Julie Wales – Customer Service Training

Customer Service Expert

With a wealth of experience behind her, Julie is an Impact Factory Senion Training Consultant and takes the lead training role for a number of private, public and charitable organisations. As well as working for a number of blue chip companies, she has also worked for The Arts Council, The Media Trust, The BBC, The British Film Institute, Tower Hamlets and Southwark Councils, Kingston University and Heinemann and Collins Educational.

Her Customer Service credentials include, amongst other training projects, rolling out a whole series of lively Customer Service workshops for customer-facing staff across an entire local council, which received great feedback. The only complaint was being asked to keep the noise down as a result of laughter from the training room.

Personally infuriated by our country's generally poor approach to customer service, she claims to be a fully paid up member of the People's Popular Front for Dignified Treatment of Downtrodden Customers.

Of course, Customer Service is a serious business, especially where staff may be getting themselves the wrong sort of reputations. It costs! Nevertheless, we still offer a lighthearted approach to Customer Service Training. Why? Because we think that's the best training environment for people to reconsider their behaviours.

When treated as adults, we think people can then come clean about the sorts of things that really happen when their buttons have been sorely pressed. We then offer them chance to practice more constructive alternatives, ones that don't necessarily require a lobotomy.

As the mother of 3 teenage daughters, Julie argues special victim status when it comes to stories of dire customer service. For dire, see 'complacent', 'indifferent', 'arrogant' or 'downright swearword rude'.

Where does it all go wrong? Given that we all know what it's like to be on the receiving end of exemplary customer service, how can those who dish it out forget what it feels like to be treated poorly or treated well?

In our case as a training company, the latter translates as us 'going that extra mile' to ensure that our clients feel valued, properly listened to and heard - so that their wish lists are fully honoured. Ultimately, we want everyone to see tangible returns for their training investment to secure positive wins all round.

In fact, our workshops start from this positive premise too. We believe that most of us want to be perceived to be doing a good job, our products or services worth the money. So, rather than beat people over the head with a shopping list of things they should be doing better, we like to celebrate all the stuff they are already doing well.

To rework some old lyrics, we like to 'accentuate the positive, to eliminate the negative... and not mess with Mr (or Ms) in-between. Given that just a few small changes can improve customer service and company reputations significantly if each participant adopts one small change to their behaviours Bingo!

By making these small and subtle changes a different impact is created, which tend to gather momentum and shift customer perception which is, after all, what it's all about.

Call us on +44 (0)20 7226 1877 for further information.

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