Nationwide are wowing their customers

Nationwide’s Barking branch won the Team of the Year (Financial) at the UKCE Awards in October… So how did this small branch in East London make such a BIG impact on its customers?

To put it simply, the team in Barking are ‘wowing’ their customers. This is demonstrated by they fact they have improved their customer satisfaction results by an incredible 67% in just two years. They have done this by embracing the corporate strategy, owning customer relationships locally and truly making a significant different to their customers lives. All this against a backdrop of UK-wide high street challenges.

Nationwide has been in business for 160 years and is now the world’s largest Building Society, with 19,000 employees, over 600 branches and four Contact Centres. Unlike our bank competitors we have no shareholders, so we are owned by and run for the benefit of our members. With no external shareholders to pay dividends to, profits are reinvested to provide member benefits. Our only focus is our 16 million customers and our unique position enables us to focus on better serving these customers.

The corporate strategy seamlessly aligns to this and is based on three independent themes that combine to deliver a successful society:

To help bring these themes to life, the Barking team rolled out a number of initiatives without any budget aside from a nominal monthly team recognition allowance to further improve customer satisfaction, employee engagement and financial results.

The initiatives included:

Service Focused Rota The branch recognised that there was insufficient cover during the lunch hour periods and on Saturdays, so the rota was re-visited and the staff worked together to review requirements from a customer perspective, regardless of what had been in place previously.

Outside Lens Approach Each week the District Manager visits the branch and approaches it from a customer’s perspective, firstly reviewing the front and window displays then within the branch – walking the customer journey.

Celebrating Success The teams daily buzz sessions and weekly meetings are focused on recognition on an individual level and a team level. The sessions are brought to life with real customer testimonials and helps nurture even greater service moments.

Making Local Changes Reviewing customer feedback, the branch realised that the ATM was in a difficult position within the branch, so the branch arranged to have the ATM re-located. Not an easy task, but being relentlessly focused on customer experience the team pursued the challenge and influenced head office to make it happen.

Going The Extra Mile Barking recognised that the local customer demographic is diverse and wanted to breakdown and resolve language barriers, so they recruited staff who between them speak five languages. The customers have really appreciated this as it adds another step towards building rewarding relationships.

Outstanding Audit Barking have implemented a number of improvements in the last 12 months based on their previous audit feedback and were delighted when they received an outstanding Grade 1 for their efforts.

Real-time observations Barking have adopted a coaching and continuous improvement culture. The team are constantly carrying out observations to make sure that exemplary customer service is being given at all times.

Cutting customer complaints This is a key concern for us – because it’s an issue that truly impacts the customer experience. It’s for this reason that Barking conduct local root cause analysis on all customer complaints. Our Formal complaints handling processes is incredibly robust and Barking are leading the way on effectively managing any complaints and resolving them at first point of contact in 93% of cases.

Improving customer satisfaction by 67% doesn’t happen without determination, a relentless focus on continuous improvement, actively listening to customers’ feedback and more importantly accepting and acting on this feedback.

The Barking team have made a tangible difference to customers’ lives, without any budget, whilst being faced with operational constraints such as being such a small branch.

On the day of the Customer Experience Awards, the employees at Barking shone through with their personalities and clear passion for doing the right thing for their customers.

Neil Skehel, Managing Director of Awards International, said of the group photo: “This photo shows part of why they are obviously such a good team. They look like they are all moving in unison and thinking the same. They were an absolute credit to Nationwide Building Society at the awards. They brought fun and excitement and a real dynamic commitment to life and the customers. I wish I banked in Barking!”

That is how they saw off competition from Barclays, LV, Admin RE and Visa Europe, as well as Nationwide’s Hull branch to scoop the prize!

Stacey Smith-Beaman
Service Improvement – Group Retail | C2 Nationwide House | Tel: 07793 596 303