INTERNATIONAL: A new global consultancy, Ethos Farm, is challenging companies to reassess their approach to customer service and experience.
Ethos Farm Founder and CEO is Sally Alington, former Director of Retail and Experiential Services at OmniServ and Managing Director of staffing solutions and experiential marketing agency Blackjack Promotions.
Ethos Farm’s services focus on organisations with front-line staffing – in particular airports, airlines, retailers, travel retailers and luxury brands – and their respective customer experiences. Its mission is to transform workforces into brand custodians.
Clients and strategic partners include Blackjack, Condor, Guerlain, Chanel, Heinemann Americas and ISPY Academy.
“Business leaders across the globe undervalue service. Yet it can deliver real differentiation in an increasingly commoditised world,” Alington said.
“Companies talk about having a customer-facing workforce but what’s actually needed is staff who fully understand the corporate values and business objectives. Only then can they deliver exceptional service levels that meet both customer and company needs.”
Ethos Farm aims to positively transform attitudes and corporate thinking through the development of a company ethos in which employees become advocates of the company.
“We help organisations to do this by combining best practice in employee learning and training with the latest communications technologies to transform workforces into brand custodians,” Alington said.
The Ethos Farm team includes globally-recognised experts with experience in management practices and training theories, and at rolling out service improvement programmes for leading companies, brands and organisations including Heathrow and Dubai International Airport, the BBC and Westfield.
A Customer Service Architecture and Engineering concept is at the Ethos Farm core.
Architecture refers to the company’s Consultancy team, headed by Alington, which aims to assist companies in developing a blueprint for customer service to align workforces with their values and aspirations.
Engineering relates to the Learning Development and Technology teams, led the former by former BBC Head of Operations, Finance and Planning Josie Barton and Mat Garner.
“Companies talk about having a customer-facing workforce but what’s actually needed is staff who fully understand the corporate values and business objectives. Only then can they deliver exceptional service levels that meet both customer and company needs.”
Garner joined Ethos Farms from ABM Industries where he was Aviation Services and Operations Director for Heathrow. He also has experience in passenger service and retail at Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports.
Ethos Farm said Learning Development and Technology will provide “the building blocks to make the new service blueprint a reality and transform the customer experience”. It is designed to inspire high-level performance from teams using a range of training tools and techniques, including ‘Performance Rooms’, where the Ethos Farm team can deliver immersive training experiences.
“State-of-the-art technology will play a vital role in supporting the efficient and effective delivery of Ethos Farm’s customer service design and development concepts,” the company stated. This includes both bespoke and ‘templated’ solutions to drive enhanced service levels and colleague engagement from frontline workforces, as well as providing data analysis to drive insights into staff behaviours and avoid service problems.
“Using a range of tools, we will guide clients and their teams to develop the insights and approaches that will ensure they stay close to their customers and are able to adapt and thrive in an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world,” Alington added.
“Our role is simply to help clients find the unique formula that will inspire the highest levels of performance from their people.”
The fourth member of Ethos Farm’s founding team is Lauren Walsh, who will spearhead the company’s operation in the Americas, based out of New York. Walsh is former Global Head of Client Services at Blackjack Promotions, and was previously Travel Retail Regional Manager, L’Oréal Luxe UK for YSL and Biotherm.
The new venture has already secured backing from global facilities solutions provider ABM. ABM UK Group Managing Director Andy Donnell has joined the Ethos Farm Board of Directors.
For UK clients, Ethos Farm is able to advise companies on the complexities of the new Apprenticeship Levy and will soon be accredited as an approved Apprentice Training Provider.
