Most people have had to make a complaint to an organisation’s customer services team at some point in their life. How did that experience make you feel – more loyal to the company because they handled it so well, or swearing never to use them again?
Often referred to as a ‘Key moment of Truth’, these interactions can have a huge impact on your how your company is perceived.
But let’s take a minute to consider the staff dealing with these complaints day-in, day-out. Customer complaints can be a symptom of a problem within the systems and processes of a business, and these teams can generate significant insights and value to an organisation – if given the opportunity to do so.
We were invited to the York offices of Openreach to spend a working lunch with their Customer Resolution and Complaints team to carry out a structured conversation to understand where they would like to see changes to current working practices.
The team wrote down 11 areas for discussion to be debated in small groups – using their knowledge and experience to come up with potential solutions. In the time allowed, the team focussed on 3 core areas, and came up with a list of strategic interventions to tackle the root causes of their customer’s complaints.
“When my team participated in a ‘lunch and learn’ session with Groundswell Innovation, we were all impressed with how many practical new ideas we came up with – in just one hour. There was a real buzz during and after the session. It was focused, energetic and delivered an instant outcome.”
James Harrison, Head of Customer Resolution and Complaints Openreach, BT Group
