'Inside out' approach sparks off fresh customer experience ideas

A day at a customer's desk is giving BT Wholesale people a new perspective on how to make the 'customer experience' even better.

The initiative - called 'Back To The Customer' - started as a pilot scheme in April 2008 from an original idea from Senior Client Development Manager Dawn Alleman. Following positive feedback from all those who took part, we are now running it again.

Dawn explains: "Our Customer Experience programme is all about looking at the service we give our customers and their end-customers and making improvements at every step. But our desk-based advisors and managers in the broadband operational teams usually only speak to the customer by phone so they only have a partial picture. So we invited a number of our customers to let our people join their counterparts for a day at the other end of the phone line; that way they get a real feel for what can happen when someone calls BT Wholesale's broadband operational teams with a question, request or order."

As part of the day, the BT Wholesale representatives were also able to meet their customers' senior managers for a service review meeting. Here they had the chance to find out at first hand what their customers' needs, plans and market pressures are - and so how and where BT Wholesale can best help.

Pilot participant, Lisa Hopkins - who was a member of BT Wholesale's Broadband Assurance Diagnostic team - experienced the mutual benefits of the approach. She gained a better understanding of her customer's business but at the same time was able to provide her customer with a far clearer picture of how BT Wholesale's processes work - such as the escalation process - and the reasons behind certain actions we take.

And the advantages of looking 'inside out' don't end on the day itself. Dawn continues: "We ask our people to come back and think what they can personally do to change their customers' experience for the better - and then put that idea into action so that all our customers can gain in a very positive way."

GET MORE >

Broadband service provider? Like to gain from the initiative by welcoming a BT Wholesale broadband team-member into your business for a day? Contact your BT Wholesale account management team now to register your interest.