Throughout 2012, the CRT Academy will be holding regional workshops that give you the opportunity to network with other ViewPoint users in order to explore the very lastest in customer feedback best practices – and share key learning from within your own organisation.

With prices starting at *£295 per delegate, you can trust the Academy workshops to add real value and heighten your Patient Experience and Customer Experience learning.

Places are currently available for the following workshop/s:

• Tuesday 6 March 2012: Edinburgh

For more infomration and to book your place, telephone 024 7660 8841 or email academy@crtviewpoint.com

High quality entries to the only dedicated awards programme to celebrate patient experience excellence demonstrates the vigour and commitment of health professionals to deliver world-class standards in this important area – and that’s a major reason Simon Rowland, CRT’s chief executive officer, is delighted to be renewing his association with the awards organisers.

“Recognising the incredible work so many people are doing in this rapidly expanding area is really important to me, and CRT,” he said. “We are delighted to be renewing our partnership with Ruth Evans, and everyone associated with the Patient Experience Network.

Ruth Evans, Director of the Patient Experience Network, said: “I am delighted Simon and the CRT team have agreed to be our flagship sponsor. It’s great news for the Awards.

“CRT is a business that is playing an important role in helping the NHS measure and evaluate the evolving patient experience for many people. As organisations, we share the same philosophy – which is ensuring the patient is at the top of the health service agenda.”

CRT, which is based in Coventry, joins GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi Aventis, GalbraithWight, Customer 1st International and Awards International, in agreeing sponsorship deals with PENNA 2011. It’s the second time CRT has been the event’s flagship sponsor.

Added Ruth Evans: “We’re working with some great organisations and I would like to thank them all for their generosity and commitment to the patient experience cause. As a result of their involvement, the national awards can only get stronger in the future.”

• To visit the Patient Experience Network National Awards website please paste http://www.patientexperiencenetwork.org/innovate/PENNA/PENNA_2011.htm into your web browser.

In September, Simon Rowland and Simon Dean – CRT’s CEO and Technical Director – scaled Pointé Percee, one of Europe’s most formidable mountains, in a bid to raise funds for Cancer Research UK.

Their endeavours raised £800 for the charity – and led to Simon Rowland making newspaper headlines after he fell 70 feet while on his descent from the summit.

Sue Medcalf, Cancer Research UK’s Area Volunteer Manager, said: “We are absolutely delighted that the two Simons undertook this incredible challenge to climb Pointé Percee to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

“I would like to personally thank them, and everyone else who worked so hard in raising the sponsorship money. Thank you also to all those people who have supported them and Cancer Research UK.

“I was very relieved to hear that despite Simon Rowland experiencing a nasty fall of almost 30 metres, he was able to complete the descent and get home safely.”

After presenting Sue Metcalf with a cheque for £800, Simon Rowland added: “The climb was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. It was an amazing experience – even though I nearly fell off the side of the Mountain!

Cancer Research UK is one of one of the good causes supported by CRT, and the company is delighted the charity continues to make enormous progress in the fight against cancer.

It is the world’s leading charity dedicated to research into the causes, prevention and treatment of cancer and is the largest single funder of cancer research in the UK.  The charity supports research in all aspects of the disease through the work of more than 4,800 scientists, doctors and nurses across the UK who have contributed to 19 of the top 20 drugs used to treat cancer patients worldwide today.

Survival rates for cancer have doubled in the last 30 years. But one-in-three people will still get cancer at some point during their lifetime. Cancer Research UK’s groundbreaking work, funded entirely by the public, will help ensure that millions more people will survive.

And it’s this work that CRT – and its Coventry-based staff – is committed to supporting in the longer term.

ViewPoint V6 builds on CRT’s growing reputation as a provider of intelligent and intuitive feedback and survey solutions that enables users to:

• Use the latest analysis and data tools to search, sort and filter surveys, questions and locations more efficiently;
• Improved handling of media on surveys – more easy, more efficient;
• Really harness the power of ViewPoint – by providing news, links and context sensitive online help for every function of the system.

“This is the latest chapter in the ViewPoint story,” commented Simon Dean, CRT’s Technical Director. “During the last 10 years, ViewPoint has helped public and private sector organisations really develop and fine tune their customer and patient experience strategies.

“V6 will take customer and patient survey and feedback strategies to a new level for all users, regardless of the sector they work in, or the type of organisation they are.”

Hundreds of private and public sector organisations throughout the UK are increasingly relying on ViewPoint to shape and influence their key stakeholder engagement strategies. More than two million people have used ViewPoint to record their views and opinions about a wide range of issues and topics.

“We have been very pleased with the quality of the service and the all-round support we have received from CRT,” commented GLL Chair Steve Ward. “Being able to communicate effectively with members of the public – who are our key stakeholders – is critical to us.”

