"I was at Kellogg's at that time, where I started as customer service supervisor. The US was ahead of Europe in terms of importance attached to customer care. There I encountered the philosophy 'the customer is king' which was essential to the Kellogg's' world. I keep using its basic principles because I think they are still valid."

So what are the key elements of modern customer care, in her opinion, I ask.

"The customer must feel that you care about them after they have spent the money; that you understand that they may have personal circumstances which may not fit with the way you normally do the business. This is about meeting the customer half way or completely satisfying their requirements, but not necessarily putting them through a process because it is easy for your organisation.

Why is customer care now more important than ever?

"From the independents' point of view - they have an ongoing relationship with the customer and they want to see a good back-up service because if there are problems this reflects badly on them.  For the manufacturer, customer service is one of the things that differentiates them from other brands. This is part of added value and what your company stands for.

"These days the customers expect to get quickly through to you on the phone. Then they want you to dispatch an engineer to them - when they need him - whether it is the next day or in three days time. When the engineer arrives he has to be professional, polite and prompt. The customers don't need anything more than that. However, if you give them good service, they will be more loyal to you than if the product didn't break down."

The team

Paula manages approximately 300 staff, including 105 call centre employees and 137 field engineers. I ask how she manages to motivate them to deliver high standard of service.

"I try to make everyone feel valued and we try to give them confidence to get out and make positive changes. We also promote the culture of having a bit of fun at work. At the call centre, where the staff could be stressed at times when dealing with aggravated customers, we have 'fun Fridays' which involve various games and quizzes with prizes."

The winning approach

What's special about GDHA's approach to customer care that made the company the third time winner of the D&G survey?

"First of all, we don't want customers to feel processed. We are flexible with customers; we can do things a bit differently so our staff feel empowered to go outside the usual guidelines to suit the customers. Our view is to look for good people to work in our customer care and to help them to do a good job. It is crucial that people dealing with the customers - call centre staff and engineers - feel valued by the business. This makes them want to give a good impression of the company to the customer.

"Secondly, we put a lot of work into getting it right the first time. When a customer reports a fault we are in touch with them communicating the progress of their service call - before and after the engineer visits them. The customer only needs to ring us once and we take care of the rest after that.

"For us the importance of the Award is the fact that it is based on the feedback of the consumers who have used our service. You cannot buy the Award, you cannot campaign for it - the only way you can win it is by consumers saying: Yes, you were excellent."

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