On a busy train this week two young children were bickering one shouting, ‘it’s not fair’. The frustrated mother replied, ‘get used to it - life’s not fair’. The child replied in teary confusion, ‘I know but it’s not fair’. Somehow as adults we know life’s not always fair but we still expect things to be as fair as possible.

There’s a growing agenda around fairness to customers, in particular within the financial sector, supported by FCA legislation.

At the heart of this agenda is of course trust; if we think that an organisation mostly ‘is on our side’ and doing the best for us, we are much more likely to forgive them and less likely to complain about an occasional slip or act of ‘unfairness’.

Last week I had the privilege of a meeting with the Lord Mayor of London, Charles Bowman at Mansion House in The City. The meeting was to look at possible synergies of the CCA agenda of improved professionalism in customer service and the Lord Mayor’s programme, ‘The Business of Trust’.

This programme aims to provide guidance about the actions financial institutions and service organisations should take in an uncertain world, post 2008 crash, and with continued uncertainty around Brexit, to demonstrate commitment to customers. 

A citizens’ jury concluded that what matters most is: 

Doing what you do well 

Doing the right thing

Having a wider purpose 

Focusing on customers

Communicating clearly

Full details of the business of trust documentation can be found here.

You could say that mostly trust is there to be lost; we tend to choose an organisation/individual we think is going to treat us fairly. It’s what happens along the journey which can build or erode this precious commodity.

It’s easy to slip up in our ‘always on’ digital world with numerous touch points in complex customer journeys, and often multiple partners delivering the overall service.

CCA Global Standard© is a tried and tested operating model ‘critical friend’ which is useful for self-assessment and or accreditation. It majors in testing how joined up your organisation is in serving customers - in other words helping to build trust in employees and customers.

To access your copy of the Standard and extensive guidelines click here.

We are looking forward to working with the hundreds of organisations who have chosen to be accredited and demonstrate commitment to customer service. For details of our 2018 extensive events programme click here.

There are loads of words of wisdom to help us focus on trust and fairness, I quite like this one viewed through a customer lens.

Have a great weekend!