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Relationship Directors from Barclays in Jersey recently spent a ‘day in the life’ of with two of their clients to see first-hand how they’re delivering exceptional customer service.
Jane Bond-Webster and Stephen Shipp fully embraced the opportunity as part of Barclays’ National Customer Service Week activities. The pair spent valuable one-to-one time with their clients learning new skills they wouldn’t ordinarily get to try in their daily roles.
Ms Bond-Webster spent her day with ATF Fuels – who were shortlisted for a Channel Islands Customer Service Award – shadowing the client servicing advisors in the sales and customer services team, then working as part of the forecourt team observing how the advisors there manage face-to-face customer interactions in a fast-moving consumer goods business.
Mr Shipp spent his day shadowing the front-of-house team at Hotel Cristina - who have just won a Channel Islands Customer Service Award. He spent the day gaining an understanding what working on main reception, in housekeeping, food and beverage and the restaurant kitchen all entailed.
As both experienced, there are significant parallels between what exceptional customer service looks like in the retail, hospitality and banking sectors.
Ms Bond-Webster said: “At Barclays our clients are at the heart of everything we do and it was clear to Stephen and I that ATF and Hotel Cristina share this ethos too. They really place an emphasis on getting to know their customers, providing fantastic service and creating an exceptional experience with every interaction, whether that’s serving petrol, fulfilling fuel orders or making someone’s hotel stay as memorable as possible.
“Developing relationships with customers will drive long-term loyalty and lead to repeat business. Shadowing our clients and evaluating their processes across the various business sectors in Jersey has generated some great ideas that we’re going to look at implementing at Barclays.”
Fiona Potts, Sales and Marketing Manager at ATF Fuels, said: “It was great to see Jane throw herself into the role. Our customer service processes are second nature to the team here, so it was interesting to share our approach with someone from outside ATF with a view to improving customer service across both our businesses.”
Steve Hayes, General Manager at Hotel Cristina, added: “Providing good customer service is obviously a critical part of the hospitality sector. It was a very useful, knowledge-sharing day – I think Stephen took away some helpful ideas, but he definitely brought a fresh perspective and some new ideas that we could consider too.”
National Customer Service Week is an annual event organised by the Institute of Customer Service to raise awareness of the vital role that exceptional customer service plays in successful business practice and the concurrent growth of the economy.
