One North East - Delivering Excellence

In today’s competitive market, providing excellent customer service is key to giving your business the edge

‘Customer service training is the all-important key for any business or organisation aspiring to stand out from the crowd, offer customers a memorable experience and win repeat business.’ says Tricia Woods, Training and Skills Co-ordinator for One NorthEast’s Tourism Team. ‘Providing great customer service training can help you attract the best quality staff, develop motivated teams and improve staff retention rates.’

Since its launch in 1993, over 300,000 people throughout the UK have already taken part in Welcome to Excellence – the largest customer service training programme in the UK and the only one recommended by Regional Tourist Board Partnerships Ltd.

Tricia says, ‘Welcome to Excellence currently offers a series of eight established interactive one-day courses, all of which are frequently updated to reflect changing market conditions and legislation.

‘Welcome Host is perhaps the most familiar, but the Welcome to Excellence programme includes much more for staff at every level. For example, Welcome All focuses on how to provide a top-class welcome to people with disabilities, Welcome International provides an insight into how to deal with people from other cultures and Welcome Management is designed especially for managers, showing how to develop a business-wide customer services strategy. ‘

CoVE, one of only 15 nationally recognised Centres of Vocational Excellence in the country, was established by Northumberland College, with partners North East Chamber of Commerce and Northumberland Training Academy, to increase tourism training across the whole North East region. CoVE is set to continue rebranded as North East Tourism Academy. Angela Fairness, responsible for coordinating the partners and liaising with clients, says, ‘CoVE offers Welcome Host, Welcome Host Plus, Welcome All, Welcome Line and Welcome International on an Open course basis at venues across the region so anybody can join. Courses are promoted via One NorthEast’s Tourism Network and the Tourism Academy website.’

Angela continues, ‘Students who gain all five Welcome courses plus an assignment will be awarded the NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Customer Service for Hospitality, Leisure, Travel and Tourism. Businesses and their staff like to have the Welcome certificates and badges, and be able to display their own accreditation. I believe we are helping the North East gain a reputation for good customer service. In my new role with the Academy I hope I can encourage a great many more businesses to take the opportunity to join Welcome to Excellence.’

One B&B owner, who is already convinced of the value of Welcome to Excellence, is Malcolm Downes of the award-winning The Old School, Newton on the Moor. ‘Although we have always worked in the business we had no formal qualifications to say we had customer care skills. We felt having Welcome to Excellence would be evidence of our higher levels of customer service.’

So in January 2007 Malcolm and his wife Kath both went on a crash course, attending Welcome Host, Welcome Host Plus and Welcome All. ‘One NorthEast is good at providing the courses in the shoulder months when businesses are less busy,’ he says.

‘It was great to meet people and hear what other places are doing and how. Also, no matter how good you think you are after so many years, it’s still refreshing to see things from a different perspective and go through a structured course. I definitely gained something from Welcome All as it took me to an area I hadn’t really been before. Sometimes when we talk about disability we only think of wheelchair users. Welcome All opened it right up for me and showed you can be accessible just by doing some small things. And not being fully wheelchair accessible, doesn’t mean you can’t do anything – you could be accessible to partially-sighted guests for example.

‘After we did the courses we immediately applied for the Welcome to Excellence plaque, putting it up in the front porch so it’s the first thing that customers see. It creates a positive impression.’ Any business where 50% of staff (including part-time and seasonal) have been through a Welcome to Excellence course qualifies to use the logo. Malcolm adds, ‘We use it on our stationery and all advertising, including the website. We see it as prestigious and it gives us a competitive edge.’

Freelance trainer, Sandra Ellington regularly delivers five of the Welcome to Excellence courses (Welcome Host, Welcome Host Plus, Welcome All, Welcome Line and Welcome Management) to a range of organisations across the North East region. ‘For me, one of the positive things about Welcome to Excellence,’ she says, ‘is that such a huge cross section of organisations can dip into the Welcome programme: from large hotels and small B&Bs to self-catering, visitor attractions, TICs, pubs, restaurants, local government.

‘Welcome to Excellence provides businesses with an appropriate standard for customer service that’s consistent across their organisation and can mean lower staff turnover as they feel it’s a good place to work. Lower recruitment costs and stability allow businesses to keep the momentum going and develop their team, perhaps doing Welcome Host one year, moving on to Host Plus the next. Having a happier workforce has an automatic knock-on effect with greater customer satisfaction and fewer complaints. In Welcome to Excellence, businesses have access to a nationally recognised tool to raise the skill levels of their managers and staff and help them continue to offer the warm welcome for which the North East is famous.’

Trainers, like Sandra, will work with businesses to tailor Welcome to Excellence courses to suit their needs and level of staff attending. Tyne and Wear Museums (T&WM), is one to have benefited from this flexibility. Training Officer, Eleanor Havery is responsible for non-specialist training for 11 museums and galleries. She has currently focused on Welcome Host. ‘Nowadays the museums do a lot of outreach work in schools and the community, as well as bringing the public into the museums. Welcome Host is therefore very relevant with its focus on the customer.’ She worked with the trainer at the start to tailor the course for the museums, for example, incorporating T&WM’s own telephone script. ‘Also,’ she says, ‘further ad hoc adjustments can be made to ensure the course continues to match our core values.’

