Curo, the Bath and Bristol-based housing association, has increased their customer satisfaction by 46% thanks to work to put the customer first.
The improvements have also increased staff engagement by 61% and they have taken steps to become an employer of choice after implementing the company-wide development programme.
Customer training specialist Energize Learning designed and delivered the modular programme for Curo’s 450 staff, from the frontline to the chief executive, after analysing customer interactions and running focus groups to identify key service challenges.
“Our number one strategic priority has always been to create a renowned customer service culture,” said Donna Baddeley, Curo Group’s Executive Director of Transformation and Business Improvement. “It’s part of building our brand and strengthening our offer to the market. To instil a ‘way of being’ with our customers, and put the customer at the heart of everything we do, we chose to introduce a tailored development solution.”
Energize delivered the first module, covering customer-centric attitudes and behaviours, for mixed cohorts of colleagues, which brought people together from different parts of the business.
The second module was delivered for colleagues in their teams and focused on resolving difficult customer situations and how teams could work together more productively to meet the needs of internal and external customers.
Energize also ran separate sessions for Curo’s 70 managers, outlining their responsibility as role models and how they can use coaching to encourage and reinforce the right behaviour. A ‘train the trainer’ session was also delivered, to enable Curo to run the programme itself for new colleagues as they join.
To help sustain the learning, Energize ran a session for internal champions outlining how they could promote good practice and ensure that individuals and teams lived the commitments they had made to improve customer service across the organisation.
“It’s been an excellent programme and all aspects of it were focused on our needs, highly engaging and expertly facilitated,” said Donna Baddeley. “We can definitely see tangible benefits throughout the business. People are more motivated, they’re more focused on meeting the needs of customers, they’re choosing their attitude, encouraging others to be positive and using the concepts and terminology from the programme.”
Curo commissions independent surveys of its customers and it uses an indicator called ‘net promoter score’, to gauge customer satisfaction and the loyalty of its customer relationships.
“Our customer net promoter score has increased by 46% and that’s a direct correlation of the improved service we’re now delivering,” said Donna Baddeley. “Customers are also saying we’re living our values more. On top of that, our staff net promoter score has increased by 61%. All of these improvements can be traced back to the Energize programme.”
She adds that the benefits of the programme could have far-reaching implications. “If our colleagues are unfailingly courteous and polite, and they go the extra mile for customers, that will clearly drive customer loyalty,” she said. “Plus, if we’re seen as positive and progressive, we’ll become an employer of choice and that will help us to attract and retain great people. Because we’re expanding our commercial activities, our reputation in the market is now even more important.
“If we can differentiate ourselves in terms of being ethical, offering value for money and delivering excellent service, that will help us achieve our ambitious growth plans.”
