Epic show report

Annual Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Conference

2nd February 2006
Report by Matt Dolan, Epic

As customer satisfaction and loyalty is highly important to Epic, I went along to this conference expecting to be informed about how best to develop and retain customer loyalty but perhaps the most revealing aspect of the day was seeing which other organisations also attended - clearly, customer satisfaction is very important to the Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclaycard and Real Madrid. The latter, who sent along a couple of delegates, may have had ulterior motives however, as the event was hosted at Chelsea Football Club.

Robert Crawford
Representing the Institute of Customer Service, Robert set the tone by discussing customer-centric processes but in truth concentrated on examples of poor customer service before giving a lengthy advertisement for his organisation. The ICS develops people and organisations and this strapline gives resonance to their intentions – “If you think training is expensive, try ignorance!”. I awarded this presentation 6/10.

Nigel Hill
Robert’s words were underpinned by Nigel Hill, of the Leadership Factor, who took the floor next and presented a very considered, statistics-driven report of the customers’ viewpoint, the results of which were derived from 2000 telephone interviews.

I sensed at this point that the agenda was going to follow the usual 4 Fs pattern:

• Fear
• Figures
• Food
• Festivity

This formula is intended to scare us into acceptance then blind us with statistics before smoothing over the discomfort by filling us with tasty comestibles and making us laugh.

Nigel’s presentation was certainly illuminating and commenced by informing us that customer priorities are, in the following order;

• quality and range of products and services
• value for money
• billing
• the corporate website

It emerges that the largest shortfalls occur in the areas of staff helpfulness, the problems and complaints procedures and being treated as a valued customer. Drilling down further, Nigel informed us that, according to customers, the biggest factors that affect the perception of staff helpfulness are friendliness and appearance. Your organisation needs to take care that staff are well presented and immediately open to the customers’ concerns.

Overall happiness across the sectors varied considerably. The service sector (hairdressers, plumbers etc) carries the greatest satisfaction while transport and government are rooted at the foot of the table. A voice from the floor suggested, however, that consumers spend many years cultivating their optimum choice in this sector whereas, short of moving house, one has little choice of local government and transport provider. (It might also be argued that after 20, 30, 40 or 100 years of complaining, why is it that government and transport still fail us?) Slightly higher on customer satisfaction but lower on excuses came the finance sector. The statistics reveal that consumers consider value for money (the third most important factor) in finance to be only marginally more acceptable than that of transport. That is surely a wake-up call to the major high street banks and credit agencies - you might not be able to switch bus companies, but it is a simple matter to arrange a new mortgage deal. 7/10

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Peter Kenyon
After a coffee break, Peter Kenyon, Chief Executive of Chelsea Football Club, took the podium. As the only public figure, he perhaps had to temper his presentation, but I felt that he said little of import beyond recognising that although football fans displayed irrational loyalty, they are more vocal than other consumers and that this relationship fluctuates according to what happens on the pitch. He did accept that as an industry, football lags behind in the decision to treat fans as customers, although he let slip a telling admission, referring to fans who attend matches as ‘real’ before quickly amending this to ‘active’. 4/10

Graham Parker-Gore
Graham, from Visa Europe, delivered a quick fire history of the organisation and a summary of their technical capability. Visa Europe’s intention is to be the most trusted currency in the world and conducting 60% of all online transactions, there is significant progress towards that goal. Tellingly, he reminded us that a company with 20,000 employees is represented by the one person that you talk to and his presentation focused on the customer experience. However, the series of slides that confronted us served only to confuse – there was simply too much information, which is impossible to digest, even as I view them in the office. The message was plain though, have faith in your customers and they will trust you. 7/10

Lunch
An extremely nutritious and well-presented buffet. 8/10

BJ Cunningham
As part of the festivities, BJ Cunningham leapt onto the stage and delivered a high-octane life-story. His opening point concerned branding and boiled, usefully, the entire schema into two direct questions: What is your point? Why should I care? There really is no other question to be asked of a brand. A brand is a promise and customers should believe that promise. BJ is a terrific orator and worth the admission price alone. We were treated to the story of Death cigarettes, the Enlightened Tobbaco Company and the failure of his first venture, importing Harley Davidson motorcycles – thrilling stuff but I sort of lost the thread. That is, until he reiterated those starling questions and advised us to love what we do. Wise words. 9/10

Guy Browning
The presentations were concluded by Guy Browning, former Guardian columnist and owner of Smokehouse PR company. His presentation consisted of a somewhat fatuous series of old, industry-related quips and anecdotes and although he raised a few chuckles, reliance on slides that poked fun at the amount of luggage a woman takes on holiday seemed extremely out of date. I would have exited at this point but I wanted to take the stadium tour held, tantalisingly, at the end of the day. Guy did, however, end on a positive note imploring us to simplify matters and do the right thing by the customer. 4/10

In summary, the event was a success and it is heartening to see that efforts are being made to represent the customer. The customer may not be always right but the she can always vote with her feet.

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