boom period of growth and prosperity in the not too distant past, salespeople and managers alike were encouraged to enter onto management training courses to provoke some ‘blue skies thinking’ to make bolder, bigger choices to further increase their company’s revenue.

Now in the midst of an economic downturn, management schools and universities all over the UK are formulating new courses aimed at the promotion of business stability, sustainability and efficiency. There seems to be a shift back towards more traditional values of management, and ultimately leadership.

Essentially, managers are beginning to realise the benefits of moving away for a ‘wham, bam, quick-fix’ culture and more towards tried and tested methods of problem solving, efficiency and effectiveness.

However, some sceptical managers may feel that they have enough on their plates, and that classroom led training and development doesn’t reflect the reality of their day to day challenges.

The true fact is, like all good learning, it needs to be applied and those managers should consider staggered training periods to give them an opportunity to practically apply their new knowledge in the workplace.

Training and development can also give managers a great opportunity to share their ideas and challenges with like minded colleagues, and may find added value from that interaction.

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Styles of Negotiation

Friday, January 30th, 2009

Throughout all areas of business, from board room battles to finalising that all important sales contract, your style of negotiation will affect your result. Essentially, it requires all your best communication and persuasiveness skills and is a popular topic on management and sales training courses.

There are two main types of negotiation and each has their drawbacks and benefits.

Adversarial Negotiation
This is the typical battle of wills with an opponent where your goal is to get what you want, and minimise your opponent’s chances or elements of success. Typically that means the first round is where both parties aim (sometimes unrealistically) high and cling on to as much as they can. Often information will be withheld and no concessions will be made until as late as possible. Adversarial negotiation often results in a ‘win-lose’ or if it fails completely a ‘lose-lose’ outcome. It’s suited to the strongest and most aggressive competitor and typically isn’t designed to build trust and long term relationships.

Co-operative Negotiation
In this style, each side acknowledges the needs of the other and concedes there may be differences that should be explored. There is much more objectivity, with a goal to settle on what is fair and reasonable for both parties. Communication is much open, and there is much more of a tendency to share information between both parties in the search for empathy and understanding. It’s seen more as a problem solving exercise, and is much more likely to lead to positive long term relationships and a ‘win-win’ outcome.

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Customer First Standard

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

As a result of a partnership between the London Business Support Network, Business Competitiveness Group in Yorkshire and Humber and the Quality Working Group, the not for profit organisation Customer First UK was born.

Using the catchy registered trademark ‘putting the customer first’ they invite companies to apply for their ‘Customer First Standard’ which is a comprehensive award encompassing three key areas; building customer relationships, maximising market awareness and developing your people.

This national standard has just been awarded to Cambridge Enterprise Services whose Chief Exec commented “Cambridgeshire Enterprise Services are no stranger to going out of our way to help customers and I’m delighted we have been officially recognised for this. Our job is all about nurturing the potential of people as new business owners. We always strive for great customer service and tell our customers they should do the same.”

It’s good to see that businesses are being recognised for their investment in personal development and customer service training of their staff. However, as great as they are, awards and recognition is not as important as the learnt skills themselves, and how they are actually applied to the business, its people and its customers.

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Outsourcing Customer Service

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

In trying times (and this is undoubtedly one of them) businesses sometimes turn to outsourcing solutions in the hope of maintaining and improving service, whilst at the same time minimising costs.

Outsourcing customer service solutions can take many different forms, from offsite call centres to ICT integrated semi-automated or fully automated systems. The London Borough of Southwark have recently collaborated with US award winning company Vangent Inc. to integrate a customer service solution:

“The sophisticated solution offers a whole host of services beyond the citizen’s original purpose of call, as well as reducing the costs of service delivery. In one interaction, multiple services can be completed including council tax registration, application for housing and council tax benefits, school meals, children’s clothes, parking permits, library cards and electoral registration.”

To what extent it’s a success time will tell and let’s hope it’s a great solution. Companies looking to outsource their customer service needs should remember the basic issue that comes up in all customer service training courses; customers often benefit from a personal interaction with a knowledgeable member of staff.

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Corus Calamity

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

Blamed on the global economic downturn which has led to sharp fall in recent steel prices, the Anglo-Dutch group Corus (which was bought only in 2007 for nearly 14 billions dollars) has been forced to axe 3,500 jobs in the UK.

This announcement has resulted in grave words of concern by business leaders, the government and unions alike; the GMB’s John Wilson describing it as a “a body blow for UK manufacturing”.

