Echelon’s clients improve their performance by focusing on their ‘service DNA’
Echelon’s incisive approach sees its clients retain existing customers, and win new ones, despite the challenges brought on by the economic downturn, giving them a competitive advantage now and a head start for when the economy revives.
Organisation development consultancy Echelon has developed a programme that is producing remarkable results as its clients keep winning and retaining more customers. To date, Echelon’s ‘service DNA’ programmes have seen:
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A two per cent overall increase in passenger numbers for an organisation in the public transport sector
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A 65 per cent increase in compliments and 40 per cent reduction in complaints sustained throughout 2008 by this same business.
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One NHS Trust - over two years - score significantly better on issues that mattered to patients.
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One Council consistently outperforming the top quartile for customer service performance by seven per cent.
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A 40 per cent increase in customer satisfaction in one logistics company.
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A 37 per cent increase in customer satisfaction in one client from the hotel sector.
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A client in the travel industry achieve 50 per cent lower staff turnover than its industry peers.
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Over 1,000 improvement ideas collected in three months from staff at one organisation in the health sector.
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Clients win National Training Awards, a UK Housing Award as well as other awards.
“Customer loyalty underpins business success at any time, but right now it could be the one thing that guarantees survival. We believe the key to creating and understanding customer loyalty is to develop a detailed insight into customers’ specific expectations – if you like, the organisation’s service DNA - and create a branded customer experience that matches needs and gets customers to act as advocates of the service,” said Jenny Hill, who heads up Echelon’s consultancy team. “These measurements then lead to not only an increase in customer retention and repeat business they actually increase customer loyalty and the level of advocacy they offer. Wider benefits we see include a reduction in complaints, an increase in compliments and, in a difficult situation, improved employee morale (which further supports an improved customer experience).”
Key drivers of change that this programme considers include:
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Customer service: the challenge of recognising and meeting continually shifting expectations and having the agility to recalibrate the organisation to match these expectations at every customer interface.
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Competition: the need to differentiate the business by continuously improving the overall customer experience by putting the customer at the centre of all activities designed to increase product quality and process productivity.
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Innovation: the culture of contributing, successfully exploiting new ideas, and having the organisational flexibility to launch new products and adjust service efficiently.
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Regulation: the ability to operate within legal and industry compliance frameworks, adapting to changing regulations.
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Information technology: the introduction and/or refinement of technology to drive and support performance improvement.
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Human resources: the recruitment, development, retention, performance management and support of the organisation’s people.
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Strategy: the transformation of the organisation through acquisition and merger, diversification or consolidation.
“Sustainable success in relation to any of these depends on people and process being closely aligned with strategy and having an adaptability to exploit opportunity,” said Echelon’s CEO, Alistair Morrison. “We deploy a four-stage cycle of research, design, implement and sustain to ensure that the real drivers of customer behaviour are understood clearly, by everyone, and that the most efficient procedures are being followed to give customers exactly what they want. The service DNA is different for every organisation, and for different customer categories, and successful delivery requires competent and motivated employees.”
“Service DNA is what your customers really want from your service and is dependent, in part, on the promises you make to them,” explained Jenny Hill. “What customers want is always specific and easily deliverable - but generally inconsistently applied across the business. But, once staff understand what customers want specifically - and the positive effect consistent delivery of it can have on their jobs and relationships - they willingly embrace its adoption and keep up the good work with the help of simple reminders.”
Hill explains that Echelon’s service DNA approach is based on four straightforward but powerful drivers:
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Know who your customers are
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Ensure the service you deliver at all interfaces is consistent, because inconsistency is a key issue in customer defection.
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Research and understand the specific and frequently unique expectations customers have of your service.
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Keep your product/service fresh – by asking for specific customer feedback.
To deliver results from understanding your service DNA, she said, you must:
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Ensure all functions deliver the same branded experience - as consistency is crucial.
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Train all frontline people and ensure that this is sustained with regular work-based reinforcement – so that commonsense becomes common practice.
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Make customers’ specific and practical expectations into regular internal communications and publish the results.
Echelon, Angles House, 210 Sheen Lane, London SW14 8LB; 020 8274 9965