Thought Leadership

Our network of members and stakeholders are here to help other members through this crisis in a range of ways

Throughout the COVID-19 epidemic, some employees are required to attend their workplace or travel to perform their role. Often they are delivering essential services that are essential customers and society as a whole. We have drawn on a range of global sources and The Institute’s research to provide an overview and guidance to help keep your employees safe in a range of working environments.

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, many traditional ways of working are no longer viable. A new normal is being established – and we are all grappling with the challenges and opportunities it presents. We reached out to our network of Vice Presidents – business leaders from across the UK in a range of sectors for their top tips on maintaining great service through these challenging times.

For some employees, remote working or working from home is established practice. But for many employees in service organisations, it’s an unfamiliar experience and means quickly adjusting to new ways of communicating and collaborating with customers, colleagues, partners and suppliers. Whether your role involves dealing directly with customers or suppliers; designing customer experience; leading and managing teams, we’ve set out some essential tips which will help.

The Institute’s CEO, Jo Causon, discusses the importance of customer service at this time and of delivering on promises, looking after vulnerable customers and driving a service nation

Vulnerable customers can go unnoticed by organisations – if you’re not looking for the signs, you might easily miss them. It is important to assume that, potentially, all customers are vulnerable – there is no such thing as the ‘ideal’ customer. The CARE framework, for example, will help you to identify if a customer is vulnerable. Here are just some of the things you need to watch out for when you’re communicating with a customer:

Brilliant organisations don’t do something to be seen to be doing it. They do it because it is relevant to their purpose and the right thing to do. As part of our Inspiring a Service Nation campaign – developed and launched before we knew of the impending crisis – we have been calling on businesses to stand up and be counted for the good of the country.

The job of leaders is to keep a level head, stay focused, and navigate the best way forward with the facts that they have at the time. Difficult times call for better leadership.

Take a moment and reflect on where you really are in your customer service journey. Does it reflect your purpose and values as an organisation? Are you clear about who you are serving and why? If not, what do you need to do to adjust your trajectory?

After five successive drops “stretching back over a period of two and half years” the time has surely come for organisations to reverse this decline and get satisfaction back on an upwards curve.

The company decided to compensate customers after acknowledging a previous mistake