This week is National Customer Service Week in the UK. Each day throughout the week has a particular theme and the theme for Thursday is ‘Leadership: Leadership: Championing customer service in the boardroom’.
Below are a few practical ideas
from the Institute of Customer Service on what you can do within your own
organisation to promote good customer service in relation to Thursday's theme.
1. Questionnaire: all employees are asked to complete a questionnaire about the business impact /return on investment of providing excellent customer service. While this is happening the CEO/MD is asked the same questions. The employee whose answers are closest to those of the CEO/MD wins a small prize. There can also be a special prize to the employee who comes up with the most original ROI fact.
2. CEO Open Lunch Sessions: Drop in for a chat with a cup of coffee and voice your ideas, thoughts and challenges. Ask him/her for their own thoughts about what the organisation needs to do to increase customer service and how that could affect the organisation’s reputation, trust levels with customers, customer retention, sales, profitability, success.
3. ROI Quiz: gather together details of improvements in customer service that have led to a good Return on Investment (ROI) such as improved efficiencies, cost savings, extra sales, better customer retention and recommendation, lower staff attrition. Ask questions in a forced choice format, to illustrate the difference that has been made.
4. The Price is Right: fun event with questions around how much things cost, e.g. a stack of boxes used to deliver goods to customers- guess how much they cost us each year to send in the post…to illustrate where wastage, poor service/ practices etc. cost the company money and affect reputation, trust, etc.
5. The Apprentice: teams are set customer service tasks/projects to complete with an aim to show the ROI - best team wins a prize- best 'apprentice' wins a prize.
6. Company Swap: arrange for someone from another organisation to visit your company and talk to you about what they do to deliver great customer service and what this means to their business in terms of ROI.
7. Ask the Expert: invite your organisation’s insight specialist to a team event to speak to you about what they have seen about ROI of customer service in your organisation and elsewhere.
8. Share information about customer service: use the week to share customer service results/feedback or launch new values, customer charters, ServCheck/UKCSI, etc.
2. CEO Open Lunch Sessions: Drop in for a chat with a cup of coffee and voice your ideas, thoughts and challenges. Ask him/her for their own thoughts about what the organisation needs to do to increase customer service and how that could affect the organisation’s reputation, trust levels with customers, customer retention, sales, profitability, success.
3. ROI Quiz: gather together details of improvements in customer service that have led to a good Return on Investment (ROI) such as improved efficiencies, cost savings, extra sales, better customer retention and recommendation, lower staff attrition. Ask questions in a forced choice format, to illustrate the difference that has been made.
4. The Price is Right: fun event with questions around how much things cost, e.g. a stack of boxes used to deliver goods to customers- guess how much they cost us each year to send in the post…to illustrate where wastage, poor service/ practices etc. cost the company money and affect reputation, trust, etc.
5. The Apprentice: teams are set customer service tasks/projects to complete with an aim to show the ROI - best team wins a prize- best 'apprentice' wins a prize.
6. Company Swap: arrange for someone from another organisation to visit your company and talk to you about what they do to deliver great customer service and what this means to their business in terms of ROI.
7. Ask the Expert: invite your organisation’s insight specialist to a team event to speak to you about what they have seen about ROI of customer service in your organisation and elsewhere.
8. Share information about customer service: use the week to share customer service results/feedback or launch new values, customer charters, ServCheck/UKCSI, etc.
Click here for more details about Customer Service Week.