David Marklew

Current

Director at David Marklew Ltd

Past

Head of Customer Services at TK Maxx
Project Manager/Consultant at Virgin/Zavvi
Operations and Customer Service Manager at Virgin Retail Ltd

Head of Central Operations at HMV
Manager at HMV

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Education

Sherwood Hall Technical Grammar

Recommended

7 people have recommended David

Connections

163 connections

Industry

Retail

Websites

Institute of Customer Service

David Marklew’s Summary

After years of heading up customer service with the likes of HMV, Virgin, TK Maxx etc I have formed my own company. Creatively, I called my company David Marklew Ltd - well if I'm not prepared to put my name to it I figured I shouldn't bother!

Delivering a fantastic customer experience is the ultimate differentiator, even more critical in the current difficult times to enable survival today and success tomorrow. As a friend and former colleague once stated 'when odds are even it's all we've got'

I have achieved outstanding results over the past 15 years with major brands and household names such as HMV, Virgin and TK Maxx. Results that have driven sales, reduced costs, heightened customer and employee engagement and changed the very culture within organisations.

I am now looking to use my skill and banked experience to help small, medium or large organisations, or even individuals, to understand the full risks and benefits of customer service. To help them ensure that their customer experience strategy is sound, motivation to deliver is high and success is visibly recognised and rewarded. Service delivered in line with the brand on every occasion.

Whether the issue is attitudinal, behavioural or operational, internal or external, I have the experience, knowledge and skill to put the customer exactly where they belong. At the forefront of organisational strategy and individual activities.

David Marklew’s Specialties:

Customer Experience
Employee engagement
Programme and project management
Facilitator and coach
Operational best practice.
Measuring customer experience
Managing customer contacts and resolving complex service issues
Process and journey mapping
Creative solutions
Event management
Talking sense and fun at work

David Marklew’s Experience

Director

David Marklew Ltd

(Privately Held; Retail industry)

March 2009 — Present (10 months)

Customer Experience Consultant - drawing on extensive experience in driving customer experience through employee engagement and operational excellence in major brands with sales in excess of £1bn per annum David Marklew Ltd will add visible bottom line value to your business.
Head of Customer Services

TK Maxx

(Public Company; Retail industry)

October 2006 — March 2009 (2 years 6 months)

Deliver a customer service focussed cultural change programme.
Facilitated a compelling change programme, 'Every Customer Counts' from inception through to launch and ongoing measurement. The 'change' delivered a 14% improvement in customer service measurement scores.
Introduce Net Promoter Score to the vocabulary and initiated multi-channel customer feedback processes including on line and cutting edge in store survey technology.
Designed and implemented bespoke employee engagement survey and produced strategy guidelines for improvement.
Mapped out internal communication strategy and produced content and project managed the store management conference for over 300 delegates.
Project Manager/Consultant

Virgin/Zavvi

(Retail industry)

August 2006 — October 2006 (3 months)

Establish project team and create the plan to deliver, from e-commerce platform and partner selection through to implementation, a new integrated e-commerce strategy and system. Develop a product offer and customer experience that is truly representative of the Virgin brand.
Operations and Customer Service Manager

Virgin Retail Ltd

(Retail industry)

2005 — 2006 (1 year )

Responsible for building a skilled and comitted Central Operations function.
Designed and delivered a change programme to create a culture of customer service. 'Virgin Vitals' - created by the Virgin team for their customers became a way of life. QACTED(don't ask!) ensured that the store received the quality of support and service they needed from central office to deliver that great 'Vitals' service.
Head of Central Operations

HMV

(Retail industry)

1980 — 2004 (24 years )

Performed a number of roles in Head Office from Communications Manager and Operations Manager through to Head of Central Operations where I was responsible for the Central Operations, Customer Service and Retail Systems(ops) Managers and their respective teams.
Responsible for ensuring that the service provided to stores was aligned with their complex and fast moving needs. Very proud to state that in the internal customer service measurement scheme rated by our customers(the store management teams) the three departments within my area were positioned first, second and third with ratings of 98 and 99%.
Often referred to as the 'minister of fun' for the creative methods of engagement deployed.
Manager

HMV

(Public Company; Retail industry)

1980 — 1994 (14 years )

Successful store manager in various locations including Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Brighton and Southampton.
Moved to Head Office roles in1994