What a great day at UKCCF it was a great day out and my first time speaking or attending at Ricoh arena which was a nice venue with parking (I’m from Cambridge, this is a big plus!)
The day started with a lovely catch up and tea with Martin Hill-Wilson, thought leader and expert in all things CX and AI. As we discussed the day we realised that all the speakers today were focussed on the human. Interesting for an industry that are utilising AI, chatbots and automation to improve service….so how much of our customer experience should be about humans?
Martin started the day with his keynote sharing his insights from his roadshows on. Emotions and customer service. About when to use humans and what’s the ROI of emotions in business.
“When it’s emotional, when it’s complex and when it matters to the business”
He then shared some of the insights from his research and road shows about who is getting it right, and some sad statistics . Most of us can not think of a brand that makes emotional connections well.
In regards to creating great customer service and that all important emotional connection market leaders have a 28:1 positive to negative interaction ratio with their customers! With the laggards having only a 2:1 !
Martin then did what he does best and went deep dive into how we can do it inside our own organisations with clear facts and next steps!
All in all very thought provoking and hitting all the pieces we are missing on how to provide emotional customer experience.
You can download Martin’s white paper on. emotive customer experience here
Next up we heard from Simon Donaldson, Head of Customer Operations at Ikano Bank. This is an amazing organisation I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t heard of before! A spin-off of the Ikea brand and very clearly passionate about ensuring the Ikea. methods of great workplaces. Simon talked us through his journey with Ikano since 1999!
Simon talked about how a culture fit is important from both sides ! And if you don’t feel right in an organisation go find one where you do!
He shared some great slides on the vision, values and guidance from IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad.
He then talked about the importance of great leadership. And how you could visually see the leaders who are doing well, and when you compare, all the metrics are higher in teams where the leaders are great at relationships!
Then Simon went all out and showed that great workplaces and happiness at work is something you DO. He demonstrated the power of great leadership, setting his teams up for success, how he values his frontline staff and how important it is for teams to be valued by their organisation.
My team can make or break the brand of the Ikano business”
Then our *favourite* bit. The story about how Ikea, Ikano and Swedish companies use Fika.
At Ikano, like many other Swedish companies they enjoy the ritual of Fika.
Fika is often translated as “a coffee and cake break”, which is kind of correct, but really it is much more than that. Fika is a concept, a state of mind, an attitude and an important part of Swedish culture. Many Swedes consider that it is almost essential to make time for fika every day. It means making time for friends and colleagues to share a cup of coffee (or tea) and a little something to eat.
At Happy Coffee Consulting this is one of ideas we advocate all businesses to follow. It is the simplest way to make time to find out about your staff and what is happening with your business.
Next up was our talk, where we shared how creating a happy workplace gives you great customer service. We had fun showing what a difference a great good morning feels like, made people hug strangers (personal favourite) and showed the real scientific and financial benefits of creating happy workplaces all to the theme of cats.
I then had a great round table discussion on Coaching Positive Agent Behaviour with some very interesting brands who are looking to shake things up in the customer service industry.
The day ended with an awesome talk on Creating Awesomeness from Giles Owen of Bristan Pro (and his amazing shirt).
Although his staff may not be paid the most, Bristan offer a focus on a great work/life balance, on being a great place to work, and on internal promotion.
Giles discussed the importance for managers in making time for their staff. That there will always be other things to do, but making time for staff is the most important.
He then went further and discussed how simple terminology changes can reshape how we think about work? Are you answering unhappy customers? Or are you lucky enough to be able to help someone?
Enabling frontline staff Bristan they were able to reduce their internal processes from 144 down to only 20! A seriously impressive change and what a huge benefit to any organisation. Some other things that Bristan are getting spot on:
- Letting advisors design their systems
- Recruiting the right people (hire for attitude, train for skill!)
- Hiring friendly people, introducing them to the business, and then allowing them to “try before you buy”
- “It is our (management) responsibility to remove the barriers that stop people from being brilliant”
After this we had another session of round tables, where my table discussed Live Chat & Social and the challenges and benefits to these newer digital channels.
All in all a fantastic day full of thought and insight, and most importantly focussing on the human aspect of customer service, which at the end of the day, is the most important part.
