Customer Service
Membership Bodies

Institute of Customer Service (ICS) Founded in 1997, the institute is the professional body for customer service, setting standards for education and qualifications as well as offering a range of other benefits, including regional meetings, leading research, UK Customer Satisfaction Index, an outstanding two day Conference and much more. They offer professional, and nationally recognised, qualifications in customer service which are widely taken up. Many of the country’s largest organisations are corporate members but the ICS also offers individual memberships. Don, now a Companion member, has worked closely with the institute, since inception on several projects and the Institute supports the Customer Service Training Network founded by Don in 1997.

Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals in Europe (SOCAPiE) SOCAPiE was founded in 1982 making it the oldest customer related membership body in the UK. Covering the whole of Europe (although based in the UK) and with chapters in North America, Australasia and the Far East the body offers a true global perspective and this can be of real value to members. They offer both corporate and individual membership and run an excellent annual conference usually with an international dimension. SOCAPiE provide a host of membership events and their Net Promoter User Group provides an unique opportunity for members to discuss their results and usage of this major benchmarking tool. Don Hales is a member of SOCAPiE and is happy to discuss membership benefits with anyone interested in learning more.
http://www.socpie.eu.

Customer Service Training Organisation (CSTA) The CSTA is a mutual self-help membership body formed by Don Hales in 2007 to enable those involved in customer service training and associated activities to meet on a regular basis to share ideas, listen to great presentations keep up-to-date with latest developments and develop a network of colleagues in various organisations to confer with when necessary. The association is open to everybody who has an interest in customer service training provided they respect the aims of the membership. Best practice in customer service, leading edge training techniques, service excellence, staff retention and satisfaction are all key issues for members as are customer retention, customer satisfaction and the effect of customer service on the bottom-line. All of these issues feature on the agenda at CSTA meetings. 
www.customerservicetrainingassociation.co.uk

Customer Service Network (CSN) CSN aim to be the UK’s leading service excellence networking organisation and have a member list that includes many of the country’s top brands and companies dedicated to greta service. More and more organisations are recognising CSN as the best way to see, hear, talk about and develop best practice. Our main activities revolve around 20 plus interactive Networking Days, Site Visits and Workshops which are well attended by those wanting to learn about new ideas and practices. CSN promote the Service Excellence Journey and like to work with companies right from an assessment stage, through development (events, training and surveys) and into formal recognition in association with the UK Customer Experience Awards.
www.customernet.com

Customer Care Alliance (CCA) CCA is a consortium of like-minded organisations in the USA and Europe providing business services designed to improve customer care. Together we are working to develop and publish research on customer care issues. The aims are to raise the Profile of Customer Care and to foster Best Practices and Innovation in Customer Service amongst businesses and organisations from all industries. CCA is dedicated to fostering its aims to increase customer satisfaction and customer loyalty to generate a positive return on investment. The European branch was formed at the end of 2003, specifically to sponsor the UK Customer Care Study and future research into UK customer care. It is a sister organisation to that in the USA – both are independent organisations sponsored by supporting companies.
www.customercarealliance.org