Over the past few weeks we have attended various meetings and conferences with analysts, industry experts and a range of other experienced and qualified academics and business people.   There are certainly lots of very exciting and interesting things happening but when you take a step back it seems that, as an industry, we tend to lose ourselves in complexity.

 
What we know to be true is that to get service right we need to understand our customers.  Our customers need to believe that their feedback will be actioned.  Our staff need to be empowered to be able to provide the best service possible.  And underpinning all of this is solid management practice – and a belief that service is the differentiator.
 
Look at the diet industry: we all know what we need to do to lose weight yet we love hearing about the latest fad or miracle pill that will give us a quick fix. When in actual fact rather than dressing it up and skirting the issue, we know we need to get down to the job in hand.
 
There is no silver bullet – getting customer contact right is about being sensible, putting in the work and applying common sense.  Customers want you to keep your promise – it was ever thus and will be ever more.