Customer First Strategy
2016
“Working together to deliver P.R.I.D.E. in Corby.”
January 2016
Introduction
We want to put our Customers first, at the heart of what we do and the services we deliver.
The Customer Service Strategy will seek to drive both cultural and technological
improvements, it is based on our core values that describe how we will behave with
customers and how we will manage accessibility to the Council’s services with an emphasis
on delivering Pride throughout all that we do and all that we achieve, embedding our Core
Values into all our service areas. We are committed to advancing the equality of opportunity,
to eliminate discrimination and promote good relations in both our community and our
workforce. It outlines our ambition for the quality and experience we want our customers to
have and meet their expectations. We strive for delivering excellence in our services and
our mission to enable us to achieve this is:
“Working together to deliver P.R.I.D.E. in Corby”
This strategy provides a framework for the management of customer contact, information
management and access to our services.
An action plan is included which provides the details for how we will achieve and implement
the strategy; this will be reviewed and updated annually.
Our services need to be cost effective, fit for purpose and responsive.
This supports Corby Borough Council’s Corporate Plan 2015-2020 and our Core Values.
The Councils core values are:
PRIDE
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Professional
Respectful
Inclusive
Driven
Efficient
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Vision
To deliver equality and excellence in Customer Services by offering a
consistent positive customer experience for all access channels and
services used. Customers include people who live, work or visit the
Borough as well as businesses, agencies, members and colleagues who
use the services provided by the Council.
All employees can affect the image of the Council as a whole. As an
Investor in People organisation, we recognise and value the investment
in our employees to deliver the vision of our expected standards of
customer service, ensuring that our employees are friendly,
knowledgeable and professional.
The service a customer receives will be consistent regardless of whether
this is through self serve, telephone or face to face during any interaction
with any employee or contractor of the Council. We aim to build on this
by having clear corporate identity standards such as email signatures,
letterheads, leaflets, employees to wear uniforms or badges so they are
identifiable and that our buildings are accessible, clean and smart. This
ensures that we are easily identifiable to our customers and that our
brand is synonymous of our service standards.
We have set service standards so customers know what to expect, we
need to deliver on promises so we can build trust with service users.
We will regularly measure and monitor our performance and standards
and customer satisfaction through mystery shopper exercises and
surveys and utilise any feedback from customers and employees about
our services and make improvements, we will further embed our
complaints, compliments process and ensure we review and learn from
the information we receive. This means that we can plan our services
around customer’s needs and expectations and we will redesign
processes to make them more efficient and customer friendly.
We want to explore opportunities for providing joint services such as co
location with our partners so a range of services can be accessed at the
same point and increase our existing links with partner organisations to
provide support to those most in need, we will promote equality of
access ensuring information is available to everyone in the format they
prefer supporting diversity and social inclusion.
The Councils intention is to make it easier for people to understand what
services are available and the ways in which it can be accessed, having
a fully comprehensive website to be a good source of information. We
will consider improved self service within the One Stop Shop, and other
council service points (including leisure centres), to encourage those
We have on
average 60,000
visitors to the
One Stop Shop
each year.
We answer
over 380,000
calls per year.
We have over
1,000,000 users
of our Leisure
facilities each
year.
We receive
over 1,600,000
emails each
year.
Over 21,000
Repair callouts
per year.
We have had
822,000 page
views on our
Website in the
last year.
Source: CBC 2015
statistic data
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that can or prefer to use this method to do so and enabling staff to give
time and support to those that need it most.
We aim to develop digital self service channels to enable customer
control over the way that they can contact the council, the services they
use at a time and place that is right for them. Giving them greater choice
and control with the interactions between the Council and customers to
be digital by preference by creating a “My Account” for our customers,
where over time they can access all of their council services from a
single place, where they can pay their bills, order services, book leisure
activities, make suggestions/complaints and track progress, customers
will also be able to sign up for email and text alerts for services such as
waste collections. This will allow us to focus our most expensive
channels such as telephone and face to face contact on offering the
support to those most in need. In creating this service we aim to remove
any disadvantage or barrier a customer may previously had to our
services, and encourage users to be more actively in control of the
services they may use. This will continue as we shape our services for
the future.
