Suffolk businesses get ready for the Games

The first businesses in Suffolk have taken part in customer service training specifically designed to prepare them to welcome visitors to the county during the London 2012 Games.

The free ‘Delivering First-Class Customer Service’ workshops are being delivered by West Suffolk College and WS Training to help ensure local firms are ‘Games Ready’. The first businesses to take part include Adnams, Milsoms Kesgrave Hall, the Swan Hotel, Bramfield Queen, and The Stoke By Nayland Club.

The workshops include training on understanding good customer service, specifically looking at the diversity of customers visiting Suffolk during the Games, plus delivering effective customer service including demonstrating knowledge and awareness of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the context of Suffolk, how to prepare to deal with customers and make realistic customer service promises.

Suffolk’s ‘On Our Marks campaign’, in partnership with Suffolk Chamber of Commerce and Suffolk County Council, aims to encourage local businesses to improve their customer service skills by training existing staff and taking on new trainees.

Firms who complete the workshop will receive a certificate and window sticker to identify them as Games ready as well as a specially-developed marketing toolkit to help them make the most of their ‘Games Ready’ status.

The aim behind the project is to showcase Suffolk and all it has to offer and provide visitors with the best possible service so they will want to come back to the county for many years to come and thereby increase the legacy from London 2012 for local businesses.

Katherine Daines, Front Office Manager at Milsoms Kesgrave Hall who completed the training, said: “What a fab training programme. It can be difficult to keep the attention of staff on training courses but this one was different.

“All of the staff came out of the On Our Marks course with a real buzz, with positive comments all round and discussions carrying on into the evening. It has succeeded in creating a real excitement for the months to come and prepared us for welcoming visitors during the Games. ”

To find out more about the On Our Marks Games Ready workshops contact Richard Dean at WS Training on 01473 604260 or Lisa Bebbington at West Suffolk College on 01284 716286.

Source: Rising to the Challenge Suffolk