As National Customer Service Week draws to a close, I hope you have all found some time to reflect with your teams on their outstanding efforts, celebrate their successes, and recognise the value that service brings to society. And hopefully, you will agree that this focus on service should not be solely for one week but is something to be carried through the rest of the year and beyond!
On Monday, we look forward to sharing some of the inspiring examples of outstanding service we’ve seen over the past few days. But today, with the UK Government’s International Investment Summit just around the corner, I wanted to reflect on a topic that I know is at the forefront for many of you: growth.
Next week’s summit offers a significant opportunity for the Government to build investor confidence, based on its priorities for driving UK economic growth. Stimulating the economy and fostering a trusted link between business and government are pressing concerns for both politicians and business leaders.
Learnings from a recovering retail sector
Optimism around boosting growth should be raised further by the early signs of a bounce back across various sectors, as new data today has shown. One of these is retail, where September sales experienced the strongest growth in six months.
As I discussed on BBC Radio 4’s You & Yours on Wednesday, this is an encouraging sign for retailers after a challenging period for many. However, despite these early positive signs, growth remains sluggish – as it does in other areas of the economy, too.
So, as retailers enter the all-important Golden Quarter, where should their focus be to accelerate growth? For me, it’s essential to get the basics right – starting with getting it right first time.
According to the latest UK Customer Satisfaction Index, in the retail sector, 87.7% of experiences are scored as right first time – a 1.9% increase year-on-year and 7% higher than the all-sector average.
This approach has served the retail sector well in the past, which has often ranked highly in the Index. And it’s a lesson that all sectors should heed, as the cost of falling short is significant. Across all industries, 65% of employees report spending an average of 3.3 days per month dealing with service failures, which carries a monthly cost to the economy of £6.8 billion.
Encouraging growth by leading with optimism
As always however, in retail and beyond, it starts with effective leadership taking a long-term strategic approach to their service offering.
This is why political and business leaders alike must inspire and uplift us in the months ahead.
On Wednesday, as part of National Customer Service Week, we discussed how effective service leadership sets the tone for an organisation’s culture – underlining the importance of empathy, integrity, and continuous improvement.
For me, strong leadership is about guiding people on a journey toward positive results. This is achieved by setting out a clear vision, gaining buy-in and engagement, and inspiring people to deliver.
Whether in government or business, it is this leadership through service that is needed today – to instil optimism, provide confidence, and energise the Service Nation to drive long-term economic growth.
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