Written by Nathalie Fréchet
Interview with Telefónica O2 UK
Since 2006, Cheryl Black has been the woman behind the customer satisfaction success of Telefónica O2 UK.
Last September, Mrs Black received the Industry Champion Award as part of the 2009 European Call Centre Awards.
Prior to joining Telefónica O2, Mrs Black held senior roles in the utilities and telecommunication sectors, driving customer relations strategies in companies such as Scottish Water, Orange, NTL and London Electricity.
Mrs Black is a Vice President and Companion Member of the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) as well as a non-executive Director on the Boards of Southern Water Services Ltd and NHS 24.
Q: Since 2006, Telefónica O2 has sustained a first or second place in the J.D. Power & Associates ‘Mobile Telephone Customer Satisfaction Study’, how much value do you feel this survey brings and what are the benefits?
These results are an external validation of our commitment to putting the customer first. It assists us in building trust with customers and demonstrates how Telefónica O2 UK takes customer satisfaction very seriously. More than ever, customers rely upon external recognition and insight to help them select a brand. Internally, our survey achievements help to motivate our employees and the Marketing team also derive a lot of value from these awards by including this type of achievement in our communication to customers.
Q: You have recently received the European Industry Award, does this mean that Telefónica O2 is recognised as the service excellence provider across all industries or is it a personal award for outstanding achievement?
The O2 UK Customer Service team won a number of awards that evening and although the Industry Champion Award is a personal award, I view it just as much as a company award, as it is based on O2’s reputation too. I think it does reflect how passionate I am about changing the poor perception of Customer Service as a profession, which currently exists. I try to take every opportunity I can to convey not only the great job done every day by the thousands of people who work in service roles, but also the incredible career development opportunities which exist within Customer Service. This is one of the reasons why I am such a strong supporter of the Institute of Customer Service (ICS).
Q: Telefónica O2 UK is clearly best in class, how do you manage to keep these high scores and stay ahead of competition?
What is different at Telefónica O2 UK is that customer focus is not only a customer service or marketing objective but it is a fundamental business strategy. All of our goals are about customers. This is a very different approach from most other companies. Everyone within the company is working towards the same goal. Furthermore we are continuously raising the bar. O2 UK want to be not just better than other telecom providers, we want to become recognised among the best service providers across all industries, people like Apple and Amazon, for example. Customer Experience is in our company’s DNA. Our objective is to turn our customers into fans and each employee within the company understands the role they play in doing this.
Q: From my readings, you appear as a very hands-on, pragmatic and involved manager. What drives your passion for customer service?
I think it is really a sense of justice. It only seems fair that customers obtain what they have paid for. But I am passionate about it and it drives me to try to do the right thing for every customer. And I'm also conscious that having happy customers is a consequence of having happy employees. In order to turn customers into fans, we need to turn our people into fans first and a large part of my job is to create the right role model within our business. Yesterday for instance, I received an email from an unhappy customer at 7:20 pm. I called the customer back immedaitely - to his total amazement- and sorted out his issue. This is a small thing but it is the kind of story that gives my team confidence that everyone in O2 UK, including the board, take personal responsibility for looking after our customers: little things like that make a big difference.
Outside of work I am pretty obsessed with improving Customer Service in this country. For example I always fill in the customer survey forms in hotels and restaurants and I remember when my daughters were small and we were going shopping they would say ‘mummy you are not going to complain again are you’!
Q: It is known that your on-going mission is to turn customers into fans and one way chosen to achieve this is to link employee performance to pay. How has that been reflected in your results?
Managers across the company have performance against our overall Customer Satisfaction Index linked to their remuneration. In the Contact Centres, advisors have a bonus scheme linked to feedback from the Customers they have spoken to. Customer feedback collected is specifically centred on the advisor’s customer handling skills and knowledge. This allows us to separate the business process from the individual's performance, which they can control. This approach needs a lot of detail, but it is hard for an individual to improve their performance if they are being measured on things they cannot control, so it is worth the effort. Sometimes our people feel that customers wrongly score them, but ultimately the customer decides and that is the way we drive our business.
Q: In the telecom industry, customer service is reported as being the root cause of customer dissatisfaction in 50% of complaints received at passion 4 customers. In your opinion what drives this dissatisfaction?
There are a number of factors. Mobile phones have become such a vital part of our daily lives that if something goes wrong, it causes Customers distress and anxiety. It's like oxygen - O2! The rate at which telecoms companies have grown certainly plays a part in this and another factor in mobile is increasing handset complexity. Advisors may simply not be trained on the latest technology. Many telecom providers are not providing the required skills and knowledge to their advisors fast enough to keep up with technology developments and as a consequence, advisors are not able to properly manage customer interactions. If they do not have access to the right information or knowledge, they are put in an awkward position and in that case, when that happens, they react emotionally. Advisors are not to blame; it is the company who is responsible.
Q: In comparison, the telecom industry scores lower in customer satisfaction than the high-tech or consumer electronics industries, why is that in your opinion?
I think this is again the point that communication is like oxygen - compared with other markets, the connectivity in the telecom industry is such that people’s lives depend on it. Other consumer electronic products may be fun or luxury items and customers are disappointed if they experience problems with them, but they don't depend on them, so their response is less severe when things go wrong.
Q: There is always room for improvement but given yours and Telefónica O2’s success, what are your goals? Where does it end?
Our mission is to be recognised as a leading Connectivity Service brand, thought of alongside household names like Amazon and Apple. We want O2 to be on the tip of any customer’s tongue when they think about great service, not just a great mobile company.
Personally, my ambition is to change the awful reputation that Customer Service is labelled with. There is a tremendous opportunity to turn around Customer Service in the UK, for the benefit of our economy and our lives as users of services. In my opinion the role of the service industry in our economy is undervalued, and there is little respect for the millions of people who work in customer service; these are things I am passionate about changing!