Recently Nicola Sturgeon was in the Times ‘accused of a cover-up as 999 ambulance calls are routed out of Scotland’. Having run national call centres for years I read on with interest expecting to find out about a true scandal. Instead what was revealed was the reality of a well thought out business continuity plan which slipped seamlessly into gear and no one was any the wiser. That is until MSP Jackie Baillie thought she would get some cheap political mileage out of it and the papers saw an opportunity to run a scaremongering headline.

Many years ago when I set up the national call centres I took advantage of what is called the ‘BT Smart Network’ which simply put allows one to have in place various plans that allow the call centre operator to route calls from the public telephone network to the centre best able to handle the call. This is done without the caller being aware and ensures that the call is answered and handled efficiently. For example, I put it to good use covering Scottish Bank Holidays when Scotland would be closed, but the rest of the UK would be open. Or when we served notice of redundancy on one troublesome call centre we hoisted them by their own petard and switched them out.

Switching calls around seamlessly has been around for many years and I first came across it when British Airways explained how they took advantage of the system to provide 24 by 7 response using the different time zones. So when the UK was asleep their calls were handled by say Australia and vice versa.

In the late 1990’s if I recall correctly there was a lightning strike on a telecommunications mast serving the City of Perth and this knocked out the total emergency service cover for several hours. There was no rerouting on that occasion and I recall the hoo-ha that quite correctly, this created.

Switching traffic around seamlessly to provide constant cover is now as old as the hills and the Ambulance service and BT should be complimented on how well it worked. What a shame that some of our MSP’s don’t have anything better to do and an even bigger shame that the Newspapers can’t publicise it as a success rather than always knocking everything.

Well I suppose their argument is good news doesn’t sell newspapers. So we can expect the press to prolong the recession!!!

Or the rejected job seekers lament.

These past few months we have been contacted on numerous occasions by de-motivated job seekers who are getting frustrated at the constant rejection by prospective employers. Sadly we are seen as the port of last resort which is such a shame. Let me make it clear that we:
• Are NOT a recruitment agency.
• Do not possess a magic wand to conjure jobs out of thin air.

What we have done is EMPOWER these individuals to present themselves in a positive manner.

What does this mean? Having over the years recruited more people than we care to think about (either to work for ourselves directly or as advisors to organisations embarking on a recruitment exercise) there are numerous DO’S and DONT’S that we can pass on such as:
• Avoiding spelling mistakes in the cv or application letter
• Highlighting your experience and transferable skills rather than just a list of jobs
• Developing a network to tap into the unadvertised job market
• Competency interview techniques
• Demystifying assessment centres

This is what we offer, the benefits of our experience of having watched so many good candidates failing to impress. How did this come about?

So disheartened have we been watching good candidates throwing away an opportunity through lack of experience, poor advice or bad preparation that we decided to set up Recruitment Skills Workshops for sixth formers. Loretto School for example include the sessions for their fourth and sixth form pupils.

Through word of mouth parents were asking if we could mentor their Graduate offspring who had become frustrated at their lack of success. From this work we developed our Graduate (Career) Mentoring programme.

Again through word of mouth this extended to helping those made redundant or seeking redeployment into an alternative career structure.

What is our modus operandi? Like anything it is down to the preparation and it is this that most people have the greatest difficulty. As Seneca said in the 1st Century AD “Luck is where preparation meets opportunity”.

So what we do is concentrate on delivering personal, flexible and tailored support within this framework:
Knowledge is Power:
• Deciding on the perfect job
• Avoid the common mistakes in deciding a career
• How to build a career with significance for you
• Researching companies and jobs
• How to set up a network
Communication Skills:
• Constructing an effective résumé
• Use of the telephone and telephone techniques
• Letter writing
• Deportment at meetings and interviews
• Preparing for meetings and interviews
Recruitment Processes:
• Applications
• Aptitude tests and the different types
• Assessment Centres
• Interview techniques
• Accessing the unadvertised job market

Rather than leaving it too late, why not speak to us to see how our Career Mentoring programme can help you? After all, an enquiry costs you only your time, a telephone call or an e-mail and we don’t bite! The initial meeting to discuss your individual requirements and how we can best empower you is free.

