Recent posts
At VIVID, our customers are always at the centre of how we think and how we work. We listen, understand, learn and act. That might sound like something every organisation says, but for us it’s something we’ve been working hard to define clearly and, more importantly, deliver consistently. Our Customer Experience Strategy, cocreated with our customers, is the foundation for this. Put simply, it's our aspirational promises to deliver good outcomes for every customer every time.
Empowering our teams, supporting our customers
Like many organisations, we invest in and recruit based largely on technical training and experience. We’ve made sure our people have the qualifications and knowledge to do their jobs well. But technical skills alone don’t guarantee a great customer experience.
What makes the difference is how we communicate, how we make decisions, and how we follow through on what we’ve said we’ll do. That’s where customer skills come in.
We didn’t want to take a “tick-box” approach. Simply asking people to complete some online learning and move on isn’t enough. It doesn’t tell us whether someone has really understood what good looks like, or whether they can apply it in their day-to-day role.
So instead, we’ve introduced a credential that goes further – one that develops and recognises people for the customer skills they use every day, and for how they put our customer promises into practice.
Built on what our customers told us
At the centre of the credential are our Customer Promises. These aren’t corporate statements or targets created in isolation – they’re based on direct feedback from our customers about what matters most to them.
They describe what a good experience looks like from the customer’s perspective. It’s about customers feeling comfortable in their homes and knowing support is there when they need it. It means receiving updates that make sense, having repairs done properly, and dealing with people who treat them with kindness. Most of all, it’s the everyday moments, big and small, that help a home and neighbourhood feel like a good place to be.
The Customer Advocate credential is built around our customer promises, helping every member of staff understand not just what they need to do, but why it matters. To them and our customers.
Crucially, the credential recognises something VIVID, and me personally, champion: every team shapes the customer experience. Whether you’re working directly with customers or not, the way you do your job has an impact.
Why everyone, including me, is taking part
One of the principles we set from the start was that this wouldn’t just be for customer facing roles. It’s for everyone. That includes me, the rest of the executive team and senior leaders alike.
If we’re asking staff to invest time and effort into developing their customer skills, we need to do the same ourselves. There’s no hierarchy when it comes to learning and improving customer experience.
Going through the assessment process ourselves gives us a real understanding of what we’re asking of others. It challenges us to reflect on our own behaviours and decisions, and how they affect customers.
Why external validation matters
Another choice we made was to work with City & Guilds to have the programme quality assured. We wanted this to mean something – not just internally, but beyond VIVID. City & Guilds Assured gives the programme credibility and rigour. It ensures the standard is robust, and that what people achieve is genuinely recognised. For our staff, that’s important.
It also raises the bar for us. If we’re getting our programmes externally quality assured by City & Guilds, the programmes need to stand up to scrutiny and meet a certain standard. We’ve worked hard to meet the Assured requirements, and we want all our staff to as well.
The impact we want to see
Our aim is simple: to give our people the skills, confidence and consistency to deliver a great experience for customers every day. For customers, it means something even more important. It means they feel listened to and informed. It means access to the help and support services they need. It means we follow through on our promises. And ultimately, it means they feel they have a good place to live.
That’s the standard we’ve set ourselves to meet, every day.
What we’re hearing so far
We’ve already started rolling the credential out to managers, and the early feedback has been really positive. There’s a genuine sense of interest and energy around it. Colleagues like the fact that it’s not about repeating what they already know – it’s about showing how they use it in real situations. They also value the opportunity to gain something tangible at the end.
Just as importantly, it's getting people talking. Teams are having more conversations about what good customer experience looks like, sharing examples, and reflecting on how they work together and with our customers.
From a customer point of view, it’s early days, but this kind of focus can only be a good thing. When expectations are clearer and behaviours are more consistent, the experience improves.
Every customer feels they have a good place to live
For us, the Customer Advocate credential is a big step forward. It brings our expectations together in one place, gives our people a clear way of working, and helps ensure we’re delivering against what matters most.
This is about being clearer on what we expect, and more consistent in how we deliver it. It’s not a quick fix, but it gives us a standard to work to, and a clearer way of knowing whether we’re getting it right.
View the published article in Inside Housing Management here: Inside Housing Management - Comment - Why we’re introducing a mandatory customer skills credential for all our staff