Archive for the 'world class' Category

A fabulous day in Bristol yesterday for a group of 25 clients who went to see how the RAC run the BSINS processes in full. Although I’ve seen them present what they do a few times, their enthusiasm and passion is still just as infectious. “An inspiring day” was a common feedback.

What have they done that’s so right?

They have connected all the dots. They have established fantastic staff and stakeholder engagement, are reducing unnecessary demands all the time, providing transparent intelligence from the front line straight to the business and continually changing the partner and customer experience. They’ve even been winning more business because of the intelligence they can provide partners about their customers and which their account teams can demonstrate.

It is clear why RAC won the Aviva Customer Cup from 450 entries worldwide. The agents would not want it taken away, it makes such a difference to them. And the quantified business benefits are significant.

Polishing the cup they are so proud of,  the RAC team shared their detailed experience of running the processes of Skyline and WOCAS ( What our customers are saying). The keys to success are action not words – continually acting on what front staff learn with customers and continually communicating. “Transparency” was a word repeatedly used. Managers around the business can see for themselves in real time what is bring suggested by customers. And front line staff can see for themselves what management is doing about what customers say.

One senior Aviva manager quotes was “This is the only part of our business where we know what customers think all of the time and it’s clearly measurable”. I wonder why the rest of Aviva aren’t using the approach after judging it the best thing for customers in the Aviva Cup?

Any comments?

Aviva, WOCAS, awards, events, world class | No Comments

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of sharing a stage with Alan Hinkes. We were talking about “world class” with a client organisation. An entertaining subject

Alan is the only Englishman and one of only a dozen people in the world, to have climbed all 14 of the world’s highest mountains. All are over 8000m. Apparently Everest isnt the hardest, K2 is. It took him 17 years to do them all, 3 attempts being on K2. The first time, he turned back when close to the summit because of avalanche risk. People died in an avalanche the following day. The second time when 500m from the summit, after a 5 month trip, he turned back to bring an exhausted climber down. When finally climbed in 1995, 13 people attempted the summit that year, 8 died.

Kinda makes you think, what have you done that’s world class? Skipping rapidly on…….

The angle on world class I like is this. It took Rolls-Royce 4 years from the formation of the company until they made the world’s best automobile, a further 3 years before they were recognised world wide as the best car in the world. Skype was founded in Sept 2002, launched in August 2003, sold to eBay for £1.6bn in October 2005 and reached 100million subscribers in April 2006. And still, many telco audiences dont recognise them as competition! So it doesn’t take long to be a world class business.

The common factor? A saying by Henry Royce: ” Whatever is rightly done, however small, is noble”.

Roughly translated: “the best service is no need for service”. Get it right by attending to the minutiae of what it takes to remove all the hassle for a customer and you will a) grow and b) be recognised.

I also like Alan’s defintion of success. “Reaching the summit isnt success. Reaching the summit and getting down without losing a digit is success.”

So sometimes the goal of being world class isn’t the right goal. That’s about who you are. That’s just getting to the summit. You have to get down the other side. Doing the very best you can do for customers is what it takes to be truly world class.

the best service is no service, world class | 1 Comment