The benefits from this programme are to improve your prospects of getting a good job.
Career Mentoring Brochure

Or another lesson on why anticipating the unexpected is a matter of LIFE and DEATH for YOUR business.

Many times in this blog I have belted on about having in place tried and tested disaster recovery and business continuity plans. I have presented to business groups the need to not only plan for the unexpected, but more importantly to REHEARSE and PRACTICE the said plan. Over the past two years we had national and local examples of WHY this is such an important part of business planning.

Let us refresh our memories with just a few of the well known incidents:
• The financial downturn
• The serious fire in 2009 at Campbells Prime Meat Ltd’s Livingston premises
• Heston Blumenthal’s food poisoning scare at the Fat Duck
• Industrial disputes with Royal Mail and BA
• The Volcanic ash cloud

Currently BP are wrestling with solving the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. (It is even more ironic for BP as they have produced a series of good quality publications for their staff which analysed historical accidents and using ‘modern’ techniques suggested what their management teams should learn and implement for the future.)

Yes, they keep on coming.

Not all of the above have been badly handled by any means. However, BP’s press over their incident has been less than glorious and this we have seen has impacted severely on their financial performance with several financial commentators suggesting their long term survivability may be in doubt.

The crux is how you deal with the crisis whilst minimising the impact on your day to day operation thus ensuring that your business does survive and can recover in the longer term. This is when the lack of planning and preparation shows up. Don’t believe me? Well let’s take the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as the example.

The Times reported that ‘Congressmen tore into the chairmen of all five of the biggest oil companies operating in the US over their Gulf of Mexico disaster response plans. Each plan lists the same dead oil spill expert to be contacted in emergencies. Each lists Walruses as among the sea mammals an oil spill would threaten even though, as one Democrat observed, “There are no walruses in the Gulf of Mexico”.’ The article went on to point out that all the response plans were basically identical, only differing in some instances in their colour schemes.

Heston Blumenthal on the other hand was very proactive with dealing with the food poisoning scare at the Fat Duck and as a consequence the press reporting was generally positive.

So what am I suggesting (again)?
• Read the preceding blog about the Ash Cloud and at the very least follow those steps.
• Get an outsider with experience to review your plan and to organise realistic rehearsals. (Oh, the dreadful consultant!)
• Give business continuity planning and rehearsals a high priority whilst you are not under pressure.
• Revisit the plans regularly to ensure the information is still current and the responses valid.

Still think it’s not worth bothering with? Well, I suppose it is like any insurance policy. If you never have to claim off it then there is the view that it is a waste of money.

In BP’s case the financial impact so far has been the dramatic drop in share price, the provision of billions of dollars to a cleanup fund, ongoing litigation costs for years hence and possible litigations against the individual Directors.

No doubt any contingency plan rejected by BP prior to the disaster as ‘too expensive’ looks remarkably good value for money now!

If it can happen to BP……

If you have read some of our earlier ‘To the point’ then you will have seen that we have belted on before about the need to have robust disaster recovery and business continuity plans in place as you never know when the unexpected strikes. Well, who had the total shut down of UK and some European airspace on their radar? Some of you at least should have done as a result of the bad weather at Christmas time. This could have been seen as a useful precursor from which some valuable insights may have been gained to serve you well for the basis of an action plan for now.

Why in this introduction have we mentioned disaster recovery and business continuity separately? Well the two are distinctly separate and require different approaches.

Disaster Recovery plans traditionally focus on either recovering the business IT system and /or data or dealing with the loss of premises and the associated disruption.

Business Continuity Planning will address all the requirements essential to keeping the business running and includes processes to keep disruption to customers and employees to a minimum. In short, it is about ensuring that a crisis is managed effectively before it escalates to a disaster.