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Delivering the vision – what we will do
What we want to achieve
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Professional in all means of communications
by having clear and consistent corporate
identity standards, whatever the access
channel such as email signatures, letterheads.
Positive experience for all customers offering
the right service at the right time
Put things right when we get it wrong and
apologise
Provide support to vulnerable customers
Picture of customer demand and interactions
to shape our services for the future and to plan
services around customers
Resolution at first point of contact wherever
possible
Regular monitoring of performance and
standards
Redesign processes to make more efficient
and customer friendly
Improving the range of services online and
make it as easy as possible to use them
Inclusive services ensuring no-one is excluded
because of their protected characteristic.
Invest in our staff to support our vision and
customers to enable digital services
Improve by listening to our customers through
feedback
Interaction between council and customers to
be digital by preference
Delivering Excellence in all that we do
Deliver what we promise consistently
Digitalise and develop our services online to
enable customer’s access 24/7 to services
Ethos and standards to be built into induction
and revisited for all staff
Engage and Explore feedback from customers
and staff about our services and improvements
Explore opportunities for providing joint
services such as co location with our partners
so a range of services can be accessed at the
same point.
Encourage self service and show our
customers how to get online when they visit
us.
Ensure Consistency of customer experience
for all access methods
Embed our complaints process and ensure we
review and learn from the complaints we
receive.
How
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Standard Letters,
email and telephone
responses
Framework of
Corporate Customer
First training for all
and to be included in
induction.
Mystery shopper
exercise for all service
areas.
Develop methods of
capturing Customer
satisfaction across all
services
Monitoring of staff
development in
relation to Customer
First and PRIDE
values.
Support customers to
use all access
channels and work in
partnership such as
Library.
Monitor and Report
information available
in regards to
transactions.
Online feedback
available for “my
account”
Equality training for all
employees
Work towards
Customer Excellence
standard
Implement “my
account “ online.
Extend self service
options in One Stop
Shop and other
locations.
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Customer Service standards and performance
We aim to:
Answer 85% of calls within 15 seconds
Serve 80% of customers within 10 minutes in the One Stop Shop.
Have an average wait time of less than 10 minutes to see an advisor at the
One Stop Shop.
Acknowledge and respond to your enquiry within 10 working days of receipt
Acknowledge and respond to within 10 working days of receipt.
Respond to your complaint in line with “corporate complaints, compliments
procedure”
Customer Satisfaction – 95% in all service areas
Customer signed up to digital services – to have 3000 active “my accounts”
by March 2017.
We also pledge that we will:
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Treat each customer as an individual.
Acknowledge customers on their arrival at reception areas.
Be polite and helpful in all communications
Aim to resolve queries at first contact.
Wear an identity badge.
Not differentiate between internal or external requests and will treat all with
equal priority and professionalism.
Adopt a positive approach for treating those requesting or receiving our
services with respect, consideration and courtesy.
Have ownership and accountability for all service issues.
Make sure our buildings are accessible, clean and smart.
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Train and develop our staff to help them understand how best they can serve
people with differing needs within our community
Not tolerate disrespectful and unprofessional behaviour and attitudes on the
part of staff or of service users.
Outcomes –How we will measure success
These will be measured by the Customer Service performance indicators, which will be
reviewed on a monthly basis. The outcomes to be delivered by this strategy are:
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Customers find it easy to access our services and information.
Customers can access services and view their information in one place 24/7.
Gain knowledge of our customers and community to shape services for the future.
High customer satisfaction rates for service delivery/information received.
Employees with the right knowledge, skills and behaviours.
Conclusion
Delivering the vision in this strategy will transform our customers experience; they will have
greater choice, control and be able to access our services through a simple and easy to use
digital account, alongside those of other agencies where we work together to support
customers. We will have a workforce with the right skills for the future and have a corporate
brand that will be identified with excellence in our Core Values, quality and performance and
be an employer of choice. We will gain comprehensive information which allows us to inform
and guide our customers to the right services. We will work closely with our communities to
increase access and support. Success is excellent customer service and services which are
fit for purpose and able to evolve as our customers’ needs change.
This strategy is intended to provide clarity about what we want to do and sets out a clear
direction for the Council in this important area.
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