AT A Glance

Becky Ashford believes that great leadership starts with focusing on your team’s growth. "When you realize it's about them, your wins just keep coming," she says. Rather than trying to be the star, she advocates for empowering your team to become the best versions of themselves. By investing in their success, leaders ultimately ensure their own.

Who is Becky Ashford?‍

Meet Becky Ashford , CX Manager at Fairfax and Favor. 

About Fairfax and Favor

Having just reached a decade, Fairfax & Favor has grown into a multi-award-winning brand at the very forefront of British Luxury Fashion & Rural Vogue. They design with both town and country in mind, creating timeless investments for anyone with a passion for style and adventure.

Becky’s CX Journey

Becky joined Fairfax & Favor in November of last year, bringing experience from both the travel industry and learning development.

"I have worked in Customer Service since I was 16 years old, in a retail, hospitality and contact centre environment," she said. "I'm a qualified trainer and coach and have a strong Learning and Development background. My last role was within in Travel as a Customer Service Manager, before joining Fairfax and Favor."

That experience shapes how she leads. "I really do focus on the training cycle and try to take people on journeys, evaluating what’s successful and what’s not," she explained. "I think that makes me a little bit more unique in the way I approach my team, my job, and my department—rather than a standard kind of manager way."

Becky has worked in Customer Service since a young age, with a variety of roles throughout the years both front of house and contact centre. "I come from a very customer service-based background,' she said.

What Excites Becky About CX

Becky is driven by the challenge of standing out in a crowded market.

"As a consumer, you have so many options that I think it's not enough just to have a good product," she said. "I like to be the best by not only providing a brilliant product but standing out from the crowd with the service you deliver."

For her, customer experience isn’t just about transactions—it’s about relationships. "I don’t see customer service as just a transaction. I see it as a way of interacting and building a community," she explained. "It’s about taking customers on an experience, not just selling them something."

She thrives on the ever-changing nature of consumer expectations. "Consumer habits change so quickly that you can’t really stand still," she said. "I love that you can handle one situation one way, and the next day, a similar situation comes up, but you have to completely adapt because that customer is different."

Understanding what makes customers tick is what excites her most. "I find the emotional intelligence side of things fascinating," she said. "How can I bring customers in as part of the brand rather than just having them make a purchase? That’s what keeps me motivated."

The CX Team at Fairfax and Favor

Becky leads a small but dynamic team at Fairfax & Favor.

"My team, including myself and my assistant manager, is a team of nine," she said. "We’re a very small team, but we see peaks throughout the year. From Black Friday through the beginning of February, we experience a much bigger influx in customer contact, so we do increase our staffing levels during that time."

The team is primarily office-based, with some hybrid flexibility. "We find that we have a really strong culture and genuinely enjoy each other's company," Becky said. "Because we operate with a ‘one size doesn’t fit all’ approach, it’s helpful to be able to talk, bounce ideas around, and work together to find resolutions for our customers."

That balance between consistency and flexibility is key to how they approach customer service. "I almost contradict myself when I say this, but we treat every customer the same—while also treating them all differently," she explained. "No situation is the same, so we take each one individually, but we approach it with a consistent mindset of adapting to meet the customer’s needs."

Biggest Challenges

For Becky, one of the biggest challenges of leadership is making sure hard work gets the recognition it deserves.

"They deal with so much day to day," she said. "Sometimes it’s hard to catch those moments when someone goes above and beyond because they just get on with the job."

She avoids micromanaging but wishes she could see more. "I’d love to be able to tune into every conversation just to say, ‘That was a great job,’" she said. "Even in a small team, I don’t see everything, and in bigger teams, it’s even harder."

CX Team Success Factors

Becky focuses on measuring success through quality and efficiency, ensuring both customers and her team experience a smooth process.

For the team we have a Customer Experience Performance measure, which is focused on supporting the individual to develop their skills and enhance the customer experience.

Rather than relying solely on traditional customer satisfaction metrics, she prioritizes a Customer Effort Score. "I think a Customer Effort Score is the way forward," she said. "How much effort is the customer putting in? Because time is valuable—people don’t want to be on the phone or sending emails. But if they have to, it should be quick and easy."

This mindset extends to her team as well. "I want to measure their effort too—how complicated is it for them to process a refund or an exchange?" she said. "I’d rather they spend time delivering a great experience rather than just processing transactions.” She explains further, “A team engagement score is one of my top priorities, I want to make sure my team have a voice, are being listened to and we truly understand how we can make their day easier for them to enable them to deliver an excellent Customer Experience."

Revenue Generation/AI/topics of interest 

For Becky, creating an effortless experience goes beyond just the customer—it extends to her team as well, a key driver in scaling Fairfax and Favor's success.

"One of the things we’re really focused on this year is reviewing and streamlining our processes," she said. "As we've grown, certain procedures that once worked well have become too cumbersome. We’re now in a position where technology can really help us catch up, particularly around returns. Instead of customers dealing with the post office and printing labels, we’re implementing a portal where they can return items with just a few clicks."

This focus on efficiency is all about freeing up time and energy for customers and staff. "The goal is to make everything as effortless as possible for both sides," Becky explained. "It’s not just about giving customers a seamless experience; it’s about removing obstacles for my team so they can focus on delivering great service rather than getting bogged down by unnecessary steps."

Another priority for Becky is ensuring her team is equipped to handle all customer interactions with expertise and confidence. "As the product line grows, I want my team to be as familiar with every product as possible," she said. "The more they know, the more empowered they’ll feel to make decisions in the moment, without needing to come to me for approval. My job is to guide them, not do their job for them. When they can act confidently, it benefits the customer and the business."

Becky's vision is to create a dynamic where her team feels capable and trusted, enabling a smoother, more efficient customer experience that fuels growth.

Thoughts on AI

Fairfax and Favor recently launched an AI chatbot to provide 24/7 support without needing a team on call all the time. "It helps answer FAQs and gathers key details like order numbers, so when a team member steps in, they can resolve issues faster," says Becky. This tool improves response times and first-contact resolution, while also easing the pressure of handling global customer inquiries across different time zones.

While she acknowledges that AI and data processing technology will play an important role in the future of CX, she says that finding success is about collaboration. 

Becky’s key advice: "It’s not about you. If you focus on making your team successful, you'll be successful." She believes in investing in her team, empowering them to be their best, and letting them shine. When the team thrives, the leader does too.