Responding to Change – UK Customer Satisfaction Drops to 2010 Low
It came as no surprise to me this morning when I opened the latest UKCSI Report to see that customer satisfaction has dropped to it‘s lowest level since 2010.
The impacts of the recession are still being felt….:
- Companies have cut back on people to save costs – so there is often less resource vs the same amount of work to do and expectations to deliver for their customers
- Companies cut back on L&D spend – so people are not developing skills in line with rising customer expectations
- Consumer appetite and expectations for an enhanced digital experience – post recession, companies have tried to improve digitally to make up for the loss of resource and improve the speed and ease of doing business with customers
Yet against this backdrop, there has been improvements in the Banking Sector scores. Increased regulation along with rapid digital expansion is certainly supporting the impacts I have listed above. Interestingly, the other sector improving is Utilities who have also been in the eye of the regulators, politicians and watchdogs recently.
The UK is moving from a transactional economy to a relationship economy – which is driven largely by a companies digital capability and how this interacts with their customers/clients. I‘ve recently taken another product out with my bank solely on the basis I could do it in 30 seconds – thats all it took for me to open an ISA online and see it in my internet banking page. This for me felt like a great experience and one I was satisfied with and would recommend. The other key element of customer relationships is how you respond when things go wrong or a moment of truth – how well your people are trained to deal with the human interaction to make things right again for the customer/client.
So how do you improve your customer satisfaction scores against such a changing landscape? And what benefits would this bring for you, your team, your organisation? Im sure we could write vast amounts on this topic, but the two items I‘ll briefly reference today are people and process.
People
Customer Expectations vs People Development
The above diagram is a quick visual – it simply represents the gap that has been created in many organisations of customers expectations rising whilst the development of people‘s skill sets has often remained static.
What is the development environment like in your own team or organisation today? How well are people progressing and developing new skills, or enhancing the ones they have so they can improve the service they deliver?
And how does the learning take place? How is your organisation using the growth in digital to improve the development offering in your organisation?
How have your leaders grown? What development have they undertaken to help them grow their teams and WOW your customers?
Process
If you have had to reduce the size of your team then what strategies have you put in place to improve productivity and operational efficiency?
How have you managed the increased workloads and still maintained the level of service your customers expect? How often do you gather customer/client feedback and from this what action do you take?
Are your current processes delivering for the customer and are they as lean as they could be? Have you reviewed them through the eyes of the customer?
In summary if you don’t bridge the gap between the customers rising expectations and the skills of your people then in the long run… your customers will leave (and with ease via a digital channel!) and your employees (who are also your customers!) will become disengaged. The common denominator in all the above is your ability to respond to change.
At Curium Solutions Ltd we specialise in leading change and managing payback, whilst taking time to understand exactly what you and your customers needs are.
Alongside this we can also support the changes you make stick and create long term benefits, by offering bespoke leadership development programmes including the use of our Tetramap Accredited Facilitators
For more information please email me at danielentwistle@curiumprod.wpengine.com
Or alternatively visit www.curiumprod.wpengine.com
