Meet the Team with Ash Shadat (Head of Customer Services)

Name: Ash Shadat

Job Title: Head of Customer Services

Our values at Geobear are Customer first, Professionalism and Zero Harm.

We aim to be the leading ground engineering provider for geopolymer injection solutions. We pride ourselves on offering a premium solution, and with this we work hard to ensure we offer a consistently premium service.

To support our vision, we are pleased to announce that we have recently appointed Ash Shadat as Head of Customer Services (UK and Ireland). 

Welcome to Geobear Ash!

What is your background?

I graduated from the University of Kent .

Prior to working for Geobear I was Head of Customer Experience at Cadent Gas Ltd where I looked after the customer experience program across the London Network.

Before this I was heading up the customer operations teams for Respondez where we were instructed as an outsourced partner to undertake all customer management within retail and support functions for many well known national brands and multinational entities whilst heading up remote and global teams.

When did you start with Geobear? 

In February 2022.

What made you apply for a position at Geobear?

The ambition which Otso shared with me during our discussions aligned with my own drive and my career wishlist ‘next chapter’.  It is an opportunity whereby I am given the licence to really create the framework by which Geobear will become recognised as a leader in customer experience by driving our “customer first” value proposition across all departments and creating our blueprint for a sustainable and highly functioning customer centric organisation.

Having worked previously within the engineering industry I am all too familiar with the customer pain points this type of often invasive works can carry, so bringing this experience to this role will stand me in good stead.

What does a typical day look like for you?

The initial phase of this role has been to undertake an audit of sorts of the current state prior to working towards a better functioning future state.

At present my day typically involves taking stock of the current workload of my team and planning on streamlining our own processes with a view to cleanse their roles.

Data work is also undertaken daily to see where we are regarding performance levels.

I also have taken over the customer feedback process where I personally make calls to customers to obtain their feedback and this occurs daily.

There is a huge amount of planning and forward thinking to be done and my team and I engage on this on a daily basis from customer contact right through to complaints.

How would you define good customer service?

I am sure the answer will differ depending on who you ask this to, but my personal view and aspiration is always to create an environment whereby we are not just meeting our customer’s expectations but working everyday to exceed them.  Excellent customer service and the delivery thereof is a team sport and can never be confined to one team simply because they have the word ‘customer’ in their title.

Continued customer excellence requires any organisation to foster a one team mentality with no silos and each department understanding how their acts or omissions impact the customer, ‘our customer’.

Great customer service needs proactivity, poor customer performance should not simply be learned from, but rather it should be treated as a catalyst for change in process and outlook where needed.

Great customer service requires customer advocates all across the business and it always starts with a very simple question: “If I was this customer, what would make me happy?”  We are all customers and so we know what great looks like!

In leading the customer proposition for Geobear my plan is not to simply look at what makes good customer service, but rather my role is to look at the entire customer experience from end to end, ensuring that we as a company are delivering on our customer promises and adding value where further value may be needed.

What are your plans to ensure the team delivers exceptional customer service and offers customers a great experience?

It is my 10 point plan:

• Ensure that the customer is communicated with at the right time and by the right people.  Understanding the concept of subject matter experts within Geobear and then cascading and enforcing the use of SME during a customer journey.

• Ensure that we are delivering what we have promised to deliver – executing ‘brilliant basics’ and having the capacity to shift up to ‘wow’ when needed.

• Working to ensure that we have the requisite frameworks in place to be able to manage and monitor our customer performance

• Utilising a ‘voice of the customer’ approach whereby the feedback from our customers, are always listened to and more importantly that we as one team make necessary changes as a result.

• Ensuring that we are a data led unit whereby we discuss key customer data daily and act accordingly.

• Personalising each project.

• Ensure that we are always setting clear expectations to the customer and key stakeholders and moreover managing them better.

• Including customer impacts within each customer journey so that potential pain points can be removed before they even arise.

• Building and maintaining long lasting relationships with all of our distinct functions to ensure that we always on the ‘same page’ when it comes to ‘customer’.

• Build a robust continuous improvement model and culture whereby customer metrics are just as important as any operational or financial metric and attach a risk and reward model to it, further elevating ‘customer’ as more than simply an aspirational value, but rather a part of our fabric within Geobear.

When you are not at work, how do you like to spend your time?

I am an avid reader and also love to watch movies.

I am very sociable so enjoy spending time with friends and family alike, as it provides real balance in my life.

I have always loved travelling and now with restrictions becoming a thing of the past, I am looking forward to jumping on a plane whenever I can!

Thanks for your time Ash.

If you would like to connect with Ash on Linkedin, click below