We do not propose to dwell on the steps taken to produce an effective continuity plan, but would suggest that as the week is beginning to unfold there is going to be a lot of uncertainty as no one knows for sure when the UK will start flying again let alone catching up with the backlog and it is this uncertainty that everyone will find hard to deal with. So what can you do to minimise the damage uncertainty brings?

Communicate, communicate, communicate.

Brief all your employees on what is happening and what you are doing / trying to do about it. Make sure your employees UNDERSTAND the brief.

Have someone who is responsible for co-ordinating the difficult or unforeseen questions that inevitably get asked. They then elicit answers from the senior team and then BRIEF these back down the line. This way you ensure a united front.

By now your telephone lines will be humming if not jammed with employees and customers’ trying to find out what is happening. Take resource off non essential work and set up a section purely to deal with telephone enquiries. There is nothing worse than people not being able to get through to talk in a reasonably quick time.

UPDATE your website!!! State the date and time of the update and when you would envisage updating again in the future. The number of organisations that have outdated information is simply unbelievable! If you cannot get through on the telephone then the website is a good alternative that people try.

If you have a ‘contact us’ page then make sure the people resource is there to reply to these expeditiously.
Make sure your external PR is good. This disruption is very newsworthy so if you are canny you can use it to your advantage. Issue a statement to the press about how you are planning to cope and what you are doing for your customers. Good, free advertising if they print it. What you don’t want is to be on the back foot if the press get wind of a ‘good story’ from unhappy customers.
Willie Walsh on the front page of the Times flying into the ash cloud himself to have a look. Great PR. Upset, tearful customers in Airport Lounges complaining that conditions are poor and that no one wants them. Poor PR.

Take the initiative and make sure you contact all your customers and suppliers by telephone to let them know what is happening. Tell them the truth if you cannot supply them. People like to know where they stand so they can make alternative arrangements. Help them to find alternative suppliers. Sounds dangerous, you say? Not in the least! Now is the time you need to help them and they will appreciate it, their loyalty will make sure they come back. Don’t make promises to help them and then let them down. Trust us, this is much, much worse than saying no in the first place. Remember this, ‘If it is not in your hand to give, then don’t promise it.’

For those employees who are stuck abroad you need to produce a policy setting out your stance on the issue of unavoidable absence. You have a limited number of options, but remember you cannot ‘do them a favour’ unless you offer the same favour to everyone else!

Remember to keep your Stakeholders informed too. The Bank is worth keeping up to date, particularly if it is going to stretch cash flow in the short term. Get arrangements in place early for additional funding.

There is at least a silver lining to all this. You are not alone. It has been well publicised. If you play your cards right it will be a benefit to you in the longer term.

We can be of assistance in the following…..
Implementing a business continuity plan – even now it is not too late!
Reviewing you Contingency and Continuity planning for the future
Organising exercises to realistically test and review the robustness of your planning
HR advice to help frame a policy statement.

Yet again the Prime Minister is in the headlines. Not for the way he is running the country, but this time for the way he is allegedly running his support office. They say don’t believe all you read in the press and so far the anecdotal evidence produced (Andrew Rawnsley End of the Party and Christine Pratt via the National Bullying Helpline) seems to me to be nothing more than what one could expect to find in any organisation under severe pressure.

Now, I am not for one minute suggesting that bullying is something to be swept under the carpet, far from it. What I am suggesting is that bullying is more than one incident, that it is sustained over a period of time. Take the example where Gordon Brown is reputed to have shoved a secretary aside because they were not typing fast enough. In isolation I would suggest this is not bullying per se, but is an example of an impatient and insensitive style, albeit inappropriate. If, however over a reasonable period of time that individual is continually moved aside and they and their work is denigrated without any attempt through a performance appraisal system to help them improve then this would constitute bullying.

Everyone needs to strike a balance and ACAS in their leaflet clarifies bullying as “something has happened to them that is unwelcome, unwarranted and causes a detrimental effect.”

