GWR - the Great Experience Makers

[whole diary]

[plymothian]

With the relaunch of the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) brand to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), the company re-evaluated its customer service ethos.

GWR seeks to "revalue rail in the hearts and minds of the travelling public" through being dedicated to safety, committed to their customers, accountable for performance, setting the highest standards and supportive of each other.

To do this it has adopted the 6 pillars of customer experience that has proven to work in many other businesses.  These are:

Personalisation
Time & Effort
Integrity
Resolution
Empathy
Expectations

At the moment GWR are failing most to meet standards on Expectations, Integrity and Empathy.

It has been 2 years since FGW became GWR and adopted this strategy.  How well do you feel GWR are giving a 'great experience' and 'revaluing rail'?

[John R]

I gave them the benefit of the doubt at the rebrand.  It's been a huge disappointment, and whilst some problems can be blamed on the delay in electrification, not all can, and those that can could have been managed much more effectively.  3/10 from me, I'm afraid.

[Sixty3Closure]

I always felt they rebranded too early and should have waited for the new trains, electrification and signalling (ha!) to bed in or at least become established. As it was they rebranded and it felt like the same old services with money wasted on a new logo.

I'd agree that as a brand they're failing on most of their objectives around customer experience.

[Timmer]

With the relaunch of the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) brand to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), the company re-evaluated its customer service ethos.

GWR seeks to "revalue rail in the hearts and minds of the travelling public" through being dedicated to safety, committed to their customers, accountable for performance, setting the highest standards and supportive of each other.

To do this it has adopted the 6 pillars of customer experience that has proven to work in many other businesses.  These are:

Personalisation
Time & Effort
Integrity
Resolution
Empathy
Expectations

At the moment GWR are failing most to meet standards on Expectations, Integrity and Empathy.

It has been 2 years since FGW became GWR and adopted this strategy.  How well do you feel GWR are giving a 'great experience' and 'revaluing rail'?

Did anyone actually really believe all this corporate babel that Firstgroup probably paid a marketing company thousands of pounds to come up with? Personally I find this kind of talk as a staff member of a company and a customer very patronising. For some reason companies seem to think it's the answer.

Is it really stating the bleeding obvious to say just provide a decent service and your customers will be happy? It's not rocket science so why make it complicated?

[Timmer]

I always felt they rebranded too early and should have waited for the new trains, electrification and signalling (ha!) to bed in or at least become established. As it was they rebranded and it felt like the same old services with money wasted on a new logo.

Many would agree with you, I'd dare say including many at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).

edited to add missing word

[grahame]

I always felt they rebranded too early and should have waited for the new trains, electrification and signalling (ha!) to bed in or at least become established. As it was they rebranded and it felt like the same old services with money wasted on a new logo.

Many would agree with, I'd dare say including many at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).

Plans at announcement were a single HST^▸ (High Speed Train), and then 150/2, 158, 165 and 166 as they were repainted / refurbed rather than anything special.  No green 143s or 153s ...

[broadgage]

I always felt they rebranded too early and should have waited for the new trains, electrification and signalling (ha!) to bed in or at least become established. As it was they rebranded and it felt like the same old services with money wasted on a new logo.

I'd agree that as a brand they're failing on most of their objectives around customer experience.

You may be right, but OTOH^▸ (On The Other Hand) delaying the rebranding might have been even worse !
Wait for the new trains ? not everyone believes that DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) are a step forward from HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train).
Wait for electrification ? how long for !
Wait for new signalling ? What if reliability elsewhere plummets to that seen in and around Reading.

[IndustryInsider]

Did anyone actually really believe all this corporate babel that Firstgroup probably paid a marketing company thousands of pounds to come up with? Personally I find this kind of talk as a staff member of a company and a customer very patronising. For some reason companies seem to think it's the answer.

Is it really stating the bleeding obvious to say just provide a decent service and your customers will be happy? It's not rocket science so why make it complicated?

They used KPMG Nunwood, a well respected company who, whether you believe in corporate babel or not, have achieved real tangible results with the many large organisations over many sectors they have worked with.

The Great Experience Makers courses are still ongoing with the majority of staff having now attended, and have made a real difference to the attitudes of many front line staff in my opinion.  What has been exposed is the weak areas of the business, Customer Service being the main one, which has been terrible recently.  You are only as strong as your weakest link, or in this case your weakest pillar.

[Timmer]

I'm not doubting you that it has made a difference in the attitude front line staff II but clearly not by very much on local services where GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) can't get enough staff to work on local services at weekends to maintain The Great Experience seven days a week not just Mondays to Fridays.

Please don't take what I've written as mocking the course or the desire. To me the first thing in providing good customer service is to actually provide what the customer has paid for, in GWR's case a train. As I've said on another thread this isn't a new problem.

[plymothian]

Unusually, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have made their staff's Great Experience Makers training website publicly viewable.

https://www.gwrgreatexperiencemakers.com/

[chuffed]

Are the Six Pillars of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) wisdom related to the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World ? I don't wish to be cynical, but look what happened to them ! This really will be a case of the proof of the pudding lies in the eating!

[plymothian]

the Six Pillars of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) wisdom

They're KPMG Nunwood's pillars, and used by over 300 different companies to maximise the customer experience - it's how GWR intends to meet that framework which is more important.

[Henry]

 A single 153 from Totnes to Penzance yesterday. 

 It was not a 'Great Experience'.

[sikejsudjek3]

I have to say with the exception of the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) fleet I hate travelling on anything that's 'Great Western'. They should have called it 'Knackered ex-BR^▸ (British Rail(ways))' instead. I often travel about the network on rail rovers, and am fed up with the overcrowding, poor quality rolling stock, broken air con, disgusting toilets, and unreliable weekend service. Frankly the sooner they loose the contract or its renationalised the better as far as I'm concerned. We've had enough fare rises in the West Country and even my local Tory MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) admitted he couldn't see much in return for them. So no - I'm not impressed with the rebranding which is frankly an insult to the former Great Western Railway. Unlike First group they didn't do things on the cheap, and end up with a broken service !