What the NHS can teach us about customer relationship management

When you think of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) then excellent customer relationship management is probably not the thing that springs to mind. Talk to any UK citizen and for all the genuine positive feeling about the NHS – witness the recent “Clap for Carers” and happy 72nd birthday celebration – there will be a good sprinkling of people with awful tales of long wait times, misdiagnoses and all manner of poor interpersonal reactions.

I’m maybe lucky in that most of my interactions – and as we’ll see, there have been quite a few – have been positive, but I’d like to highlight one series that has much to teach the commercial sector about customer relationships.

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Towels and farewells

Towel Day has passed me by in the last few years (actually it’s passed me by since its inception) but I noticed it last week and as it reminded of a towel-related customer experience I’d intended to write something and shamelessly exploit the hashtag for a link or two. In the end a mild virus – barely even man-flu – was enough to put paid to that plan but, as it’s quite a good lesson in customer experience I won’t save it until next year.

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Don’t get SMART, get DUMB too

SMART objective in sight
The author with a SMART objective in sight

It’s still, just about, the beginning of 2017 and definitely time – if you haven’t already done so – to set some objectives for the year. Set them already? Done your tax return? All set for February’s challenges? Good for you – this post might not be for you, however if you still have a nagging sense of self-doubt after all that efficiency, read on…

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