Speakers Categories
After Dinner 
Mark Bradley
Fee band from £ 2000 - 4000
To book Mark, please
call us on +44 (0)20 7247 1193
or e-mail to:
info@cityspeakersinternational.co.uk
Photos & Video Clips
Background
Mark Bradley is a consultant, writer and business speaker with a talent for bringing the customer experience vividly to life.
An expert in customer service and author of Inconvenience Stores, one family’s testing retail travelogue, Mark’s work richly evokes the UK consumer experience in a way that brings a new objectivity to business.
As National Consumer Council research highlights the millions of pounds lost to UK business through poor customer service, Mark’s entertaining and imaginative contributions have brought him to the attention of the media, where he’s appeared on BBC1’s Are We Being Served? BBC2’s Working Lunch and BBC Radio Five Live. He writes for the Yorkshire Post, and contributes a video blog to Customer Strategy Magazine’s.
Having enjoyed a career including retail financial services, homelessness campaigning, Spanish & Catalan translation and table waiting, he builds his work on a rich palette of life experience. And furthermore, as a former lead assessor for the Unisys / Management Today Service Excellence Awards and service excellence consultant, Mark draws on the experiences of pioneering organisations to share practical insights: ideas that really work!
Once described as the Carrie Bradshaw of UK service, Mark continues the fight to raise the profile of customer service in his newspaper and magazine columns, while his willingness to work flexibly with his own customers has led to engagements as varied as presenting on a bus (during a service excellence tour of the UK), working as a feminine hygiene waste disposal operative and becoming a catalogue shop delivery driver.
He maintains that the low profile of service in the UK – and its root causes – explains why most customer service initiatives are doomed to fail. The answer, Mark contends, is by rigorously examining service experiences from the customer’s perspective and attacking some of the internally-fixated business conventions that have driven us to this impasse.
Most recently Mark has worked in football. His company has helped the Football League research, develop and launch their inaugural Family Excellence Awards. He’s also worked with the Premier League, the Football Association of Ireland and several individual football clubs, including Liverpool, Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers, Ipswich Town, Newcastle United and Huddersfield Town. A recent project sees him leading a unique fan experience improvement programme at a Premier League club.
Outside of football Mark has worked with Land Securities, HBOS plc, DHL / Argos, Norwich Union, Hull University and PMI Health Care. He is a popular conference chairman with Marcus Evans, White Paper and Infoline – and currently one of the UK’s most popular business speakers.
Mark’s second book, Retails of the Unexpected, a collection of essays, articles and customer service experiences emerged in 2008 and was featured on ITV News, BBC 2’s Working Lunch and a dozen further radio magazine shows. It is said that when they finally throw the book at British Customer Service, this is what they’ll have in their hands.
Championed by X-Leisure’s PY Gerbeau and the BBC’s Adrian Chiles, the latter says of him:
“If you want to hear the usual old tosh about "putting customers first" then Mark's not your man. I've heard thousands of people talking about customer service but Mark's the only one with anything useful to say on the subject”
Areas of Expertise
Mark brings a new realism into your business by entertainingly bringing your customers’ actual experiences to life. He switches from the internal to the external perspective and highlights the humour in some of the experiences we create for our customers.
He then explores the consequences of true consumer focus and inspires change by drawing on the strategies and working practices within some of the world’s most progressive and customer-focused organisations.
An in-demand and flexible speaker, Mark has presented on the following subjects and more:
• Raising the profile of service in your organisation
• How to become a business that listens
• What we really want: a consumer’s view of brand and marketing
• Inconvenience Stores: the state of UK service and how to improve it
Client Comments
If you want to hear the usual old tosh about "putting customers first" then Mark's not your man. I've heard thousands of people talking about customer service but Mark's the only one with anything useful to say on the subject
Adrian Chiles (BBC Television)
“Very informative and interactive – a superb presenter”
(Vodafone)
“The session was well balanced, knowledgeable and interesting. It encouraged people to think about the customer and their own job satisfaction. In retrospect, it was better than (well known speaker)’s presentation”
(Thomas Cook)
“My colleagues enjoyed their day enormously and have come back brimming with ideas. They said the day was more enjoyable and relevant than previous experiences of customer service courses”
(Newcastle United FC)
“The feedback I have had so far has been brilliant. Several delegates are thinking of contacting you, so I hope you go from strength to strength”
(Welsh Fire Service)
“Excellent presentation skills, entertaining and informative”
“Great delivery and great examples covered. Amusing and informative, please use this speaker again”
“Excellent choice for the otherwise dreary after lunch slot, a very interesting talk, the best ever heard!”
“Different perspective, interesting and flexible approach, adapted to the responses of the group without pushing his beliefs, excellent interaction with the group”
(Infoline Conferences)
“Mark's humorous delivery of real customer service experiences helped me to absorb more of the content than what I would have done had a more conventional approach been taken.”
PMI
“A must for anyone who wishes to progress their customer service focus to new levels.”
West Bromwich Building Society
“Mark was the key note speaker at the “Getting involved in the National Skills Academy for Retail” conferences we recently ran, his speech was inspiring and thought provoking - on the scale of poor customer service levels within the retail sector. He was also able to demonstrate great service and show how this relates to the skills and development of retail employees. We received fantastic feedback from the audience with several delegates requesting Mark's details for their events. We will be looking forward to working with Mark in the future.”
Skill Smart Retail.