An example where I had to deal with a number of individuals who were picking on a female colleague was discovered by accident. We had become aware that the individual was going through a period of increased absences to which there was no apparent pattern. Her performance as a Call Centre operator was beginning to drop away from her usual high level of accuracy, but not too dramatically. On this occasion her absence was being covered by an operator who used her workstation. Out of the blue, the relief operator received what could only be described as offensive correspondence which referred to the absent operator’s personal hygiene and physical appearance, asking the relief operator if they had been offered disinfectant! Fortunately, the relief operator reported this and when we forensically examined the e-mails sent to the individual we were horrified to discover that she had been the subject of this type of correspondence for at least 7 months. Suddenly the reasons for her absences and fall off in performance became apparent. I can assure the readers that the perpetrators were dealt with in no uncertain manner. And I am pleased to say that with a little help the lady concerned returned to her usual reliable level of performance.

What I learnt from this was:
• Despite having in place all the appropriate policy documents the individual was still reluctant to come forward, preferring instead to see if by doing nothing they would get bored and leave her alone, moving on to someone else. As a strategy this did not work for her.
• The policies should be thoroughly briefed to everyone by the senior management team to ensure total understanding of the procedures and the consequences. Reassurance is given that anyone who raises and issue will be properly treated.
• That there can be no obvious reasons as to why someone’s sickness absence increases and that it is very important that managers do not jump to the wrong conclusions, but do treat the situation with sensitivity to establish the true reasons.
• Everyone has a responsibility to keep an eye out for their colleagues. If that individual had not reported the e-mail then I shudder to think where this would have ended up.
• As managers it is not enough to deal with the perpetrators and feel that is the end of the matter. The affected individual needs very positive help in order to settle back in the work place as they often have unrealistic feelings of guilt at having reported it. Something akin to ‘Survivor’s Syndrome’.
• The manager must also be aware of the ‘tribal effect’ amongst the perpetrators colleagues and be aware that they may have more sympathy and thus ‘take it out’ on the complainant as a form of misguided loyalty.

The advice from ACAS is “If employees complain they are being bullied or harassed, then they have a grievance which must be dealt with regardless of whether or not their complaint accords with a standard definition.”

Is all bullying bad? An interesting question and I would base the answer on my own experiences. When I started work for a well known high street bank in the 1970’s there was no such thing as bullying policies or awareness training. The Assistant Manager was a well known bully. His method of stamping his authority was as follows: If female, he reduced them to tears within the first week of their arrival. If male he would quickly falsely accuse you of some clerical error and then proceed to give you a verbal dressing down in front of everyone. If you tried to defend yourself you were a ‘Barrack Room Lawyer’. His reputation was well known but management did little about it. I learnt that most office juniors used to just walk out and never come back and I was all set to do the same thing (my attitude being just out of school was that no one was going to talk to me like that etc., etc.) and I remember my father saying to me ‘Go ahead, but he wins. Is that what you want him to do?’ No chance so I stuck it out for 16 months, 27hours 19 minutes and 31 seconds which is when my transfer to another branch took effect. On leaving I stayed behind to thank him (which no one else had ever done) for two things. Firstly, for teaching me the right way to do the job so that if I took a short cut after that then I knew it was a shortcut and any repercussions were on my head alone. Secondly, for being a bastard, because if I could work for him then I could work for anybody. And believe me that second lesson was the THE most valuable lesson anyone could have taught me. It has stood me in good stead ever since.

Here is my strategy for dealing with a bully…..

Well, to find out why not come on our training session ‘Harassment and Bullying’? Or if you would prefer, our guaranteed confidential mentoring programme can help you on a one to one basis.

Finally, ACAS again “It is not possible to make a direct complaint to an employment tribunal about bullying. However, employees might be able to bring complaints under laws covering discrimination and harassment.” For free information follow this link and download as a .pdf the information booklet:
ACAS Bullying and Harassment in the workplace booklet

A lot has been written over the years about ‘Customer Service’ and exceeding your customer expectations. Companies glibly talk about a ‘World Class Service’ making the difference between success and failure. Yet when we, the customer, come to do business with them we perceive very little difference between the before and after ‘World Class Service’ Company. Well, that is perhaps not quite true, as the telephone system will now offer you even more chances of not talking to someone.

