Media Articles

These articles are only available to members

Should you have a customer service related article that you wish to feature on our website then please forward it to Anne-Marie Lose. 

Putting the Customer First® by Frea O'Brien, Chief Executive, Customer First Ltd

'Putting the Customer First' is the registered trade mark for the national standard for customer service. Here at Customer First, we're focused on getting businesses to put service at the heart of their offering and recognise outstanding service as THE route to success.

Love the Ones You're With........ Read more for full members
 

From Employee Engagement to Employee ADVOCACY

Is employee engagement just another buzz word with too many meanings or can it be the final answer in the quest for
the coveted prize of customer advocacy, writes Dale Smith.

It seems that every year ‘putting the customer at the heart of the business’,‘putting the customer first’, and trying to achieve that ‘halo of customer advocacy’ is at the top of the must do list. So why is it,that many organisations are still struggling to put into practice the one thing that will ensure and secure their future prosperity.We all know the end point of our destination,but it is time to truly look at the road map that is required to reach this point. It all begins with your frontline people as they are the living version of your brand and your best asset to bring to life the promise that your customer expects...........Read more for full members
 

Customer Service Leaders in Tough Times

Article by Don Hales and David Physick

Effective leadership builds and sustains an environment where everyone understands how excellent service provides sustainable competitive advantage.

Introduction

A little while ago, Don Hales, co-author of this article, dropped and inadvertently stepped on his spectacles. It was an everyday accident but most people who
wear spectacles will know the problem of trying to go a few days without them. A return to the optometrist from where they were purchased brought no joy. It
would take days to get them fixed and nothing could be done. There was an absence of empathy and no alternative solution offered.
A visit to another optometrist in the same area brought a different story. Yes,............Read more for full members
 

Olympics 2012 are less than 601 days away

Article by Geoff Langston, Managing Director, Arizion Ltd

Today we are less than 601 days away from the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games. The UK will be on show to the rest of the world and will be judged on the success of the games. 
The UK will also be judged on the level of service that visitors to the games receive, - from the moment ....................... Read more for full members

Herding Cats - Building customer partnerships, not customer loyalty

Article by: Dean van Leeuwen

There is a new breed of company and an emerging trend in customer loyalty. It’s a trend that flies in the face of conventional wisdom and is being driven by companies who recognise that business is about people (internally and externally) – and of course profits.
But the people part comes first.

These pioneering companies are investing in building partnerships and emotional connections with their customers based on trust, and not solely on generating repeat purchases. They are actively leveraging social media to build relationships with customers and their financial results are exceptional: Read more for full members

PLAYING TO WIN: delivering customer service excellence across cultures

by Dr Deborah Swallow, International Speaker, Consultant & Author

"Language is what we hear.  Culture is how we understand."  Dexter Moscow

As businesses become more global, we speak to an ever-wider range of nationalities and peoples. Developing authentic and respectful verbal & non-verbal communication skills for business life across cultures is an integral part of both corporate brand and people performance. However, there are dangers lurking in our communication as we may forget to prepare for different cultural perceptions; because we use English, we often expect the cultural context to be ours as well. But it isn’t… Read more for full members

Values will get you Business!!

Having the right values and attitudes as part of an enterprise culture putted in place is a competitive advantage, I mean the more aligned and reinforced you have them ,the better your outcome. But going one step further, just taking one of them or a mixed as a core characteristic and theme culture of your business, can make a slight more difference and market yourself better. Read more for full members

A Customer Service Training Tale

by David Camps, Service Quality and Culture & Customer Experience Ambassador, Client Experience

Three mans were asked about the purpose of their job, the three of them were performing in the service industry in different positions. One of them, in an Executive role, pointed out:
" My role is to execute the strategic plan according to our Budget, and make sure we meet the goals".  Read more for full members
 

Why understanding Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y holds the key to smart 21st century customer service leadership by Natalie Calvert
 

The Customer Service Leadership Challenge

There are three distinctive groups within your customer service staff and it is likely that you‟ve never defined them as such. Yet each group has its own distinct motivators, goals, expectations and language, and each group interacts with and feels differently about each other. If you understand and work with these groups it is possible to create a balanced, open working environment, reduce your costs and create an engaged and motivated team that will ultimately offer the best possible service to your customers. Read more for full members

The View of the Osprey

This is the first of a regular series of blogs written to shine some light into some of the dark corners where both poor and good service is hindering or helping the customer and thereby damaging or improving the performance of the organisation. Much will be founded on the basis of personal experience and it would be good to uncover whether these observations are.... Read more for full members

The 10 strategy tenets for developing a customer-driven workforce 

Posted by Stephanie Edwards in Customer experience on Fri, 06/11/2009 - 05:03  

Developing a customer-driven workforce is one of the key roles of customer service leaders and managers - but how can they successfully achieve this? In the first article in a new series exploring best practice customer service, Stephanie Edwards starts with a strategic look at the topic, outlining the 10 components of customer-centricity.  Read more for full members
 

The Power of Service: Every Organisation’s Strategic Weapon
by Stephanie Edwards

Part One - Best Practice for Customer Service Leaders and Managers

Turning a Customer Service Strategy into reality is a key challenge for organisations.  Today most senior managers realise that customer service is the competitive strategic weapon but achieving this is sometimes a major challenge.  Organisations are their people and developing a customer-driven workforce has to be the key role of customer service leaders and managers … so how can they do this? Read more for full members

Lean Thinking by Stephen Parry

Many public sector organisations are responding to government-set efficiency targets by adapting their workplaces for Lean - a customer-focused philosophy aiming to eradicate waste of all descriptions. Kerry Ann Eustice looks into how the approach could affect and improve employee experience.

Reorganising the kitchen cupboards or a messy wardrobe - it’s something we all do. But what about spring cleaning your job? Read more for full members

Transforming Your Front-Line Employees Into

In the current economic climate, it is imperative that companies concentrate on building a lasting and secure bridge between its marketing function’s vision for the future and the service delivery offered by front-line and leadership teams. This will enable an organisation’s engagement to match ...... Read more for full members