Firms urged to spread the love among its employees

The inaugural Loving the Customer conference, which was organised by York-based Customer First UK, highlighted examples of world-class customer service in Yorkshire.

Delegates were told about the success of Leeds-based First Direct, the internet and telephone bank, in winning the trust of its customers.

On September 11 2001, one First Direct customer who was trapped in the World Trade Center in New York at the time of the terrorist attacks, phoned First Direct in Leeds to ask staff to pass on a message to his family.

Jason Sharpe, First Direct’s customer services director, told the conference that the customer – who eventually managed to escape from the blazing building unhurt – had known that First Direct would contact his family immediately.

One of the keynote speakers, Don Hales who is in charge of the Customer Service Training Network, had a warning for employers who failed to respect their staff.

He told the conference at the Met Hotel in Leeds: “Fifty per cent of UK employees leave their jobs due to discontent with their manage.

“Forty per cent of companies do not recognise the importance of employees’ opinions. ‘Loved’ employees make fewer mistakes, and they sort out customers’ issues calmly and effectively.

“Employees who are engaged are more creative, innovative problem solvers, which are hallmarks of service excellence.”

Mr Hales said leadership over customer service came from the top, adding: “The bottleneck is at the top of the bottle not the bottom.”

He said customers must hire staff for their attitudes, adding: “You have got to recruit people who like people.”

Frea O’Brien, the chief executive of Customer First UK, which offers accreditation to businesses and organisations that offer the highest standard of customer service, said the conference aimed to take the 150 delegates on a “journey” to explore the principles of great customer service.

In her introduction, she said: “If somebody had told me a decade ago, when I worked in the banking sector in the City, that one day there’d be a conference where the heartfelt principle of ‘love’ would pull together banks, utilities and universities and SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) to FTSE 100 companies in the same room, I would have choked on my grande cappuccino, little realising that I was holding in my hand the Starbucks recipe for success.”

Customer First UK grew out of Business Link York, which had been supported by Yorkshire Forward. Its turnover is expected to rise from £250,000 to £1m this year.

The company has eight staff and 20 assessors and consultants.

The York-based company has launched a pilot scheme in South Africa which could be the first stage in the company’s global expansion.

The delegates, who included customer service representatives from as far afield as Dundee, also heard from John Hague, the training co-ordinator for customer services at supermarket chain Waitrose, which is part of the John Lewis partnership.

Waitrose is owned by everyone who works for the partnership, which Mr Hague believes has been a key factor in its growth.

He said that people hired by Waitrose are made to feel like a partner “from day one”.

He added; “John Lewis partners get a bonus every year. Excellent customer service is a result of that. If you have great customer service, you get loyal customers who keep coming back, and you get more profits.”

John Leathem, the customer relationships director at Ford Retail Group, described how the company had turned itself around.

He said that five or six years ago, Ford Retail had been “pretty much on its knees with customer satisfaction”.

He said the company had adopted a culture of promoting superb customer service, and now had a string of awards under its belt.

He said: “Quite often, people see mainstream cars as very similar. The competitive battleground is the customer experience.”