Top customer service award for Cabot Credit Management

Cabot Credit Management (CCM), a market leader in credit management services, has won a top customer service award at the seventh UK Customer Satisfaction Awards ceremony, held at the Hilton, London, on Wednesday 7 March.

CCM won the Customer Feedback Strategy award, ahead of nine other finalists including EDF Energy, HM Passport Office, Virgin Money and RSA Insurance. This award is centred around how easy it is for customers to give feedback and how a company then uses that feedback to reinforce good behaviours or make improvements to the customers future service experience leading to better customer engagement.

The judges noted that as part of its DNA CCM's customer values are: empathy and respect; individual treatment, positive experience and fair outcomes. They felt the CCM submission clearly showed that the Customer Feedback Strategy has had a positive outcome, with an increase in the number of customers making payments and an increase in the number of customers maintaining their arrangement with the company.

Ken Stannard, CEO, CCM, said: "This is a major milestone for the credit management industry as CCM is the first member of the industry to win a prestigious Institute of Customer Service (ICS) award. The breakthrough sees CCM join other brands such as Virgin Money, Nationwide, BUPA and John Lewis in the hall of fame as current and past ICS winners. The award was not just in recognition of CCM's impressive customer satisfaction results, but also its leading edge customer feedback innovation."

The annual awards ceremony celebrates UK customer service achievements across the public, private and voluntary sectors. Run by the ICS, the awards have been created to showcase those organisations who place the customer experience at the heart of their business strategy and build a sustainable culture of customer service within their organisation.

Jo Causon, CEO, ICS, said: "Customer satisfaction is increasing, but there is no room for complacency as customer demands continuously evolve. The key to success is for organisations to create a seamless experience for their customers, one which provides continuity in an increasingly disrupted world because by focusing on their overall experience, customers will be more likely to remain loyal and make positive recommendations.

"Those organisations recognised by the Customer Satisfaction Awards have gone above and beyond to achieve outstanding service, and offer a standard for companies and individuals across the UK to aim for over the coming year. I would like to congratulate every one of our winners - and all those who were shortlisted - and commend the excellent experience they are offering to their customers."

In addition to CCM, another 13 organisations and individuals were recognised for the way in which they have delivered the highest standards in UK customer service over the past year, including Virgin Money, Legal and General, Nationwide Building Society and BUPA. Previous winners include the Direct Line Group, T-Mobile and John Lewis.

Organisations from almost every sector were recognised for their achievements at the prestigious awards ceremony. There were notable representatives from every sector in the 127 shortlisted organisations and individuals, including well-known 'high street' names and small businesses, demonstrating that good customer service is vital to all organisations."

About Cabot Credit Management

Cabot Credit Management (CCM) is a market leader in credit management services including debt purchasing, contingency collections, business process outsourcing and litigation. The Group encompasses four UK businesses including Cabot Financial, dlc, Apex Credit Management and Mortimer Clarke Solicitors (a specialist litigation law firm, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority) and three European businesses Cabot Financial Ireland, Gesif and Nemo.

From its inception in 1998 to 30 September 2016, CCM has invested c£1.9 billion in acquiring portfolios with a Face Value in excess of £20 billion. CCM has an ERC (estimated remaining collections) of £2.1 billion. It manages in the region of £3 billion of assets on behalf of clients, collects on average £47 million per month on portfolios it either owns or services on behalf of clients, and has delivered a consistently strong financial performance, having grown its business in each of the last 16 years without exception.

The Group, which has purchased circa 8 million customer accounts, employs approximately 1,550 people with offices in Kings Hill, Brackley, Worthing, London, Dublin, Madrid, Paris, Lyon and Marseille. The company prides itself on its ethical values, customer service and high standards. It has an impressive list of accolades including:

• Investors in People Gold and Champion awards
• Treating Customers Fairly Award 2015 and 2016, Credit Strategy
• ICS Feedback Strategy Award, 2017, Institute of Customer Service

The controlling shareholder of Cabot Financial is Encore Capital Group, an international speciality finance company providing debt recovery solutions. The remaining equity is held by a fund advised by J.C. Flowers & Co., in addition to company management.

About The Institute of Customer Service

The Institute of Customer Service is the professional body for customer service delivering tangible benefit to organisations and individuals so that our customers can improve their customers' experience and their own business performance. The Institute is a membership body with a community of over 500 organisational members - from the private, public and third sectors - and over 3,000 individual memberships. For more information about The Institute of Customer Service go to www.instituteofcustomerservice.com