Fizzback captures the mood at European Customer Management World

Customer Experience professionals from across the globe gathered at the European Customer Management World 2008 conference in London to share knowledge, compare war stories and pow-wow with business leaders such as. Sir Richard Branson, Fred Reichheld, Stephen Covey and Daniel Pink. For the second successive year, Fizzback was on hand to contribute to the discussion, measuring and managing the delegate experience through use of the Fizzback system.

Indeed, Phones 4u Group Marketing Director, Jim Slater , (a serious Fizzback user himself), made a real impact on Day One of the show, giving a presentation that so impressed the audience that one delegate suggested he should have his own TV show! Jim talked about the importance of listening to customers, responding to them, and acting upon their comments within the context of “Seven Habits of Tomorrow’s Customer Experience Leaders” – an approving nod towards Stephen Covey’s seminal management book. Introduced by Fizzback CEO Rob Keve, Jim highlighted the challenges of moving towards a customer service culture, taking a holistic view of people, process and technology elements, and shared the company’s successes so far, including a significant movement in net advocacy score.  We’re particularly proud of our work with Phones 4u – as well as providing the executive team with actionable insight, the Fizzback system drives desirable front-line behaviour, and this directly impacts customer satisfaction.

Jim Slater and Rob Keve take the stage

For more information on how Phones 4u benefits from Fizzback click here.

Highlights from day one included Stephen Covey, author of ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’, and Fred Reichheld, the thought leader behind such concepts as “Net Promoter Score.” Covey emphasised the need to lead by principles, rather than practices, which can become rigid and inflexible to external forces. He also made the point that leadership should not be exclusive to senior executives but should be present throughout an organisation.  We strongly agree – our own research shows a strong correlation between staff attitude and customer satisfaction; therefore empowering front-line employees and rewarding the right behaviour is a critical component of world-class customer experience management.  Reichheld outlined new findings supporting NPS, suggesting that companies that achieve long-term profitable growth have Net Promoter Scores two times higher than the average company.

On Day Two, the star attraction was Sir Richard Branson, who gave some inspiring insights into not only how to build multi-billion pound organisations, but also his efforts to combat war and poverty across the globe. Sir Richard stressed the importance of flat organizational structures and empowering employees to find roles that allow them to succeed, explaining that the Virgin Group grew out of many small companies operating at optimum strength. Immediately following Sir Richard’s talk, with delegates still gripped by entrepreneurial zeal, Fizzback hosted a lunchtime workshop entitled “The 2008 Customer Engagement” report, the highlights of which are detailed here.  The workshop was lively and interactive, with viewpoints expressed from a broad selection of consumer and corporate companies.  Other highlights on day two included presentations from authors Ken Blanchard and Daniel Pink, and IPSOS Loyalty’s Timothy Keiningham.