Our Director of Customer Experience, Natalie Rose, reflects on National Customer Service Week by celebrating our progress in customer care and highlighting the power of empathy, technology, and learning from other sectors to continually raise the bar for customer experience.
National Customer Service Week is always a highlight in the calendar for me. It’s a chance to pause, celebrate, and take stock of how far we’ve come, and where we’re heading to next. As someone who’s passionate about putting people first, I see this week as a brilliant opportunity to shine a light on the everyday moments that make a real difference for our customers.
Over the past year, we’ve made great progress in how we serve our customers, addressing pain points and making it easier to be a Plus Dane customer. I’ve seen first-hand how our teams have embraced curiosity, focusing on empathy and active listening. The result? More customers feeling heard, and more enquiries resolved at the first point of contact.
Like many others, we’re making better use of technology, adopting tools that make things easier for customers and colleagues. Our ‘Smart Serve’ initiative for this year aims to simplify some of those behind-the-scenes tasks, freeing up colleague time to focus on human interaction, as for me, it’s that human touch that matters most. When I look at the positive feedback we receive from customers, it’s always about how thoughtful our colleagues have been, whether that’s taking time to explain the features of a new boiler we’ve installed, or a call to catch up with a customer when we know they’ve had a difficult week. It’s those small gestures that build trust in ways that systems alone never could.
We’ve been sharing case studies with our Board over the last year, bringing to life the work of our colleagues. One customer shared a video, telling their story of overcoming a challenging past and having now been able to create a stable future with the help of our support teams. They signed off the video summarising the difference that our services have made and their last line has stuck with me ever since, “My life is just nice. How it should be”. That change is delivered by so many different teams across Plus Dane who often rally together to not just solve the problem, but to make sure we are there for customers when it matters. These moments remind me why customer service is at the heart of what we do.
I’m a big believer in looking beyond our own sector for inspiration. Customers compare our service to every other experience they have, and expectations are rising, as they should. If Amazon can make buying so effortless that we can place an order in just a couple of clicks, it’s hard to justify the complexity that still exists in housing.
My background in retail and travel taught me the value of sweating the small stuff. Wether it’s how brands are placed in a shopping centre or curating accessible passenger routes. These industries obsess over detail and test relentlessly to get it right.
We’re starting to explore bringing that mindset into our own work: benchmarking against the best, borrowing smart ideas, and staying open to better ways of doing things. “Good enough” just isn’t good enough anymore. It’s no surprise to me that 3 of the top 5 companies in the Institute of Customer Service’s recent satisfaction index report, are digital banks. The likes of Monzo have transformed our expectations when opening a bank account, giving us almost instant access to an account rather than waiting for manual checks to be completed and looking out for a physical card to land on the doorstep weeks later.
National Customer Service Week isn’t just about celebrating—it’s about challenging ourselves to keep raising the bar. I’m proud of what we’ve achieved, but I’m even more excited about what’s next. By listening, learning, and serving with empathy, we can make every customer experience a positive one.
Here’s to another year of progress, celebration, and building relationships that last.
