And the Denholm Award Goes to...
Denholm Associates supported a number of prestigious awards in Scotland in 2008, all of which recognise excellence in the agency’s specialist fields.
Sponsoring three major award ceremonies in the Scottish calendar, The National Business Awards for Scotland, The HR Network Awards, and The Drum Advertising Awards, has underlined Denholm’s commitment to recognising business achievement and has effectively linked the company with topical issues that affect recruitment patterns.
As a precursor to the National Business Awards for Scotland, Denholm hosted a debate between the high calibre finalists of the Denholm Customer Focus Award. The discussion centred round customer care and whether effective customer focus is a result of hiring the right personality or providing skills training. Is process and technical ability more desirable that personal character traits?
A unanimous belief between the finalists of the award, Bright Grey, Capita Business Services’ BBC Information, Kwik-Fit Insurance, Dell Corporation and Lloyds TSB Scotland, was that employees who do not actually enjoy their work transfer this emotional response directly into poor levels of customer service.
“You can’t expect your customer to receive a better experience than your employees do,” said Lesley Millar, Customer Care Manager of Bright Grey, the specialist protection arm of insurer Royal London.
“Customer experience is the outcome of employees’ experience,” said Gordon Watson, Customer Centre Manager at Bright Grey.
They had a clear approach to the balance required between recruiting employees with the skills and the right attitude. “Recruit for character and train for skills,” said Millar.
Computer manufacturer Dell requires employees to have a strong technical background. “We hire for their technical skills but we manage those skills,” said Customer Experience Manager John O’Dowd, who aims to instil a customer focus in them. “It is a balance.”
The discussion backed up the belief that effective customer focus has to be balanced with business needs. According to Anton Manley, Managing Director of Smart Co (Kwik-Fit Insurance), “some people we have recruited allow their passion for the customer to spend two days working on one particular thing whereas someone else spends two hours. There isn’t the balance there. We need to recruit people who can provide that balance.”
