Celebrating Customer Service Week at Virgin Balloon Flights

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Our customer service team really is the backbone of Virgin Balloon Flights. From liaising with customers to helping with all issues and inquiries, and sometimes even just lending a sympathetic ear – we really wouldn’t be anywhere without them.

This is why we are so happy to celebrate Customer Service Week here at Virgin Balloon Flights, and it really kicked off with a bang!

It’s been a jam-packed week here. Started off with ‘Language Day,’ where the team played ‘Customer Service Sales Bingo’, Sales bingo was an exercise to help the customer service team become more comfortable with using sales terminology on the phone. Each completed bingo would award a member of the team points on the ongoing scoreboard for the week!

Later, the team had some fun with a Customer Service-related crossword and an activity on alternative language, on how to turn common negative phrases that the team may use into a constructive comment.

Tuesday and Wednesday focused on skills development, both days starting off with a seminar and then exercises throughout the day to test out these new skills in a real setting.

The first seminar explored how recognizing different personalities can help anticipate how to help the customer more and how different approaches can be more beneficial for different people.

This was a great opportunity for the team to learn a new way of speaking to customers because despite what most businesses have believed in the past – we now know that not every customer is the same, and therefore, customer service teams need to know how to deal with different types of customers in different ways.

The next seminar focused on individual development, where team members could offer advice and praise each other’s own variances. This was also an open space to discuss difficulties they were facing with work, and the rest of the team could offer advice on how to tackle any issues.

An activity, later on, involved communication, where two team members would sit back-to-back, and one person would describe a simple drawing to another; this was a really great exercise to demonstrate just how even small but perhaps seemingly obvious distinctions can really change the outcome of something, it was also a great way to encourage thorough and thought-out communication.

The end of the week came filled with fun, with Office Oscars Day. The entire team came in dressed to the nines and had an awards ceremony. So yes, if you rang us up on Thursday, chances are you were speaking to someone in an evening gown.

Some of our prize winners included:

  • 'The Serial Snacker Award' to Lynn Mackleston
  • 'The Chatterbox Award' to Louise Davies
  • 'The Barista Award' to Jean Timon

The day ended with a team building exercise where teams would compete to create a bridge across the room out of found objects from the office – with a twist that wouldn’t be revealed until the next day, Friday, focusing on waste, not, want not.

The winner of the bridge exercise was revealed as Team Louise, Ravi and Nat, who managed to create the sturdiest bridge with the least waste of product, cost, and time.
Our final activity was a fun one with a flair for the creative!

The team each designed a poster for either a bundle offer they created from our existing products, or they could come up with their own product!
The marketing department acted as judges and were thoroughly impressed with what they saw!

The entire week was rounded off with a wonderful buffet lunch, where everyone brought in a dish from home to share in the office.

Our customer service manager Shaun Howells commented on the week.

“Customer Service Week has always been a hugely important week on the VBF calendar. After a busy peak season it is a great way to get the team involved in some morale-boosting and fun activities. There is a serious side, of course, and we use the week to deliver some training to evolve and fine-tune our skillsets within the team, re-iterate the brand's commitment to service excellence, and recognise our team's achievements.”

What a great end to an exciting week.

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