A good comedy series for Radio would be ‘Guess How You Do Business With this Organisation’. Contestants would be given a simple task to undertake and the viewer would sit back and watch the fun. Cruel? Not in the least because you probably come across so many examples of this when you try to conduct a simple transaction. Only the other day we heard this story from a delegate on our Customer Service course: “I was telephoned to be told I could collect my order from a well known department store ‘At any time’. As the store opens at 09.00 you would assume that this would be a suitable time. Wrong! The department I needed didn’t open until 10.00 which I didn’t discover until I arrived at 09.15!! I was told that ten years ago trade was quiet and so they decided to stagger departmental opening times to reduce costs.” You can be sure the delegate has already named and shamed this store to 15 other potential customers!

The reality is it should not be as difficult as that. There are some simple, common sense steps that can be followed which will enable a business to offer a top rate service, never mind ‘World Class’. Think of customer service like a chain of events which starts from the moment the customer considers doing business with you, the big C’s and in general terms they go something like this.

Convenience Are your full services available for the hours you trade? Overheard in a local stationers shop when responding to a lady bemoaning the unavailability of a lamination service on a Friday afternoon, ‘We can laminate up to five o’clock any day of the week except on a Friday when the man goes home at one o’clock and there is no one here who can work the machine’. To which the frustrated customer replied, ‘But when I have been discussing this with you earlier in the week, no one told me’. Well, they wouldn’t, would they as it is much more fun this way.

Cordiality Have a friendly greeting, a smile on the face and in the voice, even when things go wrong. A young waitress made a mistake putting through a customer’s food order which meant the main course would be 30 minutes late. Potential for a really dissatisfied customer here then! Nothing daunted she bit the bullet and explained the situation before the customer complained. The customer was so impressed by her honesty and this proactive approach that the she still received a £5.00 tip for being ‘So helpful about her mistake’. The Restaurant owner was gob-smacked! Remember, smile and the world smiles with you.

Consistency Look at the way you treat your customers. Are they all valued the same irrespective of transaction value? As Customer Service Director of a service business I gave this advice: ‘Do not undervalue today’s smaller customer because they have a habit of becoming tomorrow’s larger customer and then they will remember you and go elsewhere if they think you have pulled the wool over their eyes’. The smaller customer exhibits better loyalty and is less demanding than the larger one.

Communication It’s not what you say, but how you say it that’s important. Prior to conducting training for a well known Call Centre I listened in to the type of calls the operators handled. A customer called in to request an emergency delivery. Without hesitation the operator responded by saying ‘I am sorry you have missed the cut off.’ To which the customer responded with, ‘What cut off?’ One verbal cuffing later, the customer had their request granted but the operator felt they had lost. Why? Because they did not listen and seek further information about the customer’s problem and then think about how they might be able to help. Instead they offered the customer a challenge by suggesting they had ‘made the mistake by missing the cut off’. Most people will rise to a challenge.

Cost Is having a good relationship with your customer a cost which can be cut? If your customer feels comfortable you are going to get repeat business, loyalty and word of mouth recommendations all of which improves profitability. Good service is the creation of value. It is about the customers emotional experience of dealing with the organisation matching their perception of what it should be. If you want to save cost then invest in training which equips your people with the right skills (hard & soft) to do the job properly rather than wasting money on shoring up the cock-ups!

Continued learning and development of an organisation’s people is one of the keys to ongoing success. We understand that in a recession budgets come under close scrutiny with training often being the first to suffer. Experience with our clients has shown that rather than eliminating training entirely there are some very tangible commercial benefits for continuing with developing essential skills. We asked some of our clients what they have to say about this perspective and here are some of their thoughts:

“Training staff makes them more likely to stay, increases motivation and actually saves money in the process.”

