Back to the floor for management as Link4Life marks National Customer Service Week

Gillian Bishop, Link4Life, Interim Chief Executive,

Senior managers at Link4Life, the Rochdale Boroughwide Cultural Trust, are going ‘back to the floor’ as part of a series of activities for customers and staff that will mark National Customer Service Week which runs from 6 to 10 October.

Interim Chief Executive, Gillian Bishop will be taking a turn on Reception during the week and, along with other company managers, will experience at first hand the highs and lows of the day to day experiences of customers.

National Customer Service Week is a week-long opportunity to raise awareness of customer service and the vital role it plays in successful business practice and the growth of the UK economy. Promoted by the Institute of Customer Service it is widely established in both the private and public sector as a key element of increased business performance.

Gillian Bishop said, “This is the first year that Link4Life has taken part in Customer Service Week and it supports our corporate priority, across all services of the Trust, to aim to provide outstanding customer service. We are holding a mixture of outward facing activities inviting customers to take part as well as internal activities for or involving our own staff.”

Themes for the week include ‘engaging customers’, ‘easy to do business with’ and ‘staff recognition’. Open, drop in ‘Face to Face’ forums will be held in main Link4Life centres at Middleton Arena, Touchstones Rochdale, Heywood Sports Village and Rochdale Leisure Centre giving customers the chance to chat with managers and staff over a cup of tea or coffee. Visitors to Link4Life centres will also have the chance to ‘Mark our Score Card’ giving feedback on current levels of satisfaction with services provided. A customer feedback survey will also be available online.

Over 60% of all bookings for classes and courts are now made online and available 24 hours a day, saving considerable time from telephoning or booking in person. Online booking demonstrations will also be hosted during the week to help customers take full advantage of this improvement in service.

As part of Link4Life’s commitment to customers, a series of focus groups will also take place with staff over the week long initiative. This will use the experience of front line staff to capture and share good practice and identify areas for improvement.

Staff will be recognised for a job well done. “We appreciate it when a customer takes time to say thank you but compliments can too often just stay unrecognised”, explained Gillian Bishop. “We intend to do much more to promote the many cases of positive feedback that we receive on the everyday jobs that Link4Life front line staff do.”