Virgin's Crown Jewels: Great Customer Service

Virgin's Crown Jewels: Great Customer Service across 200 Companies and 29 Countries Michael Murphy Group Brand Manager - Customer Service Virgin Management Limited 4 th February 2008

What are we gonna chat about?

So who are we?

Core values

People 1 st

Sharing around the group

The consumer champion

So to sum up….

So who are we and what is our brand about?

1970’s: the brand is born

1980’s: early growth/survival

1990’s: entrepreneurial start ups

Virgin brand so far: Transport & Travel

Virgin brand so far: Leisure & Entertainment

Virgin brand so far: Retail

Virgin brand so far: Communications. Money.

Virgin brand so far: Health. Renewables. Charity.

200 companies worldwide, employing 48 500 people, an annual Virgin Group turnover of £10.8bn/US$20.4bn … .one of the most exciting brands in the world

Some stuff you probably didn’t know about us… VFest Music Festivals Maryland: 72000 smiley faces, 2500 bodies tattooed, 40000 crabcakes eaten Virgin Active South Africa 2,889,256 customers in January 2007, producing 30282 litres of sweat per day Virgin Media Our cables laid end to end would reach the moon or around the world 30 times Virgin Cosmetics Top seller sold in one year enough lipsticks to circle the earth end to end! Virgin Atlantic Since our inception in 1984, we have served over 110,000,000 meals onboard Virgin Trains 1st European rail operator to use bio- diesel, reducing C0 2 emissions by 14% Virgin Money UK Developing a credit card that once expired can be planted to grow a tree! Virgin Cola Pamela Anderson was the model for the curvaceous shape of our bottles!

Remember your core values

The Brand Values

How we do deliver our values?

Listen to our customers

Respect our customers

Love our People

Keep It up!

The Acid Test: If our name was removed from any part of the customer experience, would customers still know it was Virgin Mobile?

thrive happy enjoy life dynamic animated vivid flourish electrifying In the moment No rehearsal unscripted Anything could happen HOT connected Switched on Unplugged it ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it

People 1 st every time

So what does “the boss” think? “ Convention dictates that a company looks after its shareholders first, its customers next and last of all worries about its employees. Virgin does the opposite. For us, our employees matter most. It just seems common sense to me that , if you start off with a happy, well-motivated workforce, you’re much more likely to have happy customers. And in due course the resulting profits will make your shareholders happy.” Richard Branson

Question: Should my perception of Virgin as an employee be any different from that of a customer? No! If you don’t believe in it, it won’t ever happen!

Loving People – the Virgin Way Recruit Inspire Measure Success Reward Train Grow Empower

Empowerment

Simplicity

Fun

Lead

Learn

Feedback

Push

Together

Learning from around the group

The Virgin Mobile Customer Experience Charter As a customer, there’s nothing more frustrating than dealing with a faceless bureaucracy or a member of staff who tows the party line. A little something extra can really go a long way to improve a their experience and their opinion of Virgin. E.g. A Virgin Trains manager took all the placemats from First class and folded them into fans for the passengers caught in an unpleasantly hot carriage when the air-conditioning failed. Phone broken? No problem. Virgin mobile will send a replacement the next day. That’s before we receive the original back – we take your word for it. To add a personal touch to our customer experience: the little extras…. To never design what we do by assuming the worst in customers Virgin Direct’s index tracker investments broke the investment world’s greatest conventions and secrets by beating traditional fund management with an investment fund linked to the FTSE. “Wouldn’t it be great if your shares could beat the shares of all those highly paid investors?” You can, 90% of the time, if you just invest in all the FTSE top companies. To challenge convention . No bollocks or bureaucracy Some companies show a lack of regard for their customers by making promises they can’t or won’t keep. Virgin companies do what we say – no lies and no backtracking, just action. To keep our promises . If we say it, we’ll do it. Like Virgin trains – who built a power point into every seat – so you can get some work done without your laptop or mobile running out of juice. To get the right things right . Every time. Virgin Megastores were the first major music retailer to introduce listening posts in their stores, allowing consumers to listen before they buy. To give our customers what they really want. In a world of clutter and technology, there’s nothing consumers appreciate more. Virgin Mobile launched with the goal of putting the customer first and to be a breath of fresh air in a confusing field of technology. It revolutionised the industry by scrapping peak rate calls and allowing customers to pay any way they like with no contract. To make the experience simple and easy , with no confusion. Speak from the heart, not a script. Talk to people the way they prefer to be talked to – with warmth and humanity. When Virgin Money sends people letters about their financial services they recognise it’s the customer’s money, not theirs. They don’t write in jargon but as one human being to another To offer an experience that’s 100% human , treating customers with respect. How Virgin Group companies put it into practice Our Customer Experience principles

The Virgin Mobile Customer Experience Charter As a customer, there’s nothing more frustrating than dealing with a faceless bureaucracy or a member of staff who tows the party line. A little something extra can really go a long way to improve a their experience and their opinion of Virgin. E.g. A Virgin Trains manager took all the placemats from First class and folded them into fans for the passengers caught in an unpleasantly hot carriage when the air-conditioning failed. To add a personal touch to our customer experience: the little extras….

The Virgin Mobile Customer Experience Charter Speak from the heart, not a script. Talk to people the way they prefer to be talked to – with warmth and humanity. When Virgin Money sends people letters about their financial services they recognise it’s the customer’s money, not theirs. They don’t write in jargon but as one human being to another To offer an experience that’s 100% human, treating customers with respect.

The challenges of being a consumer champion

Being the Consumer Champion

So, to sum up…

So what’s the answer?