Corus’ chief executive Philippe Varin commented:

“The company will keep its focus on priority areas such as training, research and product development, which, together with today’s initiative, will ensure Corus is in the best possible shape to compete strongly in the future.”

Many leading thinkers believe that organisations need to continue investing the skills, training and personal development of their staff to strengthen their ability to ride out this recession. The TUC have been making regular statements on the subject; “Learning and development through skills training is now vital for workers to survive the economic crisis”.

If your company is looking to cut back everywhere possible in your outgoings, make staff training, skills and personal development last on your list. In fact, investing in it is only going to help.

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CBI Calls for Development

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

Recently the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) published a report which states that workforce personal development and skills training are more important than ever. This is echoed by many other business organisations and business leaders who feel that skills and training development is the best way to remain competitive and push through this recession and out the other side.

The report (Reaching Further: Workforce development through employer-FE college partnership) was commissioned by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service, claims that British business’ productivity and prospects will be strengthened by an improvement in links between employers and further education colleges to plug future skills gaps.

As the CBI state in their press release:

“More than fifty per cent of employers lack confidence in there being enough skilled people to meet future demand. With the great majority of the workforce in 2020 having already left compulsory education, the importance of raising skill levels among those in work today becomes paramount”

Of course, business can also help themselves by developing their existing staff; investing in management training courses, sales training courses and other forms of personal development can only pay dividends in the future. Although it’s a time when everyone is looking at what areas to save money on, staff training and development shouldn’t be one of them.

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5 Key Elements - Customer Complaints

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

It’s undoubtedly critical for your business to get a grip on your customer services challenges. In today’s competitive environment and in the face of a reduction in consumer spending it’s more important than ever to ‘get it right’. It’s important to understand that often when a complaint or problem is handled quickly and efficiently, it can even increase the customer’s loyalty to you.

So what are the five key elements to consider in the spectrum of customer complaints?

Avoidance
How much work at you putting into the ‘back end’ to ensure that the problems don’t arise to begin with? Do some analysis of previous complaint and problem issues and take preventative measures to avoid them in the future.

Handling
How well are you actually dealing with the problems you get? As with everything good in management, this needs to be analysed, measured and corrective action made. It’s time to review your systems, procedures and information flows.

Satisfaction
How satisfied is your customer in the actual way that you handled the complaint?

Outcome
How satisfied is your customer with the actual outcome of the complaint? Note that this issue and the previous ones are two different ones.

Training
How well prepared are your staff to give the very best in customer service? Often, they’ll benefit from personal development training in customer service to have an overall beneficial impact.

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Career Development

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

Many of us fall in to the trap of working day to day and adapting to the pressures and demands that the week brings. If you’re in that position, and are feeling unfulfilled in your career, then it might be time to take a look at your personal development.

A useful technique is to spend an allocated time per week, even if it’s only twenty minutes, to use your imagination and project yourself into the future. Let’s assume you reach retirement and you have to look back at your achievements and successes. What would you like your legacy to be?

By focusing on this, you’ll be able to identify not only your goals and targets, but also your core values and principles that enabled you to get there. Think big, and think best – there should be no limit to what you can imagine achieving.

From there, identify a set of desired outcomes for you to aim for and get to where you want to be. Visualise these milestones, and begin to incorporate them into your work strategy. It’s best to plan your time on a weekly instead of daily schedule, and regularly ask yourself whether what you want to achieve that week is in line with milestones that you set yourself.

Remember, this doesn’t have to be a solitary activity; you should declare your career intentions to your superiors at work, and invite management to contribute and support your personal development growth.

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UK Work Culture

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

Recently, the think tank ‘nef’ released their report ‘National Accounts of Well Being: bringing real wealth onto the balance sheet’. As part of their report, their survey reveals that out of 22 European nations, Britain ranked only 13th in terms of social and personal well being. A core point they make is that the government’s measure the progress of a nation by GDP, and they feel that’s an inadequate indicator.

In December, the Union ‘Unite’ again called for MP’s to end Britain’s opt out of the EU working time directive, and put and end to our culture of long working hours. The joint secretary of the Union, Tony Woodley commented:

“We need to enforce the 48 hour average week, not find back door ways to extend it. Tired, over-stretched workers are not productive workers and are putting themselves and others at risk such as in the transport industry where we know, for instance, that that tired drivers are more dangerous than drunk driver.”

It’s easy for business to think that our UK general work culture is the norm, and to be expected - particularly in tough economic times. However, some organisations are more forward thinking; investing in the personal development and well being of their employees and getting great performance by focusing on a culture of motivation and positive growth.

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