Customer satisfaction rose from 76% in 2004 to 88% in 2010 for overall service, the highest of any local housing provider.  Scores have also improved in Repairs with customer satisfaction rising from 70% in 2004 to 83 % in 2010.

SYHA attribute this success to their Good 2 Great initiative which they undertook with Mary Gober International in 2009.

http://www.syha.co.uk/

Bank of America have reported that following the introduction of a Live Chat service which exceeded 90% in customer satisfaction, it was evident that the role of the front line was changing. It was clear that the easier, less emotional queries and transactions were now being completed through the self service channels. This resulted in more complex and potentially emotional queries being the ones most likely to be dealt with over the phone. Agents would need to be equipped to deal with this. In addition, it was clear that there were demographic differences between the team providing the service to Bank of America customers (average age 24 years) and the customers themselves (average age 45 years).

A partnership was instigated with Mary Gober International in Q4 2009. Following several weeks of call listening and agent interviews, a new programme was designed to give the agents both the mind-set and approach to build a better rapport with customers and deal with more challenging contacts in a positive and solution-oriented manner.

Following a pilot scheme early in 2010 there were positive results:

• · The ‘Gober Method’™ saw a 50% reduction in Manager Escalations
• · And a 20% reduction in formal Customer Complaints

A full roll-out is now being planned for Q1 2011 and forms part of a progressive plan for Bank of America to provide the best possible service.

Wolverhampton Homes Awarded Maximum Three-Star Rating by the Audit Commission

Catherine Dass, Head of HR Strategy and Organisational Development at Wolverhampton Homes is delighted to have achieved ‘excellent’ status and a three-star rating.  Catherine believes that the work they have undertaken with Mary Gober International across the organisation has been a major contribution to their success alongside the positive leadership from their CEO, Lesley Roberts.

Wolverhampton Homes’ three-star rating by the Audit Commission shows that the organisation has improved since it received a two-star rating in 2007.  Among the strengths commended by the Audit Commission was a strong commitment to customer care, value for money and increased employment and training opportunities.

Mary Gober International has worked in partnership with Wolverhampton Homes since 2009.  The entire organisation is being trained in the ‘Gober Method’™ from the senior team through to managers and frontline staff who are sustaining this new service style through ongoing coaching following their successful accreditation as coaches of the ‘Gober Method’.

Please click the link below to read the full press release from Wolverhampton Homes.

http://www.wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk/LatestNews.aspx

Wendy says “I am delighted to have been presented this prestigious award as every year thousands of customer service professionals submit entries.  Supporting, training and coaching my team is something I am very committed to.  I am extremely grateful to Capita and Mary Gober International for providing me with the tools to enhance my capabilities which I will continue to use in the future”.

Virgin Holidays Train Staff to Deliver Exceptional Experiences

Virgin Holidays has seen an increased satisfaction among customers, key partners and other important trade and consumer-facing clients since a company-wide bespoke values 2-day course.  Refreshing the company values, all 3 based on ensuring the customer is at the heart of every area of the business, has seen tangible results in customer satisfaction, internal and external relationships.

Amanda Wills, Managing Director of Virgin Holidays, says: “I have always believed passionately in the basic truth that staff in a customer-facing business who live and breathe a common purpose can drive sustained success whatever the commercial backdrop.  As the travel industry enters its toughest trading conditions yet, we have been consistent in increasing investment in staff training and engagement.  There was never consideration of scaling back or compromising in our focus on our principle success drive – our people.  Consequently, we are in rude health against market benchmarks, and share a common purpose and belief in our values.”

Virgin Holidays offers holidays to the Caribbean, USA, Far and Middle East and the Indian Ocean.  Its self-declared vision is to provide “the best holidays in the whole wide world.”  Managers felt that while there were pockets of brilliant service, there was also an opportunity to build more consistency and focus, and cement ownership of the customer journey among all staff.

Through training, the company wanted to build further on a good CSQ rating among customers, and protect its healthy level of repeat customers.  Mary Gober International designed the “Living Our Values” 2-day course to meet the company’s needs, developing the optimum mindset for giving enthusiastic and genuine customer service, while also improving communication skills that trainees could use to find positive solutions.  Above all, the training aimed to remind delegates what exceptional service looks and feels like, and how to deliver that consistently.  It made the link between the company’s vision and values and how staff work with each other and with customers.

Over the course of six weeks, trainers working in groups of three or more held interactive round table seminars for 50 to 100 people at a time.  A total of 580 people took part.  Success was measured through customer surveys, call monitoring, statistical information gathering and staff survey results.  Following the training, customer satisfaction has reached record levels.  Furthermore, 97% of staff say they understand the Company’s values.

Terri Bailey, General Manager of People and Performance at Virgin Holidays, explains: “The seminars have resulted in a real shift in behaviour, particularly in the psychology of how we approach customer service.  Our staff now really understands the importance of responding positively to customers, every time, explaining what we can do for someone, whether an internal or external customer.  This provided a boost to our ongoing investment as a company in innovative skills and culture training to always ensure the customer journey, in whatever format, is the priority.”

