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Business rallies together to improve service in the city
Posted on: Thursday, 24 November 2005. Article source: The Herald
A new campaign, launched last night, aims to make the Nelson Mandela Bay the metro with the best service in the country.
It’s the brainchild of the Port Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PERCCI) which has brought about a powerful alliance to “make bad service a thing of the past”.
“Service is undoubtedly one of the most hotly debated subjects wherever you go in the city. Everyone knows that our city’s service needs to improve. I am delighted to announce that four of the city’s leading organisations, Johnnic Publishing, the Boardwalk Casino, Coca Cola and the Airports Company of South Africa, have come together to invest more than R750 000 in making service excellence in Nelson Mandela Bay a reality,” says PERCCI chairman Dave Coffey.
The campaign’s influential steering committee also demonstrates the seriousness of the chamber’s intent. It includes the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s Sandra Perks and Peter Myles, Sonja Gouveia (Standard Bank), John Parry (Work Station), George Payne (UNISA) as well as PERCCI’s Alfred da Costa, Wendy Lester (PERCCI) and Coffey. Other representatives include service providers Boom Town Advertising and K&A Smart. The full-time project manager is recently-appointed Xolile Khosa.
Other prominent organisations that have added their endorsement to the campaign include Nelson Mandela Bay’s Municipality and Tourism Board.
“Service is one of the single most important reasons why people visit to an area and spend their money. It’s an important driver for the tourism growth and with the Soccer World Cup only five years away, we, as business, want to do everything we can to ensure that we offer the best service of all host cities. We want to create a culture that translates into our visitors choosing us above other attractions and visiting us longer. It will also be our reward beyond the Soccer World Cup,” says Coffey.
Industries which are the first targets of the campaign include tourism, entertainment, accommodation establishments, restaurants as well as fast food outlets.
The initial programme will comprise two parts: a training course which PERCCI estimates in which over 100 000 people will participate. Over sixty per cent of any company must undergo training to be eligible for accreditation.
The second part of the programme is the accreditation process where companies will be assessed by professional mystery shoppers. Companies that achieve a 80 per cent score will be awarded accreditation and receive a certificate to mark this achievement.
Coffey says the success of the programme is dependent on getting as many companies to buy into the programme and training as many participants over the next five years.
“The value of the campaign doesn’t only lie in the general upliftment of service levels for the companies involved. The people that undergo the one-day training course will come away with a SETA-approved certificate, making them more marketable. Employers also will be assured of certain skills when employing someone with the certificate,” explains Coffey.
Senior executives are to be exposed to the service excellence training by attending a shortened version of the course.
The course, developed by Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s Business School, will cover a range of issues intended to better equip the client service employee in meeting the customer’s four basic needs – to be understood, welcomed, comforted and to feel important. Special attention is to be given in the course to the treatment of tourists. The cost of course is R375 per person and may be recovered through the SETA fee system.
The accreditation or the evaluation of companies will be conducted by local company Kondile and Associates Management Consultants (K&A Smart) that has over 20 years of experience in this field.
“K&A Smart assessors will assess a company’s customer service quarterly. Those that score 80 per cent or more will be awarded accreditation as well as given recommendations of how it could further improve its service,” explains Coffey.
“The city’s people have an important role to play. We need to vigilant about service. Gone are the days where we keep quiet about bad service. If service is to improve and our city is to grow, we need to give constructive criticism and support businesses that have been accredited,” explains Coffey.
Guidelines to service excellence can be found on the website that was developed to support businesses in this area. It can be found at www.serviceexcellence.co.za.
Medium to long terms plans include the establishment of a contact hotline, a business development support facility to assist with customer service improvement and an after care programme that looks at challenging service issues.
It’s the brainchild of the Port Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PERCCI) which has brought about a powerful alliance to “make bad service a thing of the past”.
“Service is undoubtedly one of the most hotly debated subjects wherever you go in the city. Everyone knows that our city’s service needs to improve. I am delighted to announce that four of the city’s leading organisations, Johnnic Publishing, the Boardwalk Casino, Coca Cola and the Airports Company of South Africa, have come together to invest more than R750 000 in making service excellence in Nelson Mandela Bay a reality,” says PERCCI chairman Dave Coffey.
The campaign’s influential steering committee also demonstrates the seriousness of the chamber’s intent. It includes the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s Sandra Perks and Peter Myles, Sonja Gouveia (Standard Bank), John Parry (Work Station), George Payne (UNISA) as well as PERCCI’s Alfred da Costa, Wendy Lester (PERCCI) and Coffey. Other representatives include service providers Boom Town Advertising and K&A Smart. The full-time project manager is recently-appointed Xolile Khosa.
Other prominent organisations that have added their endorsement to the campaign include Nelson Mandela Bay’s Municipality and Tourism Board.
“Service is one of the single most important reasons why people visit to an area and spend their money. It’s an important driver for the tourism growth and with the Soccer World Cup only five years away, we, as business, want to do everything we can to ensure that we offer the best service of all host cities. We want to create a culture that translates into our visitors choosing us above other attractions and visiting us longer. It will also be our reward beyond the Soccer World Cup,” says Coffey.
Industries which are the first targets of the campaign include tourism, entertainment, accommodation establishments, restaurants as well as fast food outlets.
The initial programme will comprise two parts: a training course which PERCCI estimates in which over 100 000 people will participate. Over sixty per cent of any company must undergo training to be eligible for accreditation.
The second part of the programme is the accreditation process where companies will be assessed by professional mystery shoppers. Companies that achieve a 80 per cent score will be awarded accreditation and receive a certificate to mark this achievement.
Coffey says the success of the programme is dependent on getting as many companies to buy into the programme and training as many participants over the next five years.
“The value of the campaign doesn’t only lie in the general upliftment of service levels for the companies involved. The people that undergo the one-day training course will come away with a SETA-approved certificate, making them more marketable. Employers also will be assured of certain skills when employing someone with the certificate,” explains Coffey.
Senior executives are to be exposed to the service excellence training by attending a shortened version of the course.
The course, developed by Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s Business School, will cover a range of issues intended to better equip the client service employee in meeting the customer’s four basic needs – to be understood, welcomed, comforted and to feel important. Special attention is to be given in the course to the treatment of tourists. The cost of course is R375 per person and may be recovered through the SETA fee system.
The accreditation or the evaluation of companies will be conducted by local company Kondile and Associates Management Consultants (K&A Smart) that has over 20 years of experience in this field.
“K&A Smart assessors will assess a company’s customer service quarterly. Those that score 80 per cent or more will be awarded accreditation as well as given recommendations of how it could further improve its service,” explains Coffey.
“The city’s people have an important role to play. We need to vigilant about service. Gone are the days where we keep quiet about bad service. If service is to improve and our city is to grow, we need to give constructive criticism and support businesses that have been accredited,” explains Coffey.
Guidelines to service excellence can be found on the website that was developed to support businesses in this area. It can be found at www.serviceexcellence.co.za.
Medium to long terms plans include the establishment of a contact hotline, a business development support facility to assist with customer service improvement and an after care programme that looks at challenging service issues.
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