Success Stories
CENTRAL HOMELESS TEAM FOCUS ON TRAINING
After one of their BEST workshops the Central Homeless Team, based in Housing and Constituencies, BEST Leader Khushpinder Bhullar decided as a team they wanted to focus one of their actions on improving the customer service that they deliver.
The team looked at training and used the core value of Excellence as a stepping-stone for this improvement. They were concerned with the quality and volume of phone calls the team received and wanted to make sure that all customers received a consistent level of advice and support.
The Housing Training Team were called in and after some onsite visits and mystery shopping exercises, the key areas for improvement were identified and a tailor made training course was designed.
The course was also rolled out to the Temporary Accommodation Team and front-line staff based at the Small Heath branch who deal with customers face to face.
Some of the aims of the course are outlined below:
• Realising the impact your voice can have on your customer relationships
• Identifying the types of difficult caller you may have to deal with
• Applying practical solutions for dealing with difficult customers
• Identifying the right question to ask in order to gain the information that you need to help your caller most effectively
Several training sessions were arranged starting in January 2008 to maximise the amount of staff able to attend.
The outcomes of this training have been that customers have seen vast improvements in the quality of their service and staff have found the training useful and effective.
