Virgin Atlantic customers have very high expectations and the staff are recruited and trained to deliver these ‘brilliant basics’ to meet expectations and add ‘magic touches’ to exceed these expectations. Virgin Atlantic takes pride in the staff that they recruit and train, and in return the staff are committed and focused to deliver a good customer experience.

Each week the Contact Centre receives many letters from customers expressing thanks for the service that they have received. This is wonderful considering that so often people have the good intention to write and say ‘ Thank You’ but few of us find the time to express this in writing.

John Giddings the General Manager of the Contact Centre rates one of the perks of the job as reading the wonderful letters that our customers have taken the time and trouble to write. The Virgin Atlantic Contact Centre is based in Crawley and includes a Special Assistance team that supports customers with specifics requirements and requests.

The Contact Centre measures its customer experience in two ways. Firstly through a monthly Call Quality programme. This defines the true measure of the customer experience that is being delivered. It is not a “tick box” exercise. John Giddings says “so often companies measure their Call Quality against things like mentioning the customers name three times, which at the end of the day does not impact the customer experience, it is just a measurement tool”

Customer service is about capturing the emotion of the call and managing the customer first and the situation second. It is about building rapport and putting yourself in the customers shoes. This is why the call Quality programme at Virgin Atlantic is so successful.

Virgin Atlantic is also committed to ensuring that all Agents receive off the phone development time. Agents are fully supported by their Team Leaders who are trained to Coach the skills that are required by their Agents. That is why at Virgin Atlantic both the front line managers and trainers regularly go on the phone to ensure that they hone and develop their skills.

The second way that Virgin Atlantic measures is through a monthly Customer Satisfaction Survey supports the Call Quality programme. The questions that the customers are asked are aligned with the Call Quality programme. Staff are recognised for the their Customer Service at the Quarterly Service awards that then feed into the Yearly Awards.

John Giddings commented, “Good customer service is our Contact Centre’s main priority and the personal touch is a tool that they believe gives them a competitive advantage. We are also lucky to have a very committed team of staff that enjoy what they do”.