James Timpson
James Timpson is the Managing Director of Timpson’s - a family retail business established in 1865.
Why he’s worth listening to:
Timpson trades from 600 sites across the UK and Ireland, turns over £100 million and employs 1700 people. The unique upside down management culture throughout the business ensures that those serving customers are the most important in the business.
Timpson has won many awards for both its customer service and its levels of employee satisfaction and James will share with the audience how the company continues to balance the need to increase profits with their commitment to employee satisfaction.
Julian Stainton
Julian Stainton is the Chief Executive of WPA (the Western Provident Association), one of the UK's leading health insurers. Julian sees his job as seeing the world through the eyes of the consumer. Officially he is the CEO but his real job is as the chief representative of customers.
Why he’s worth listening to:
WPA is one of the country's leading health insurers, with a history of service stretching back to 1901. The origins of WPA lie in the Trade Union movements of that time, providing access to healthcare - such as it was - through workplace contributions. WPA has a remarkable reputation for industry-leading standards of service coupled with highly innovative product development. WPA has been voted top service provider by health insurance policyholders for the last ten years running and is one of only a handful of companies, worldwide, to be accredited with the Gold Standard Kite-Mark by the British Standards Institution. The guiding principle behind the Company's success is to treat all customers as one would hope to be treated oneself.
Mark Bradley
Mark Bradley is a consultant, writer and business speaker with a talent for bringing the customer experience vividly to life.
Why he’s worth listening to:
Mark Bradley is a consultant, writer and business speaker with a talent for bringing the customer experience vividly to life. An expert in customer service and author of Inconvenience Stores, one family’s testing retail travelogue, Mark’s work richly evokes the UK consumer experience in a way that brings a new objectivity to business.
Mark’s provocative, entertaining and imaginative contributions have brought him to the attention of the media, where he’s appeared on BBC1’s Are We Being Served? BBC2’s Working Lunch and regularly on BBC Radio Five Live as well in the regional media.
Once described as the Carrie Bradshaw of UK service, Mark continues the fight to raise the profile of customer service in his newspaper and magazine columns.
He maintains that the low profile of service in the UK – and its root causes – explains why most customer service initiatives are doomed to fail. The answer, Mark contends, is by rigorously examining service experiences from the customer’s perspective and attacking some of the internally-fixated business conventions that have driven us to this impasse.
Mark’s second book Retails of the Unexpected is to be published in 2008.
Jane Hanson
Jane Hanson is Head of HR at first direct.
Why she's worth listening to:
Since joining first direct in 2000 as a project manager for the Human Resources team, Jane has worked on the many workplace initiatives which have led to first direct being recognised as a benchmark employer.first direct’s focus is on the continuous improvement of working life at first direct. The unique culture which exists as a result, provides the base on which they have built their excellent customer service which has led to them winning numerous awards for service excellence.
Andy Hanselman
Andy Hanselman is an expert in improving business competitiveness and is a regular speaker on business development issues such as Leadership, Revolutionary Organisations, CRM, and Customer Care.
Why he's worth listening to:
His specialist subject is ‘Maximising Customer Relationships’. Having presented to over ten thousand business leaders and decision makers, Andy is recognised for his engaging, humorous, and down to earth approach. His stimulating, motivational and practical style offers real solutions to today's business problems.
Paul Varley
Paul Varley is a Divisional Managing Director of eaga PLC, the UK's leading provider of residential energy efficiency solutions.
Why he's worth listening to:
eaga is a company that has seen rapid growth recently and now employs over 3,000 people. The company has grown both organically and via acquisition; the result being a disperate workforce who have come from various organisations, with all different cultures.
Paul will share with us how they have reinforced their true culture of customer care via an intensive ‘eaga cares’ campaign; a road show allowing Directors of the business to engage with each and every single member of staff throughout a three month period. Paul will tell us how he and his colleagues adapted the campaign each week as they spoke to blue and white collar workers, and ultimately how they have successfully managed to grow the business whilst keeping the essence and culture of the organisation at the forefront of their minds.