During this week’s National Customer Service Week we’ve already shared insights on why it’s so important to appreciate that every customer is different, which you can read all about here. We’ve also looked at how new technologies have been so crucial for us to continue delivering our standards of customer service.  In this final insight of the week, we’ve explored how we look after our customers by looking after our people.   

The recent pandemic has reinforced the importance of looking after the welfare of our team members to enable them to deliver the excellent customer service we expect.   

Working from home is and has been hard for a lot of people, so keeping in regular contact is crucial to enable our leaders to support their teams in their jobs. We introduced CheckIn in May, a technology that tracks employees’ happiness and how they are feeling through an app. If they’re feeling down, a trigger is sent to their line manager to let them know. This has been an incredibly helpful tool to better understand how our people are doing when working remotely.  

We have also adapted our training to engage with people virtually. This has helped our people stay focused on their progression and on track with their personal development plans.  

We have also organised fun activities for people, in addition to regular virtual quiz nights & bingo nights across the business. Our corporate charity, the Davies Foundation has put on challenges and hosted virtual fun classes and webinars on topics such as mental health to support colleagues through what has been and continues to be a challenging time for a lot of people whether they are customers or employees.  

This week, we asked our people what great customer service means to them, and below are a snapshot of some responses:  

“Excellent customer service to me personally doesn’t just mean getting everything perfect first time, it’s how you deal with a challenge when mistakes are made or a situation that falls outside of the `standard` process.”  

“Great customer service in its simplest form means ‘putting the customer first’, it’s the ability to put yourself in the customer’s shoes and truly understand and empathise with their situation.”  

“I believe if you take the time to listen, to what people say they will tell you not only what they want but what they need.”  

“I take great pride in the service we provide to resolve complaints and often improve nightmare situations for customers.”  

“To me within my role means to go above and beyond, never leave a job half done and make sure that relationships with your colleagues/team and clients are held in the highest regard.”  

“It’s when we genuinely put ourselves in the shoes of others and consider what’s really important to them. It’s as simple as really taking the time to listen to an unhappy customer or colleague, and as challenging as delivering bad news to someone that’s vulnerable, or supporting a peer through a particularly difficult time when we don’t have all of the answers or knowledge ourselves.”