“Growing our own is an effective way to obtain the skills that we need while saving money in other areas.”

“Training helps staff retention. They are more committed and are more likely to go the extra mile if they feel we are continuing investment in their future.”

“The business case for developing staff is compelling. Effective training has reduced staff turnover and absenteeism, improved motivation, increased productivity, and helped boost customer satisfaction.“

“Now is precisely the time we keep investing in the skills and talents of our people as it is they who will get us through.“

“When markets are shrinking and order books falling, it is their commitment, productivity and ability to add value that will keep us competitive. Investing now in building new skills will put us in the strongest position as the economy recovers.”

“During these difficult times many of our competitors are looking at how to rein in costs. We have seen, though, that those that invest in training are less likely to fail and failure is not an option!”

Certainly we have found that providing a well run, relevant training course is a good motivator particularly if the delegates have been under pressure as a result of organisational ‘challenges’ shall we say.

So if your team have been under pressure lately why not consider cost effective training as a new year ‘pick me up’?

Download our latest Training Courses Brochure 2010

Or if you would prefer a one off team building session why not consider our half day session ‘Collective Responsibility – We Are All In It Together’?

Who was he? Well, he was born on the 1st June 1780 and died on the 16th November 1831 and he spent his career as a relatively obscure Prussian General, but his claim to fame was as an influential military theorist. It was in this guise that he wrote Von Kriege which translates as ‘On War’.

Now, you may be thinking at this point what the beep beep beep has this to do with running a business and on the face of it I wouldn’t blame you! But, wait the now and I will explain. I was reading an interesting book, The Pacific War Companion: From Pearl Harbor (sic) to Hiroshima, edited by Daniel Marston. In chapter 10 Professor H. P. Willmott quoted Carl von Clausewitz as defining why the Japanese were doomed to failure from the outset and it resonated with me that it could equally be applied to business strategy. Having researched a number of von Clausewitz’s quotes it struck me even further that business people could do well to read them and to apply his thinking to business. Here is a selection that I have chosen and replaced military emphasis with commerce:

• “After we have thought out everything carefully in advance and have sought and found without prejudice the most plausible plan, we must not be ready to abandon it at the slightest provocation. Should this certainty be lacking, we must tell ourselves that nothing is accomplished in business without daring; that the nature of business certainly does not let us see at all times where we are going; that what is probable will always be probable though at the moment it may not seem so; and finally, that we cannot be readily ruined by a single error, if we have made reasonable preparations.”

• “We must, therefore, be confident that the general measures we have adopted will produce the results we expect. Most important in this connection is the trust which we must have in our team. Consequently, it is important to choose people on whom we can rely and to put aside all other considerations. If we have made appropriate preparations, taking into account all possible misfortunes, so that we shall not be lost immediately if they occur, we must boldly enter into the shadows of uncertainty.”

• “If the leader is filled with high ambition and if they pursue their aims with audacity and strength of will, they will reach them in spite of all obstacles.”

• “Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination.”

• “The first, the supreme, the most far-reaching act of judgment that the Board and senior team have to make is to establish . . . the kind of enterprise on which they are embarking.”

• “A certain grasp of the whole organisations affairs is vital for those in charge of general policy.”

• “The first and most important rule to observe…is to use our entire workforce with the utmost energy. The second rule is to concentrate our energies as much as possible against those competitors where the chief blows are to be delivered and to incur disadvantages elsewhere, so that our chances of success may increase at the decisive point. The third rule is never to waste time. Unless important advantages are to be gained from hesitation, it is necessary to set to work at once. By this speed a hundred competitors’ measures are nipped in the bud, and customer opinion is won most rapidly. Finally, the fourth rule is to follow up our successes with the utmost energy. Only pursuit of the beaten competitor gives the fruits of victory.”

• “Business is very simple, but in business the simplest things become very difficult.”

Follow this link Carl von Clausewitz for more of his quotations.

