Jamie Fisher from Supercard Worldwide talks leadership and customer experience
Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
I’m Jamie Fisher, the Chief Commercial Officer of Supercard Worldwide. Having worked in rewards and benefits for over 10yrs, I am passionate about building world-class products and delivering world-class service. Supercard is the leading lifestyle benefit provider in the UK, providing rewards directly to consumers as well as to organisations who want to give their customers more value.
I’ve worked in rewards and benefits in different guises for circa 10yrs. Starting in employee benefits, I ran the partnerships team at NHS Discounts, bringing together all the best offers for NHS staff members to save on everything from travel to insurance.
Seeing the savings these members made each day encouraged me to branch out and set up schemes for other closed user groups, venturing into automotive, football clubs and insurance companies, amongst other things.
This might be intuitive, but I think it’s helpful to specifically articulate it. In your words, can you share a few reasons why great customer service and a great customer experience is essential for success in business?
Supercard Worldwide is a product I am very proud of, but more than that, it is a business I am very proud to lead. We wanted to provide a product that members can get value out of every single day, but more so, we want our members to experience world-class customer service. Our customer service is an extension to our product, and as much as we want members to get value from our product, we want our members to feel valued. Word of mouth is essential in any kind of business and reputations can be built or buried based on a customer review, and in my experience customers will talk about their experience with customer service before talking about the product itself.
We have all had times either in a store, or online, when we’ve had a very poor experience as a customer or user. If the importance of a good customer experience is so intuitive, and apparent, where is the disconnect? How is it that so many companies do not make this a priority?
I really don’t know how a business can ignore customer service or not make it a priority.
I can only assume that they have no long term plan or vision for their business and are all about the here and now. How can they make money that day, week or month? That may be great for them in the moment, but they will not be able to build a long term sustainable business with that attitude.
Do you think that more competition helps force companies to improve the customer experience they offer? Are there other external pressures that can force a company to improve the customer experience?
Yes, I think more competition does help force companies into improving their customer service.
However, I disagree with this as a form of motivation. If you need competition to drive your level of customer service, your ethos is all wrong, and in my experience, it may already be too late for you as a business. Customer service is imperative, and it shouldn’t take another player in the market to make you evaluate your own service. This should be at the forefront of your business plan the minute you want to get going.
Can you share with us a story from your experience about a customer who was “Wowed” by the experience you provided?
We have had many customers that have been wowed by their experience with Supercard. We offer many fantastic rewards such as free nights in hotels, free flights and free apartments in the sun. Just like when a customer is booking a holiday for themselves, they want a pleasant experience when booking, they want the hassle taken away, and they want to feel like the holiday starts the minute they are on the phone booking as that is when the excitement kicks in. Although with Supercard the customer isn’t paying for their hotel/flight or holiday, we want them to have the same fantastic experience. We have several customers who felt it was going to be difficult to book with us or a real drawn-out process but are so happy with the service they get, as we want to make sure every customer feels special.
Did that Wow! Experience have any long term ripple effects? Can you share the story?
Exceptional customer service has led to a customer than buying Supercard for their customers. They were a business owner, and he loved our product and was blown away from the service he received, so he wanted his customers to experience the same. We still work with that client after several years so it has turned into a fantastic partnership.
Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things a founder or CEO should know in order to create a Wow! Customer Experience. Please share a story or an example for each.
- Whoever is running a business should always know what their customer service score is. How do they KPI their customer service agents (if telephony based) or how do they monitor their customer service online. They should always know what it is to improve it.
- They should always know how many customer service agents they need to manage the service. Again, whether this is online or through voice, there is nothing worse than a customer service team being understaffed, and a leader should know exactly what they need.
- They should know what is being said. How do they monitor calls/online chats? Are they doing mystery calls or call listening? This must be constantly monitored.
- Is the training up to date? We always try to evolve our product and customer experience, and therefore agents must be trained continuously and kept up to speed with change.
- Remember how you expect to be treated. If your team treat customers the way you would want to be treated, you won’t go far wrong.
Are there a few things that can be done so that when a customer or client has a Wow! experience, they inspire others to reach out to you as well?
There are many things a customer or client can do to inspire others. I feel we live in a culture where customers/clients are quick to complain when they are unhappy but not as quick to praise in public when they experience something great, I’m certainly guilty of this myself.
Word of mouth is essential for most businesses and while I beleive customers should expect excellent service, it is a priority for us to excel so that our customers want to rave about us to their friends and family.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Connect me on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-fisher-652a3422/
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
