Andrew MacMillan, an expert in differentiating business through customer experience, was the guest speaker at SOLEX...

Andrew McMillan started his career as a management trainee with the John Lewis Partnership at Brent Cross. He quickly moved up through the management ranks and progressed to the head office to take charge of the department stores’ customer centric Intelligence Team. They acted as an internal business consultancy reporting on competitive strategy, product differentiation and value, catchment area and demographics for new branches and customer service.

In 2000 Andrew was asked to lead on customer service for the department store division. The role saw him develop JLP’s market-leading culture and attitude towards customer service and sales with the 20,000 customer-facing Partners in 26 John Lewis shops across the UK. That customer-driven culture is something that has now become synonymous with the John Lewis brand.

Andrew joined a City based consultancy as a Principal Consultant before setting up his own consultancy in 2012 specialising in employee engagement, customer experience and customer centric business change. Consulting clients have included: Argos, Asda, Ecclesiastical Insurance, Kwik Fit, Jardine Motors Group, Lookers Motor Group, Greene King, Vauxhall Motors, Peugeot Citroen and Virgin Atlantic.

Andrew says: "What did your business set out to do for its customers at its inception? In a fledgling business high quality personal customer service is a given or the business will fail. However, as a business develops it can lose touch with its roots as growth and financial control start to dominate the agenda.

"So, when was the last time you really thought about your customers experience when they interact with front-line staff and how those customers subsequently feel about your business? 

"Many businesses find themselves focussing on developing their products, services or processes when they think about customer experience and the interaction with staff is left to chance. 

"The reputation John Lewis enjoy is equally based on the quality of the experience delivered through their staff, as that is the value and quality of their products and services. It's a potential major point of differentiation in a crowded marketplace and one that many businesses fail to capitalise upon."