It was a pleasure to welcome so many of you to the Institute’s 15th Annual Conference this week.
Coming together to share our service stories – both the successes and learnings – served as a reminder of the “why” behind our collective hard work. I hope that like me, you left Tuesday’s event full of belief that we can truly lead with purpose (the theme of the day) to build the Service Nation together.
Service excellence is the cornerstone for growth – in business performance, the value of our profession, fairness in society, and most crucially, our economy.
We (I should really say you…) already make a dramatic impact; those who attended this year’s Annual Conference represent £145bn in turnover and 1.2m jobs to the UK economy.
As with many things, however, there’s more that can be done to put these conversations into action. Now is the time to reset and reconfigure, be bold and deliberate, and kickstart our economy through exceptional service.
Excellent service starts with our people
Throughout Tuesday’s event, we heard countless powerful messages and anecdotes delivered by our programme of speakers. A theme that shone through was this: how can we look after our customers to the best standards if we aren’t doing the same for our most important asset?
That is, of course, our people – from those delivering personalised experiences directly to customers every day, to those in the boardroom making the strategic decisions on service design.
For those on the frontline, it’s crucial they are engaged and empowered to serve. This means ensuring they feel part of a team, are given the skills and tools to do their job properly, and most importantly, have the freedom and trust to go above and beyond.
The result might be something slightly off-script – hand-writing a personalised letter to a vulnerable customer, perhaps. Or it could simply be taking the time to build genuine relationships which, in some rare cases, as we heard from Jon Paull, COO of Octopus Energy, may result in saving a life.
It is these moments that can have the biggest impact on customers, allowing businesses to foster the trust and loyalty needed to deliver true differentiation and long-term brand loyalty.
Coming together in uncertain times
We are living through decidedly uncertain times, where those in positions of power all too often use their public platform to divide and serve themselves, instead of bringing people together to serve others and their communities.
To manifest the reset I referenced earlier – Service Reborn, as we termed it at our Conference – business leaders should prioritise service excellence. Not just as a business function, but as a strategy and culture-driver for long-term growth and societal good.
Service Reborn means demonstrating true leadership – by motivating, empowering and trusting your people to deliver the best possible service to your customers. Make your people feel valued, and they will make sure your customers do too.
The dizzying pace of change we see today, as I’ve said before, will only continue to escalate – the range of topics I spoke to on BBC’s Wake Up to Money this morning says as much!
That is why there is an urgent need to come together, to lead and move forward with purpose – driven by the power of service excellence.
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