Travel company Virgin Holidays employs 701 people and has made the Skills Pledge.

One of the most crucial elements in our organisations today is an atmosphere of negativity vs. positivity. This is especially relevant in light of the latest research indicating that customer service is seen to be getting worse or not improving and from the recent study conducted by Mintel, finding that a massive 90% of the British public are irritated by the service they receive from call centres.

How very easy it would be for us to become disillusioned about just how far our service industry has progressed or even regressed over the past 10 years. How do you feel when you read research such as this? It must be so frustrating and disappointing to the thousands of people working diligently to deliver excellent levels of service every day.

If the customer service experience in the UK is so negative, how do we, as customer service leaders and managers, inspire positivity in our teams? Is it possible to engender positivity in a somewhat demoralised workforce, constantly under criticism, to create a change and improvement in the quality of customer service it offers?

My answer is a resounding ‘yes’. How?

Positivity is like electricity running throughout an organisation. How do you generate a strong current of positivity – the energy and mind-set that is needed to excel at delivering an outstanding customer experience, especially in the face of increasing customer dissatisfaction.

Whose responsibility is it anyway? Is it the leader and manager’s – or the individual employee’s responsibility to maintain a positive, optimistic focus and energy?

Let’s start with looking at what are the signs and symptoms of the malaise of negativity. First within yourself, then within your people.

How do you manifest negativity? Do you become angry, intolerant, impatient? Critical, resentful, short-tempered, feel fearful and vulnerable or start to blame others for the situation you find yourself in? Do you become cynical about new initiatives or proposed improvements? Are you quick to suspect a negative ulterior motive in those around you who want to change things for the better? Are you openly critical of your own organisation to colleagues, suppliers, and customers or even family and friends? Deep inside, do you feel discouraged, helpless and pessimistic about your own ability to affect a change for the better?

How do your people express their negativity? Through their tardiness or absenteeism? By personal grooming and appearance that fails to meet company expectations? Are they angry, discouraged, uncooperative, disruptive in training sessions and meetings? Do they opt out of company social functions? Are they lethargic, apathetic, complacent, indifferent? Do they demonstrate a general lack of interest in customers, colleagues and the future success of your company?

Then, where do you start?

Yes, you’ve guessed it! With yourself.

First, ask yourself, what are the benefits you derive from your current state of mind and perception of your situation. What are the immediate and longer term costs of your current stance? Are they really worth it?

If you really want to change, start by taking full responsibility for engineering a different style of thinking and behaving. Immediately stop perpetuating your own ‘blame-others’ game. Force yourself to focus on what you, not others, can be doing to improve your situation.

Monitor and consciously choose to focus on what is positive in the situation before focusing on what is detrimental or disappointing. Constantly choose to focus on what you can do to recover quickly when things go wrong. If disappointing events or even disasters occur, choose to focus on what you can do to recover and invest energy in helping others re-energise and
re-focus.

The most profound way to produce your own positivity is to think deeply about what you really want in your life and in your work and career. What are you really passionate about? Set some compelling goals for yourself and chart out ways to achieve them. Remember you are not alone. Other people want to see you be
happy and succeed. Ask them for their help. Only by addressing your own degree of positivity, can you credibly start to influence the positivity of those on your team.

Your first step is to recruit positive and intrinsically optimistic individuals. Psychometric testing will help you. Ensure that new employees meet with early success through an inspiring induction experience and equip them with the job knowledge and skills that will form a foundation of self-confidence. Be clear about their
role and responsibilities and how essential and important they are to the organisation. Ensure that they feel secure enough to send out an SOS when they need help or if they feel overwhelmed.

Signal your zero tolerance position about gossiping. Deal with poor performers quickly – negativity starts to fester when effective employees see a manager unable or unwilling to take action.

Create many communication opportunities so people are fully informed. Establish forums for debate and disagreement so that unhappiness and frustration is out in the open. Be a shining role model of positivity. Let a strong undercurrent of optimism be ever present in all your dealings with your team. Notice and
praise effort and achievement.

Most importantly, continuously provide individuals with the most dynamic development and training opportunities, so that they are
equipped with the cognitive skills, self-awareness and motivation to take responsibility for their own positive mind-set.

Positivity is the pre-requisite to truly effective, distinguished customer service, that customers appreciate and admire. Delivering outstanding service requires a sincere and deep desire to contribute to another human being, to be the catalyst that creates a positive experience and outcome for the customer. It demands the ability to listen deeply, patiently, to think and act quickly and creatively.

Underpinning all of this is the conscience and intention of the individual to do the right thing for the customer and the organisation. This takes a high degree of personal responsibility and pride. Positivity is the initial and continuing source of responsibility and pride.