A closer look at two more Town Centre Business Awards

Rochdale Town Centre Management.

This week Rochdale Online continues its build up to the Town Centre Business Awards with a look at the Rochdale Ambassador and Best Long Serving Business award categories.

The awards aim to recognise Rochdale's history of good service and pride.

Since judging is yet to take place, the names of the businesses have been omitted from the examples below.

ROCHDALE AMBASSADOR - sponsored by Ladies Only Ltd

Michelle Evans, owner of Ladies Only Ltd on St. Mary’s Gate, said: “Wondering if the new face you are dealing with in business could be a mystery customer, really motivates you to perform at your best. I’m happy to sponsor an award this year because I believe it reignites the passion in people to work hard and have their efforts publicly recognised.”

During each Mystery Shopping visit carried out for the Business Awards, researchers, as part of their scenario, made an enquiry about Rochdale town centre’s facilities, referring to the Tourist Information Centre and the recent Feel Good Festival. Within their review the member of staff that they were dealing with was then assessed on whether they could be considered an Ambassador for the town within which they work.

This award was included because Town Centre Management believes it is vital that the employees of Rochdale have pride in their town.

The staff were appraised against the following five standards:

Did the staff member seem passionate and committed to their town?
Were they an Ambassador for the town?
Did the staff member seem knowledgeable of the Town Centre?
Was sufficient information given in response to the query?
Was extra/supplementary information volunteered over and above that asked for?

Suzy Woods at Rochdale Town Centre Management said: "Although every one of the businesses involved in the awards can be proud to be classed as an ‘Ambassador’ for Rochdale’s town centre, we had to pick out those that showed outstanding support to the town, based in part on the manner, style and content they used when talking about Rochdale and its facilities."

Below are some of the reviews given by mystery shoppers for the ambassador award.

"I said that I had seen something about the Feel Good Festival and wondered what it was like. She told me that the celebrity chefs had been very good and she explained what the festival was all about. The assistant was warm and friendly and she seemed to be well informed about Rochdale."

"I asked her about the recent Feel Good Festival and she told me lots about it. She said that there was lots of entertainment and that she loved the school children’s performances. She said the town was buzzing and people could try food and wine samples with celebrity chefs on hand doing demonstrations. When I said I was sorry that I missed it and how would I know about other future events being held she mentioned the Tourist Information Centre in Touchstones and she explained where it was. She even wrote down a website that I could access to get further information."

"I asked about things to do in the town as I was looking after my grandchildren for the next four weeks and wanted things to do with them. She told me I could get all I wanted from Touchstones now, giving full details of what was there and how to get there. She also added that the information office in the Exchange Centre may also have some information. She then went on to tell me about the activities at the lake and in the parks which she told me she had enjoyed with her children in the past. She was enthusiastic about events in Rochdale."

BEST LONG SERVING BUSINESS - sponsored by Rochdale Town Centre Management

This Award was brought in last year and is aimed at recognising valuable contributions to the town. The category includes businesses that have been in Rochdale for over 20 years and beyond.

Debbie O’Brien, Chief Executive of Rochdale Town Centre Management said: “TCM are very proud to sponsor this award because we believe it is so important to support the businesses that have had faith in the town centre for so long. These businesses are the foundation and soul of Rochdale and we hope they continue to stay that way for many years to come.”

One mystery shopper said of a long serving business that scored highly: "I was greeted with a smile and a cheery 'Hi' as soon as I entered the store. She was bright and enthusiastic. I had the full attention of the member of staff and she showed me the …… options. When I said I had seen something else, she showed me a brochure with individualised items. She was knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the products. I was given excellent advice and a good choice of options by a pleasant and enthusiastic member of staff."

This is the third annual business awards for the town, organised by Rochdale Town Centre Management and sponsored by Rochdale Borough Council.

This year Rochdale Town Centre Management has been working very closely with the Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM) who short listed RTCM for an award in 2008.

Using the Rochdale model the ATCM has put together a programme of mystery shopping for eight locations across the North West, which this year will include an opportunity for each business that entered the awards to sit down with the mystery shopping company and a training representative to be given feedback and to identify any training needs they may have. This will result in the businesses being able to access free training which will be tailored to their particular requirements.

The programme was offered out to the region to bid for funding and Rochdale was one of the eight towns accepted onto the programme for which it will receive £10,000 worth of funding.

The funding has been delivered by Manchester City College who are accredited as the Centre of Vocation Excellence (COVE) for the delivery of Retail Training.

Debbie O'Brien said: "This is a fabulous opportunity for our town centre businesses to really benefit from their mystery shopping report and move their business forward in these difficult trading conditions."