Training keeps customer satisfaction on track at Gatwick Express

A training program has been credited with helping Gatwick Express to achieve the highest customer-satisfaction levels of any train-operating company in the UK.

Gatwick Express, owned by the National Express Group, scored a record-breaking 94 percent in the national passenger survey. The company has held the number one position in six consecutive surveys over three years, with consistent scores of over 90 percent. It also has the highest levels of employee satisfaction.

Gatwick Express turned to Power Train to help it to develop training that would enable front-line staff to deliver flexible and positive customer service.

The Leading Lights training program presents participants from the front-line with a mirror image of their real working environment. Charged with the emotional impact of facing themselves “at their worst”, participants discover not only their own strengths and weaknesses, but also how best to adapt their natural communication style to meet the needs of the customers with whom they are dealing. Participants are also encouraged to use their language skills and cultural backgrounds to deliver an international experience in response to an increasingly diverse global market.

The program also supports the delivery of a seamless customer journey, where the customer boards at London’s Victoria Station, transfers to an aircraft at Gatwick Airport, and arrives at his or her destination.

Gatwick Express employs 300 staff, many of whom are multilingual, and carries approximately 14,000 passengers each day. More than 35 languages are now spoken across the team, with over 90 percent of the team speaking a foreign language.

Jill Dean, Power Train’s client-services director, said: “The way staff interact with customers can turn a negative situation around and change the way people feel about the service they have received; it can also make or break someone’s day. Staff and customers benefit from this kind of investment in training and, as the results show, it’s a win-win situation for Gatwick Express.”

Other recent successes for Power Train include a shared HR-services program for the Nationwide Building Society, and a program for the construction industry with Simons Group, helping project managers to deliver an important health and safety message.