Interview with Aileen Allkins, Founder of Aileen Allkins Consultancy

Aileen Allkins Consultancy (AAC) supports businesses in developing world-class customer service experience. Its focus is on delivering a continuous connection between a company, its people, customers, and culture. I help c-suite executives take an active role in integrating first-class customer experience across every level of the organisation and help lay out practical strategies to improve customer service.

The link between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction is well-documented, but few businesses appreciate how crucial customer support and employee engagement and satisfaction is to financial success. Your customer service agents set the tone for a customer’s first interaction with your company and can have a significant impact on brand perception and loyalty.

I support my clients in introducing a truly end-to-end experience across the customer service journey – a process that will ultimately increase revenue and drive customer referrals and retention.

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

I have over 30 years’ experience working in the customer service sector. Whilst I have seen many companies doing great work in customer service, others will only pay lip service – they can talk the talk, but it’s much harder to walk the walk. This disconnect between this messaging and reality can, over time, frustrate and disengage customers and employees.
I founded AAC to help companies address these specific issues.

Having experienced customer service and technical support first-hand, I wanted to help businesses create a truly customer-centric culture that benefits both the employees and customers.

How has the need for Aileen Allkins Consultancy evolved during the pandemic?

Launching my business in the middle of a pandemic was never part of the plan! However, the past few months have shown the importance of first-class customer service, employee wellbeing and empathy in a time of crisis. There have been some clear winners and losers.

Most sectors have faced massive disruption, dealing with a huge increase in customer service enquiries while also navigating the transition to home working and refining their digital offerings. More than ever, people needed a customer service offering that was clear, accessible, and empathetic. Whilst some businesses triumphed, others gained a reputation for being inaccessible and disordered.

The pandemic has allowed me to refine my consultancy strategies. Although we’re seeing many industries return to normal, I hope lessons learnt on empathy, compassion and employee and customer wellbeing will be here to stay – along with the technologies that have enabled success during such a difficult time.

What can we hope to see from Aileen Allkins Consultancy in the future?

In recent months, I’ve seen an increased focus on the employee experience of frontline teams. There is already a positive correlation between senior involvement with customer experience teams and customer service success: 64% of companies with a CEO focused on customer service have greater financial success than their competitors. Most business leaders unfortunately have no idea what a frontline customer-facing role is like day to day.

I want to help my clients drive this trend forward across customer service teams. We must ensure the value and insight of customer service agents, and their key role in a company’s overall structure, is widely appreciated and understood.

Sharing my experiences and expertise at key industry events is a focus of mine for the coming months. I have just recorded a podcast with technology company Sabio, called The CX Chat, discussing how to balance the needs of your people and your technology. I am also a keynote speaker at this year’s virtual IT Nation Connect event in November, where I’ll be discussing how employee satisfaction in customer service teams has a direct impact on customer satisfaction, and ultimately, business outcomes.

For more information visit: https://aileenallkinsconsultancy.com/