Customer service is at the heart of our business.  We believe that it is the first thing to get right in any business.  When you delight customers they talk about you, telling their friends and colleagues.  This is the most successful marketing there is and marketing that money can’t buy.

As Walt Disney said,

‘Take care of your customer experience and the bottom line will follow.’

Seth Godin, the author and online marketing guru, writes a cautionary tale about breaking promises to your customers. Make sure that the promises you, your brand and your staff make are possible to keep, anything else will just lead to dissatisfaction for all.

Here are some case studies of projects we have succesfully completed with customer facing staff and their managers. We always tailor our approach and designs to best fit the clients current situation and future goals. We agree specific outcomes and time frames at the start of the project and work to agreed success measures throughout.

If you would like to know about how you can put customer service at the heart of your organisation and make promises you can keep, please contact us and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.

Customer Service Case Study 1

Client Type and Size

Non-Profit, less than 100 staff

Client

Director of Finance and Operations

Description

There had been a number of incidents reported that highlighted a series of miscommunications and errors resulting in a report from an external supplier complaining about the quality of the internal teams impact on their customers. This report caused serious relationship issues between all the parties and the decision was taken to seek external support to ensure an objective intervention before the relationships deteriorated further.

Consultation and design issues

The original request was for a series of face-to-face coaching with the nominated staff members. After initial discussions we decided to include their managers in the coaching process to ensure maximum learning for all.

Methodology

Initial meetings were conducted to agree outcomes and success measures with each of the 5 nominees as well as the initiating director and a manager and director of the supply company. We conducted several private individual coaching sessions with both staff members and their managers. In some instances this was sufficient to bring about the desired changes but in several cases the coaching was extended to include small groups of 2 or 3 significant parties where more direct interventions took place. The final phase of each coaching process was to conduct a feedback interview with the coach subject, their manager and any other involved parties to seek evidence of change. This data was eventually reviewed with the originating director.

Skills and approach

We conducted exploratory meetings initially to ensure the perspectives of all parties were being recorded and we mapped these systemically to track relationship and performance patterns.

Our coaching style is both provocative and compassionate. Our aim is always to reach an ‘ecological’ outcome that benefits both the individual and the business. Some of the coaching for this project was specifically aimed at raising skill levels. Some of the coaching was aimed at raising levels of awareness, sensitivity and ownership. In at least one case the coaching was used to support an employee to make a career decision.

Evaluation

All outcomes were met or exceeded for each of the 5 cases both in the perceptions of the directors and the participants. Within three months of the initial coaching one of the original team members had volutarily left the organisation; one had moved to a new job within the organisation; one new team member had been recruited and the workload had been reorganised to flow more effectively. The ‘new’ internal team are now perceived by the supplier team ‘as excellent at dealing with customers’ and ‘work with us seamlessly’. The directors reported that their customers are now benefitting from the improved workflow and relationships. They also reported a rise in sales being generated by the internal team which they attribute to an increase in their confidence levels.