Courses are held on-site at three or four venues. ‘I think it’s important to always have a mix of staff levels from a cross-section of venues. We want everyone to take responsibility for good customer service across the organisation – from archaeologist to manager to reception. Some do come to a course and are not sure why they are there. But by the end they realise that the course is relevant for them and that even if they’re not dealing face-to-face with visitors, they will have internal customers. I’ve even noticed several of them using the telephone script when answering the phone which can make a good impression, whether the call is internal or external. Evaluation has also shown that people appreciate having the chance to network and hear others’ views.’

Harland Deer is Marketing Assistant for Hartlepool Borough Council and with responsibility for developing the product as well as promotion he’s involved in training. ‘Welcome to Excellence kind of chose us!’ he says. ‘The programme has a long-standing reputation across the tourism economic sector. But I didn’t run a course until I’d attended one to see what it was all about. I’ve never been on a bad course and the trainers have been universally excellent.’

In the past five years the Council has run over 40 courses across the whole Welcome family. ‘Seasonal as well as full-time staff attend from the full spectrum of tourism businesses: restaurants, hotels, attractions, shopping centres, etc. For example, Middleton Grange Shopping Centre has recognised Welcome to Excellence as key to its good customer service. All staff, including security and cleaning staff, attend. They gain a lot from the courses and often have a sense of pride in their certificates. Security and cleaning staff wear the lapel badge, which is becoming recognisable in the town. The Welcome sign is displayed on doors and windows in the Centre offering reassurance to the customer.’

Harland adds, ‘Providing great customer service is vital if a business is to stand out and generate repeat business. You can have the best meal in a restaurant but if the service falls short, you won’t go back. It’s about delivering a complete package.’

Many attractions in the Hartlepool area attend Welcome courses at Summerhill, a country park with a wonderful visitor centre. Tricia Woods, from One NorthEast runs Welcome All courses here as the building is a good example of best practice. She says, ‘Participants can see first-hand how a building can have access built in.’

For Harland the access agenda is incredibly important and a strong incentive for everyone to attend a Welcome All course. ‘Thinking they need to make physical adjustments can put businesses off, but Welcome All shows it’s often simple changes in attitude that are key. Welcome All goes a long way to help people understand and be respectful to visitors with disabilities. It allows participants to ask what they might feel are simple questions and realise that it’s often a matter of using common sense. For example, we have a blind man who comes along and offers simple advice to participants, such as if you’re talking to him tell him when you are going away – so that, as he says, he isn’t left talking to the hat stand!’ Harland is also pleased to see how Welcome All has grown and developed in line with the DDA.

Chris Francis is Manager of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust’s Washington Centre. ‘The Centre attracts a lot of visitors with disabilities as our access is good. We changed quite a few things after introducing Welcome All. For example, we have pine log cabins with pine doors against pine walls! We realised that for someone with a visual impairment it could be difficult to pick out the doors, so we painted all the frames. A lot of people can find relating to visitors with disabilities uncomfortable at first. Welcome All reassures them that this is only human and helps them learn to work through their discomfort without letting the other person know.’

Welcome’s flexibility means everyone can be accommodated. Sandra Ellington says, ‘I was delivering a course a few weeks ago where one of the delegates was deaf and attended with two signers. I just delivered the course as usual with them signing. Also, if I know beforehand that someone with dyslexia is attending I can produce the materials in their preferred format.’
Welcome to Excellence is continuing to expand into new service sectors with Welcome Host for Local Authorities and Welcome to Health being introduced. Sue Gill of Regional Tourist Board Partnerships Ltd says ‘We are seeing mounting recognition of the importance of great customer service by many types of organisation in both the private and public sector. We have developed these customised courses, based on Welcome Host, as training is more powerful if people feel it relates directly to their sector and practical examples are immediately relevant to them. We are actively developing further versions for sectors such as museums and leisure.’
A new one-day course, Lead, Motivate and Succeed has recently been launched. ‘This exciting new course fills a gap in the market,’ Sue says. ‘Until now, we did not offer a course designed especially for first-time managers, helping them to make the next step in their career and become effective and inspirational team leaders. Lead, Motivate and Succeed covers topics such as sharing objectives, effective communication, motivation, delegation and resolving problems.’ Sandra Ellington agrees, ‘It’s a great way to fill the gap between Welcome Host and Welcome Management and will encourage progress development, ensuring people have the skills to take on a new team-leader role. I’ll be delivering the first one at the BALTIC and the course is already full with a waiting list! I think it’s hugely exciting.’
Richard Vickery, Head of the Tourism Team’s Business Development Unit is also enthusiastic about this new course. ‘It will be extremely valuable within North East England as People 1st, the Skills Council for Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, identified a huge gap in leadership skills,’ he says. ‘Many staff earn rapid promotion in the tourism sector but without always acquiring the necessary experience to accompany a change in position. Lead, Motivate and Succeed will undoubtedly address this issue across the industry and allow staff to meet the new responsibilities and considerable challenges presented to them.’

The current tourism market operates in a world of fast-changing customer expectations, behaviour and cultural differences. Welcome to Excellence courses provide staff at every level with the reassurance to perform their roles effectively, give them the confidence to deal with people whatever the situation, and help them appreciate the extensive reach and value of tourism in the wider economy.

for further information please visit:
www.tourismnortheast.co.uk/toolkit
www.tourismacademy.co.uk
www.sandraellington.co.uk