If you want to order ‘The Pacific War Companion: From Pearl Harbor (sic) to Hiroshima’, edited by Daniel Marston follow this link

Our client from a week ago updated us on their ongoing ‘saga’ as we were interested to hear how the National Company that ‘takes care of absolutely everything’ had got on. Sadly, I have to write to say not that well!

When their ‘phantom fitter’ (who, by the way has done an excellent job no question of that) chased up with their warehouse a vital unit which had been noted on the original delivery note as ‘following on later’ he discovered that in fact it was not following on later! As a consequence the unit was dispatched urgently by carrier only to arrive damaged. This was unacceptable and so a further replacement has had to be dispatched. The result of this was that on the Wednesday night the job remained unfinished with our client none the wiser as to when the job would be completed.

Friday mid-morning and our client can stand the suspense no longer! They decide to telephone the company. It was answered by an automated service which requested they enter their 6 digit customer number using their keypad. They do and then spend the next 9 minutes paying to listen to a very indifferent ‘music on hold’ so when their Customer Care Co-ordinater (who is billed as ‘your point of contact throughout’) finally answered their first question was, yes you guessed it – what is your 6 digit order number! Exasperated our client asked if they would call them back. They agreed and took down the telephone number. Ten minutes passed and no call, so they called back and repeated the all too familiar routine only this time they spent only 5 minutes in the queue.

The Customer Care Co-ordinater (CCC) cheerfully advised them that the previous operator had incorrectly taken down their number, but the good news was the errant unit was to arrive on Monday, but they did not know the exact time, they were waiting for the warehouse to tell them and then they were going to ring our client. When asked why no one had been in contact previously to reassure them that the matter was at least in hand, the CCC sounded hurt and justified the absence of a call by reassuring them that they had told the fitter at 5.30pm that Thursday evening and that he had assured them that he would ring our client. The fitter (one assumes) was waiting to hear from the Warehouse the timing of the delivery before he telephoned. So when our client would have eventually heard from them is anybody’s guess.

Our client tried to explain that this was not really good customer service as it was not just about the redelivery of the unit, but the knock on effect which was putting our client to much greater inconvenience. They now had to rearrange a painter who was due to start on the Monday and the fitting of a carpet which was due on the Thursday. The more notice given to these people meant they in turn could accommodate the rescheduling into their workload. If not, then the completion of our clients’ job would be further delayed. Sadly, this CCC just did not get it, they have not been trained to take ownership.

Let me finish with a quote from the suppliers website ‘The installation itself is overseen by a regional Project Management team, working behind the scenes to ensure every job is completed to the highest standard. They plan, check, arrange, supervise, double-check and if there are any problems they sort them out.’

Why do you think that spending money on training ALL your people to deliver this aspiration is a waste of money? Tell me, because I am fascinated to know. By the time you have messed about cackhanded trying to sort things out you would have spent at least twice as much as an effective training programme.

Look, nobody is perfect, we all accept that. Customer service is about sorting it out when it does go wrong. When I was Director of Customer Service for a national wine & spirit wholesaler I instilled in the team the philosophy of taking ownership of the problem and sorting it out first, we would argue about any cost later. On a monthly basis I used to have long discussions with the Finance Director about the level of costs associated with sorting out the problems. We reduced this cost by identifying and then eliminating the root causes. One key step was to increase spending on training which ensured everyone reached the same level of competence and this was recognised through external accreditation.

As our client says, too often Senior Management won’t see their organisation as the customer does. You just don’t get it, do you Dolphin Bathrooms!

“Good morning, this is Stephanie calling just to check that our fitter has arrived” so the bright and cheery Customer Service operator from a well known company enquired early Tuesday morning.

“Unfortunately not.” Responded the customer sadly.

“Oh, that’s unusual as he is very reliable. I will give him a call and come back to you shortly.” Stephanie cheerily said as she went through her well rehearsed script.

