Through working together, Living Lerwick member businesses have made Lerwick town centre the most northerly area in the UK to gain national recognition for its commitment to customer service.
Lerwick town centre has received the recognition after the area exceeded the target of 25 percent of businesses reaching WorldHost Recognised Business status - that means they have trained 50 percent or more of their front line staff using WorldHost customer service training programmes and signed a commitment to delivering excellent customer service.
WorldHost is a suite of world-class customer service training programmes that have already been used to train nearly one million people worldwide, including tens of thousands of staff and volunteers for the Commonwealth Games Glasgow 2014 and London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Living Lerwick co-ordinated the effort for WorldHost recognition on behalf of its members in order to achieve one of the objectives in its business plan. On receiving the recognition, Christena Irvine from Living Lerwick commented: “We are thrilled Lerwick town centre has become the most northerly WorldHost Recognised Destination – it’s a testament to the fantastic commitment that businesses in Lerwick town centre have made to their staff and their customers in delivering excellent service.”
The WorldHost Recognition was awarded by skills and workforce development charity People 1st, which is rolling out the WorldHost training programmes across the UK in an effort to improve customer service standards. Sharon Glancy, executive director at People 1st, congratulated Lerwick Town Centre on its achievement. She commented: “Becoming a WorldHost Recognised Destination is a fantastic achievement and it’s incredibly encouraging to see so many businesses willing to go the extra mile for their customers. Congratulations to all the businesses involved.”
Image © Ben Mullay
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About WorldHost
WorldHost customer service training has been used to train over 150,000 people in the UK, including tens of thousands of volunteers and staff at the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympics, who were widely praised for the fantastic welcome they gave to visitors.
Originally developed in Canada – widely recognised as the leading global destination for visitor welcome – and adapted for the UK market by skills and workforce development charity People 1st (www.people1st.co.uk), the WorldHost programmes provide a gold standard in training for any business that relies on day-to-day interaction with customers for success. All WorldHost trainers are quality assured and are regularly tested to ensure they continue to deliver world-class customer service training.