And Richard Handscombe, from the University of Leeds, also holds CRT’s feedback technology in high regard.

He said: “ViewPoint has become an essential business tool for everyone in the team. Everything we do is geared towards improving service – and ViewPoint really helps us take the customer service bar to new levels.

“We use the CRT kiosks at a variety of venues – including the University’s nursery and swimming pool. They are easy to use and have delivered considerable benefits. We’re big fans.”

ViewPoint is continuing to evolve, and more features will soon be introduced, including
a survey deployment wizard; improved upload tools; a new reporting engine; and social networking capability.

“Our goal is to make ViewPoint the one-stop shop for any organisation that cares about what their customers think,” added Simon Dean. “And we believe V6 is a big step towards achieving this goal.”

Today, more than ever before, trust is the vital cog that helps a sales team build and maintain a relationship with the people who buy your products.

Companies have traditionally used marketing and public relations as their two primary channels to engage with the UK’s great buying public.

But things have got a lot harder for marketers and communicators in recent years, thanks to the phenomenal growth of social media – particularly Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook.

Knowing how to exploit these new channels is a critical priority for any business that wishes to create a successful customer engagement strategy.

My own view is it’s important each of these channels is used in a distinct and sympathetic way – enabling the ultimate engagement message to stay interesting and appealing.

We see this approach in practice every day: blue chip brands using viral marketing techniques – some controversial, many funny – to spearhead product launches into markets where the average customer is aged below 35. Car manufacturers have been very successful in this respect; so have many of the drinks companies.

These brands have resonated with younger, increasingly discerning audiences. Why? Because they have looked at things from a customer perspective – and communicated the benefits in a language everyone can easily understand.

Traditional advertising also has its place – but, increasingly, its purpose is to build the brand. In other words it’s about looking good and being seen to say the right things!

This approach, in isolation, isn’t enough for real trust to be generated. It might turn on investors and shareholders, but it doesn’t float the boats of most people. It needs to be part of a broader marketing strategy.

So, too, does PR, which is arguably still the most powerful way of creating trust with large audiences. Richard Branson has used PR to very good use all his working life. More recently, Alan Sugar has also embarked on a charm offensive and won the day.

Their key ingredient: they both say it how they see it – good, bad or indifferent! Messrs Branson and Sugar are perceived to be people who tell the truth all of the time. As a result, the Virgin and Viglen brands are flying high.

But good PR is more than just having a good individual who’s happy to stand in front of a TV camera, or radio microphone. It’s about ensuring every aspect of an organisation gets its PR right, from sales personnel through to customer service staff, and from the CEO to the night watchman. In this regard it’s quite simple really: just talk to people in a way you would expect to be spoken to yourself.

It’s a pretty basic requirement, but you’ll be amazed at just how many people and organisations forget this simple tenet.

The final ingredient in the customer engagement mix is patience. Gaining the trust of the public doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time.

So many organisations are derailed because the CEO or chairman becomes disillusioned with a marketing or PR strategy simply because they’re not yielding instant results. The old saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day” springs to mind.

And it’s very appropriate, for when you’re competing to win the trust of a customer, the only things you can be sure of is that it will take time; you will need to roll your sleeves up; there will be some bumps along the way; and you’ll have to manage the process with conviction.

Good luck…

• This article was published in the July edition of Customer Experience Magazine

The organisation has recently published a study of the work undertaken by The Whittington NHS Trust, working in partnershp with CRT, as it attempts to set the highest standards of patient care.

According to the NHS Confederation, CRT’s work has had a positive impact in a number of important areas, including:

• Offering proactive support to The Whittington’s CQUIN Payment Framework;
• Ensuring changes to staffing levels are made at identified times – helping service levels to remain high;
• Improving patient care through the freeing up of staff time;
• Remedial action in key operational areas being identified more efficiently;
• Informed actions being taken to improve services for a wider range of demographic groups;
• Cost savings on other methods of capturing patient feedback being realised.

“We’re delighted to have been singled out by the NHS Confederation,” commented Simon Rowland, CEO of CRT. “The NHS is a sector that is of critical importance to CRT, and we’re heavily committed to delivering the very best patient experience outcomes.

“The work we have been able to do with The Whittington has really raised the patient experience bar. But we’re not resting on our laurels. We’re continuing to find new ways of ensuring all healthcare professionals have the opportunity and resources to engage widely, and gain feedback and insight that increasingly enables them to mould and shape their patient strategies.”

NHS Confederation members include acute trusts, ambulance trusts, foundation trusts, mental health providers, primary care trusts and independent healthcare organisations that deliver services within the NHS.

To read more about CRT’s work with The Whittington, please go to our case study section.