A recently published study commissioned by lifestyle firm
WhiteConcierge claims that large UK organisations have lost
billions of pounds worth of custom in the past two years, largely
due to poor customer service. But a leading Shrewsbury business
consultant says companies and organisations based in rural counties
such as Shropshire are far more focused on customer service than
those that are based in major cities.
Ellen Morley, Principal of The Business Company, says: "Despite
the recession I have worked with many customer facing companies and
organisations in the past two years that have been highly
pro-active in examining and improving their customer service
departments. Interestingly, even though they have in many cases had
a national customer base, all of them have been physically based
outside our major cities."
"In Shropshire The Business Company undertook a series of focus
groups to find out what customers wanted from a county-based
national organisation in the finance sector. We also undertook a
similar exercise in the county on behalf of a client in the health
sector, targeting existing customers and carrying out a
benchmarking review of non-customers, to identify and support their
development strategy. In rural Gloucestershire we developed a
unique customer service programme for one of the UK's leading
social housing maintenance companies, incorporating bespoke
training, 1-1 coaching and a nationally recognised NVQ
qualification. And on the Shropshire/Cheshire border we undertook
service research for a growing national chain of fitness
centres."
"In my experience regionally based organisations and companies
are often far more closely connected with their customers. They are
keen to find out what customers want in terms of service, staff
attitude and behaviour, and will use research results such as we
produce to evolve the culture of their business to suit the needs
of their customers. Businesses I have worked with in Shropshire in
particular are also keen to involve their people in the customer
development process. To this end we are often asked to set up
confidential one to one sessions with staff to find out how new
systems have worked in practice and to set up ideas and
brainstorming workshops to assist in the development of future
strategies."