The intu Trafford Centre in Manchester is one of the world’s most famous shopping and leisure destinations. With a dazzling selection of shops, cinemas and food outlets, the Centre directly employs 400 staff.
These staff are employed in environmental services (cleaning, caretaking, landscaping and presentation), security, food service, general management and business services.
Lesley Marshall, HR and Training Manager, has been a key member of the team since the Trafford Centre opened in 1998.
Lesley says: “From the outset, a central part of our vision has been to aim for outstanding customer service. Every single one of our staff went through ‘Welcome Host’ training prior to opening day and for the last 15 years, every new member of staff has received customer service training as part of their induction. We now use Welcome Host Gold in place of Welcome Host as we find it is even more relevant to our needs. In just a one day course, it equips our staff with a good understanding of why customer service is important and helps build the skills they need to deliver great customer service themselves. It really does cover all the bases.
“Welcome to Excellence has been a large contributor to the success of the intu Trafford Centre. It has helped us to embed exceptional customer service at the heart of the organisation. This has helped us build loyalty amongst our customers, winning us repeat business and additional sales.
“Welcome to Excellence has also helped us invest in our staff, adding to their job satisfaction and aiding our staff retention. Staff say they find the training on how to deal with difficult customers particularly helpful. The course shows our staff how to turn negatives into positives and gives them the confidence to deal with tricky situations.
“Welcome Host Gold also helps staff become more confident about initiating conversations with the public and being proactive. This helps us create a warm welcoming ambience at the centre.
“Over the years since the Trafford Centre opened, the number of staff who have benefited from the Welcome to Excellence training runs into the thousands. We believe in investing in our staff and this is a critical element of our ‘Investors in People’ accreditation. We have our own in-house trainers who are licensed to run the Welcome Host Gold training and so this gives us considerable flexibility. We have fresh, up to date content from Welcome to Excellence and we are able to tailor it to make it completely relevant to our setting.
“We are now rolling out ‘Welcome Host Gold’ training to all our current staff. Although many of these will have completed ‘Welcome Host’ as part of their induction, this serves as a refresher and updates their skills.
“Welcome to Excellence has been a vital part of our business success so far and we expect it to continue to help maintain our competitive edge well into the future.”
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