It is imperative that UK businesses invest in the customer service skills of their staff if they are to reap the benefits generated by London hosting the Olympic and Paralympics games.
According to the Nation Brand Index Survey, the UK is ranked 13th in international customer service rankings. Consequently, People 1st — one of the 25 state-sponsored councils that provide skills to their sectors— and tourism organisation Visit England have launched a campaign to train 200,000 hospitality and tourism staff ahead of the Games.
The programme, Worldhost is based on the system used in Vancouver to train almost 40,000 staff members and volunteers ahead of the Winter Olympics earlier this year and includes elements on working with customers with disabilities and those from different cultures.
Many major organisations such as Fast food giant McDonald’s and low-cost airline Flybe have agreed to incorporate this new program in their own employee development programmes.
Miles Templeman, director general of the Institute of Directors, which is supporting the programme, said: “From an economic perspective, many businesses in the UK will profit and we want to make sure that SMEs get just as many opportunities to benefit as larger businesses.”
Brian Wisdom, CEO at People 1st, said: “There is a lot of focus on developing the infrastructure for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games but not enough on ensuring we have the softer skills needed to welcome the world to Britain.
“If we reach our target of 200,000 it will make a real difference to the experience people have as well as the revenue generated.”
Research by Oxford Economics for tourism organisation Visit London has estimated that £2 billion will be generated from visitors during the Olympics
I wholeheartedly agree here.
These customer service basics are something that every business has to get right, or the customers experience will be badly affected. Anything that raises the overall standard of basic service has to be a good thing.
However it’s also important for businesses to remember that once they have these basics right that they need to consider how to add in their unique service personality. Without this customers will find it difficult to differentiate their experience from other competitors who also get the basics right.
Get the basics right and add your unique approach to the service experience. So we will need to consider how the 2012 Olympics will add a unique flavour to UK customer service.