Branson Voted Top Dog In Customer Service Poll

Virgin entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has been voted Britain's best "Ambassador for Customer Service" in a recent poll carried out by the Institute of Customer Service (ICS).

The survey, which polled the opinions of 74 industry professionals, saw Branson beat-off strong competition from the likes of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (who claimed second place) and insurer Churchill's eponymous toy dog (third place).

Speaking about the poll results, ICS chief executive Jo Causon praised Branson, Bezos and the insurance world's most popular cartoon dog's success in the realm of customer service. "Sir Richard is often prepared to take the customer's side" said Causon adding that Jeff Bezos "broke the mould" with Amazon, with his concept for "effective, personalised, online customer service."

Despite being an animation with a rather limited vocabulary, Churchill the dog was credited by Causon as symbolising a company that places "good customer service at its heart".

The survey kicked off the ICS's annual National Customer Service week, a series of events which sees participating employers treat their customer service personnel to fun activities such as treasure hunts and "Star Wars themed" weeks. The overall aim is that employers in the public, private and third sectors be able to acknowledge the work carried out by their customer-facing staff.

Around 1,500 companies are set to take part in this year's celebrations with many more getting involved across the globe. The importance of a progressive approach to customer service appears to be compelling, with ICS research indicating that companies with a good reputation and "committed front-line staff" have a 24 percent higher net profit margin than same sector competitors.

Organisations endorsing the ICS's week, including Virgin Trains, Unilever, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Barclaycard, also cite the benefits to morale, saying that the ICS's week reminds everyone in the business that customer service is every employee's concern.

(Photo: tobybarnes, CC2.0)