A new training programme implemented by Graham Plumbers’ Merchant has been designed to improve the customer experience in branch, resulting in branches that now benefit from improved sales, excellent customer feedback and an impressive Graham Customer Score.
Graham Plumbers’ Merchant expresses a belief that the relationship it has with its customers is the most valuable part of the business, with staff encouraged to provide a more personal, responsible and tailored service to their individual local area. The company looks to constantly improve this service, facilitated by initiatives such as its recent ‘Tell Graham’ scheme, where customers are invited to provide feedback through a simple online survey.
With continuous improvement in mind, Marketing Director Ian Kenny and Customer Experience Manager Dave Pollard attended Chris Daffy’s 12 day Customer Loyalty Master Practitioner Programme while the merchant’s showroom consultants took the Customer Loyalty Programme online.
Designed to enable attendees to become highly skilled in tools and techniques of customer loyalty management, the programme is a result of Chris Daffy’s 20 years of working with organisations of all sizes and from a variety of sectors, helping to design and deploy world class customer service.
Chris explained: “Attendees of the course are immersed in subjects of Service Excellence, Customer Experience and Loyalty Management. This equips them with customer service ‘goggles’, which will allow them recognise any shortfalls in service and loyalty building opportunities that many others may miss or overlook.
“It also provides them with the knowledge, understanding, skills and confidence to change things in their own organisation in ways that will make worthwhile business differences — ones that can create a sustainable competitive advantage by increasing customer loyalty and improved sales and profit margins.”
Ian Kenny said: “This extensive programme encompasses so many angles of customer service and identified new approaches I had never considered before. I decided this course would be incredibly beneficial to the rest of Graham, and presents an opportunity for us to really be able to greatly improve our customer service relationship in every branch by spreading this knowledge.”
“Since implementing the Online Customer Loyalty Masterclass Programme, 1,186 Graham employees have been individually recognised by customers during feedback surveys as providing exceptional service.”
As such, Graham has implemented the new Online Customer Loyalty Masterclass Programme which has been in development for 18 months and aims to transfer the knowledge from the 12 day course. The content delivers nine video-based modules on various topics including Building Loyalty, Clue Spotting and Generating Ideas. Alongside these are additional web-based activities and a workbook for participants, as well as handouts and ‘Train the Trainer’ support packs.
Chris Daffy added: “Ideal for anyone in a customer facing role, including managers, the final goal of the programme is for the trainee to achieve sustainable success. Research has shown that 70-80% of organisational change programmes fail to achieve their initial goals — there is little point in learning about these tools and techniques if delegates don’t know how to effectively implement the plans, so we concentrate on the various tools and techniques that will allow them to stay on target.”
Since implementing the Online Customer Loyalty Masterclass Programme, Graham reports an increase in positive customer engagement. 65 branches have seen local sales grow by over 5% whilst 36 branches have recorded a Graham Customer Score of over 75. Impressively, 1,186 Graham employees have been individually recognised by customers during feedback surveys as providing exceptional service.
“The training provided by Chris Daffy has been exceptional,” said Ian Kenny. “It’s provided knowledge that has allowed our branch employees to truly provide exceptional customer service, and now we are seeing tangible results and improvements.”
For more information on Chris Daffy’s Online Customer Loyalty Masterclass Programme, please visit www.loyaltymasterclass.com
