Please introduce yourself! What is your role within Domino?
I'm Vivienne Hawker, the UK Customer Experience Manager for Domino. The role focuses on the entire customer journey. I review issues that are logged, identify trends and then implement improvements that will impact and improve our customer’s experience.
How long have you been at Domino? How has your role changed over the years?
I've been at Domino just over ten years, since October 2008. I started on a temporary six month contract as an Aftermarket Coordinator in the UK sales and service business. Initially, I was looking after customer agreements and booking customer training with our training academy, as well as providing support for our aftermarket team. I was given a permanent contract six months later.
In December 2010, I was rewarded with additional responsibility. As Customer Operations Team Leader I managed a team which included the aftermarket team, sales support team, equipment demonstration facilitator and the samples technician. It gave me a solid understanding of wider aspects spanning the UK sales and service organisation.
In 2014 we made a strategic decision to join the Institute of Customer Service, which would shift the focus of my role again. Survey responses suggested that we had some work to do to improve our service delivery and meet our aspirations of delivering consistent world class levels. Additionally our score for employee engagement was lower than we expected. We restructured the business, allowing me to be released from line management and focus purely on customer experience. From November 2015 I became the UK Customer Experience Manager.
What do you most enjoy about working at Domino?
That’s an easy one, I work with great people. A lot of the UK team have been at Domino for a long time so you do become a bit like a family. Our people take pride in the work they're doing. People are always going over and above, in order to satisfy customers.
It helps that Domino really make all staff feel valued. We've got a great social committee who are always organising events that are subsidised by the company. I have also been able to receive support from our charity committee when doing fundraising events. On a more personal level, there are lots of perks working for Domino. I benefit from extra holiday this year because I’ve just completed ten years, so that's a nice benefit that rewards and highlights our long term commitment!
Could you pinpoint a standout moment in your Domino journey that’s led to where you are today?
As I said before, we became members of the Institute of Customer Service back in 2014. Inviting customers to provide feedback on the service they've received from Domino was a big turning point for us, providing objective insight on the business that we didn’t have before then. Over the next couple of years we started addressing the areas that customers said we needed to improve.
Each year our survey results improved. Then in 2017 we gained service accreditation with the Institute of Customer Service. That was a huge achievement for me personally as well as the business as a whole. The accreditation was achieved by reviewing the survey results and customer feedback. We designed action plans for improvement, and had an independent assessment of the business - which incorporated face-to-face interviews with staff, remote interviews with field-based teams and some job shadowing too.
The customer service accreditation is far more than a fancy trophy for the mantelpiece. We continue to stay focused on driving a ‘continuous improvement’ mentality across the whole team. As a result we are in a position where we feel we have a better understanding of our customers. Not many businesses can say that with total honesty. We're more aligned with customer manufacturing processes and as we put our management team through Lean Six Sigma training, we are starting to speak the same manufacturing language as our customers. It means we can recognise how we can help to make our customers’ businesses more efficient and eliminate waste in their processes.
Why do you think customers choose Domino?
We have a superb range of quality products. We have excellent provisions for customer service. And we have a great support team. A step up in support training in the last couple of years has improved response times too. But what customers really love is our openness and honesty.
We don’t get it right all the time, that’s almost impossible in our line of work. But we actively encourage our customers to tell us when we don't achieve the customer standard SLAs or if they feel let down by us. People generally don't like to complain. By encouraging our customers to speak up we can jump on any service issues as soon as they arise, and drive continuous improvement within the business to avoid reoccurence. Our customers appreciate how responsive we are when they need us.
A simple ethos. But it works.
People first: it’s an ethos that’s inked indelibly into the parchment of Domino. It’s about recognising that every person, at every level, has the opportunity to nurture their career and shape the future of the company. That results in energised employees, excited to provide great service.
Stay tuned for the next blog post in the Behind Our Printers series as we introduce you to some of the people who make Domino a world leader in commercial printing. Or if you would like to know more about working within Domino, visit our careers area.
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