News: Customer Service/Care
Call centre training pays off for financial and retail sectors
14 October 2008
Rigorous customer service and call centre training have resulted in the UK's top 50 organisations being recognised by a leading industry publication.
Carried out by independent market research firm GfK NOP, the call centre benchmarking exercise was commissioned by Call Centre Focus magazine with the aim of raising customer service standards and highlighting the benefits of training in the sector.
The results were based on 20,000 mystery shopper calls to 50 leading call centres in areas including retail, financial services and insurance as well as the public sector.
Financial services and retail proved to be the strongest performing sectors, with telephone and online bank First Direct topping the list.
Payment plan provider Denplan came second, followed by asset management firm F&C Investments and Lloyds TSB Insurance.
Claudia Hathway, the editor of Call Centre Focus, remarked that the benchmarking survey should inspire other call centres to improve their levels of customer service - via call centre training - to reach similar standards.
"By investing in the frontline employees who provide call centre service, organisations have an opportunity to differentiate their performance and increase customer long-term loyalty," she noted.
Other organisations featured in the survey included Boots, Vodafone, John Lewis Direct and Virgin Atlantic Airways.