Two and a quarter hours later the telephone had remained silent and the fitter was still conspicuous by his absence so the customer, not wanting to inconvenience the company by putting them to the expense and hassle of having to ring back, decided they would ring them. Immediately a recorded announcement clicked in to report that ‘All our agents are busy (good, trying to track down their fitter) however, if you would care to leave a short message after the tone and your telephone number we will call you back shortly. Beeeeeep. Start recording now.’ Message duly left.

Content in the thought that once they received the message they would be calling back quite quickly as they must by now have tracked down the errant fitter. All that resource looking for him….

Ever so slowly the clock continues its relentless march onwards and morning turns into afternoon. The papers are more thoroughly read than usual and the crossword has been finished. Still the telephone has remained obstinately quiet and the work remains untouched. This is ridiculous! Who else can I ring in this company to escalate things? The correspondence from the company offers a glimmer of hope, the number for their Survey department.

So, hope springs eternal, the number is dialled. Holy smoke, a mistake, the telephone is answered immediately and a very helpful lady takes the contract number and listens to the story. But as quickly hopes are dashed on the rocks as she says she will transfer the call to Customer Service. ‘All our agents are…..’ No thanks, been here before and the call is swiftly terminated. I know, check their website, let’s see if there are other numbers we can call. No, the only option is an 0800 sales number, but at least this one is free!

Third time lucky and yes, the telephone answers straight away, but no, they are Sales and need to transfer them to customer service. The customers stomach knots, but surprisingly this time they get straight through. By coincidence the operator was their old friend Stephanie who asked “How did you get through to me?” “Magic and persistence” they replied. Stupid question though as it made them think they weren’t supposed to get through.

Anyway the customer is assured that messages had been left, but the fitter had not responded (which might explain why he had not turned up!). The customer took control of the situation and progress was rapid. If the fitter was uncontactable could they assume that at this late stage in the day he would not be turning up as they needed to go out? This was conceded as “He is usually so reliable, something drastic must have happened.” The customer asked why they had not come back to them? “I had left messages for the fitter, but he had not responded.” “So what is going to happen tomorrow if you can’t get hold of this phantom fitter today?”

Stephanie agreed to get the manager to call them to discuss options. Amazingly he called within five minutes and agreed a plan of action which was to give the fitter until 15.00 to respond to calls and if that fails then the manager would redirect another fitter to undertake the work. The customer retired exhausted and sceptical, but surprisingly the manager called later that afternoon to confirm who would be doing the job and they duly arrived on the following day. Job’s done you think.

Not at all! This company and many others needs to learn from this all too common experience:

Take Ownership. Train your service people to not just simply assume that by passing the problem on it is dealt with. Follow it through to ensure it is dealt with within a reasonable time frame.

Empowerment. Give them your authority to chase others to get things done to make sure the customer’s problem is resolved.

Agree Action. Agree with the customer what course of action is going to be taken to resolve the issue.

Follow Through. Keep the customer informed of progress or otherwise by agreeing specific times to call back. This reassures them you have not forgotten. If you watch Master Chef, the Professionals Michel Roux Jnr. said the same thing on Wednesday night when one contestant failed to produce the kidney to accompany the roast deer: “Tell them, they will respect you for that.” And he was right, the food critics did. ‘Enough said!

Placing Resources. Customer Service is there to pull out all the stops when something untoward happens. It is a given that your organisation is geared up to deliver ‘what it says on the can’. Service levels are all very well for an internal back patting, but mean’ diddly squat’ to those customers who are the small percentage (we hope) for whom it goes pear shaped! Turning a frustrated customer into a satisfied customer is what customer service excellence is all about.

Senior management consistently isolates itself behind layers of powerless operatives and self congratulatory service level statistics. They fail to experience their business as their customers do. If a customer does write in to complain then the stock response usually pays lip service to the complaint followed by a justification of why they haven’t really made a mistake.

To learn how to avoid some of the common pitfalls why not book a place on our successful Customer Service Course?

To download the Customer Service Course Flyer

To understand what your customers really think about your business why not commission a survey?
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