30th Jul 2010 - 00:00
Abstract
Prestige Scotland, the catering division of Sodexo Prestige, is planning to introduce regionalised customer training programmes for staff across the country to ensure they have a good background knowledge of the local areas where they are working.
It follows a pilot scheme at The Open at St Andrews when 42 members of staff were put through a customer service excellence course which involved them learning about the tourism and leisure amenities in the town.
Staff took part in a customer excellence programme designed to enhance the experience of guests from first greeting through to farewell to ensure they had a memorable experience.
They also had to correctly answer 25 questions about St Andrews town centre and its attractions. These were focussed on the town's four main streets as well as the free museums and answers to frequently asked questions.
The employees had to make a series of pledges about how they would improve their performance as a result of the course and fill in a self-assessment form which was validated by their supervisors explaining how they had improved their performance. Employees were then externally verified by the St Andrews Skills Academy, which developed the St Andrews Standard, and successful candidates were given a certificate and St Andrews Standard pin.
Prestige Scotland now plans to roll out this training to its businesses through Scotland ensuring staff are knowledgeable about the areas where they work so that they can enhance the experience for customers by advising them about local services.
Robin Ozog, general manager Prestige Scotland, said: "The staff enjoyed their training experience and also the research that they had to do online for the local knowledge aspects. This all contributed to their being 100% focused on the event and greatly helped their confidence and performance. The expansion of the standard throughout our business is an exciting challenge and will provide a win/win situation for our clients and ourselves."
Lawrence Durden, tourism manager, Skills Development Scotland, added: "Skills Development Scotland recognises the importance of customer service when it comes to the tourist experience and this is a good example of how we can support the up-skilling of staff in this important sector."
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