Severn Trent: Humanising Customer Service – ‘Can I Have Your Post Code Please?’

The Story

Severn Trent has 4.3 million customer connections and serve almost 8 million people supplying 1.8bn litres of drinking water each day, or almost 75m litres of water every hour. They have more water pipes than any other water company, with the longest sewer network outside London!

As any organisation with that many customers, processes and procedures have to be firmly in place to underpin the service provision. However, when things go wrong as inevitability they will from time to time, the last thing any customers wants to hear is ‘Can I have your postcode?’.

With this in mind, the client was keen to implement learning to better ‘humanise’ the interaction between customer and CSA, which is where RightTrack came in…

The Solution and The Programme

Our first task was to complete research by talking to managers and CSAs, listening to a range of inbound calls and understanding certain client processes and procedures. From there we prepared a step by step, easy to use training manual and to support the learning, we scripted a range of client specific videos, using two of our own professional actors.

A RightTrack facilitator trained four programmes directly to CSAs, this was quickly followed by training the customer service management team on how to best evaluate the new performance, as part of their performance management activity.

Part of the project was to develop the skills of the in-house trainers to roll out the rest of the material and keep it up to date. In addition, we also prepare 4 e-Less Learning sessions, designed to be used by client trainers and team leaders, to build on the learning already established through the ‘Can I Have Your Postcode’ programme.

Design

  • Research, scoping and writing of a step-by-step training manual
  • Fully branded material
  • Hard and soft copies of the manual
  • Scripted, created, filmed learning videos using RightTrack professional actors
  • Preparation of e-Less Learning to build on main programme, or delivery by client experienced trainers and those with no previous training

Customer Service Agents

Developed four cohorts of CSAs in a range of skills:

  • Humanising customer service
  • Changing the customer interaction to better support the customer
  • Skills including empathy and communication

Management Development

  • The management team attended learning to ensure they understood the content of the ‘Can I Have Your Postcode’? programme and skills to evaluate performance:
  • What is the CSA programme all about?
  • How can I evaluate and support my staff to improve performance?
  • How can I keep the learning alive?

Train the Trainer Training

  • Trainers and managers attended a train a trainer programme
  • Each attendee then ran an element of the learning themselves
  • Each received individual feedback from colleagues and trainer

e-Less Learning – Short Bite-Sized Learning Sessions

  • Designed specifically for the client to utilise in-house
  • Very short, 30-minute sessions
  • Provided learning that built on the ‘Can I Have Your Postcode?’ programme
  • Enabled client to be self-sufficient in keeping the learning alive
  • Managers and team leaders could run the short sessions alongside team meetings

The Impact

  • 100% of delegates said that the programme would help them perform their roles better and 100% of delegates would recommend this programme to others
  • “The trainer was really energetic and engaging. The material was applicable and streamlined” – Kerry Price, Team Leader
  • “I would definitely recommend this programme, it has practical uses for every day” Steve Blowens, Team Leader
  • “Superb content and delivery” Jodie Bowen, Business Lead

RightTrack were a pleasure to work with from start to finish. From capturing our initial requirements, all the way through to delivery they were professional and kept us informed every step of the way, giving us the opportunity to review and feedback at all stages. The videos they created were fantastic and the training was delivered with high energy meaning it was well received by our frontline staff. I would highly recommend RightTrack to anyone considering how to best deliver training.

Andrew McQuinn, Improvement Project Manager