Winner of the Guernsey Post Customer Service Awards 2015, Joe Hind, attended the Institute of Customer Service Annual conference and awards dinner earlier this month as part of his winner’s prize.
Held at the Hilton Hotel in London’s Park Lane, Joe was elated to have the opportunity to network with the UK’s top businesses, such as Nationwide, DFS and BT, and to sell ‘brand Guernsey’ as an island of customer service excellence.
"I learned so much", said Joe, "particularly how getting the basics right from the beginning makes such an impact on the customer experience. With the emergence of the customer of the future, we need to shape ourselves to meet their needs more efficiently than ever before, as with the meteoric rise of Social Media, reputations can be harmed in as little as 12 minutes.
"The Bailiwick has an opportunity to become a leader in the standard of service we provide, as we are a small demographic in comparison to colleagues in the UK, so our levels of service need to be exceptional for the retention of customers. These conversations need to happen from the top down, making the customer the primary focus of Board meetings, as without customers, there is business.
"It’s easy to see good customer service as a given, and we tend to hear about bad experiences and how they shape the way we feel about organisations, but what if we, as a community, could provide something unique, something to set us apart from pack, and make Brand Guernsey’s customer service something to be proud of."
The ICSA event was hosted by BBC TV news journalist Naga Munchetty, and was attended by over 400 people.