Welcome to Burnley training under way

Marketing Lancashire, in partnership with the Burnley Bondholders and Burnley Borough Council, has created a new and bespoke Welcome to Excellence training programme.

Welcome to Burnley will see up to 500 participants take part in the destination’s biggest single initiative to develop customer service excellence and improve product knowledge across the town.

The one-day course has been tailored specifically for Burnley from the acclaimed Welcome Host Gold training course and benefits from the nationally recognised Welcome to Excellence quality assurance and branding.

Once completed, the participants receive a Welcome to Excellence certificate and have the option to take the examination for the City and Guilds Level 2 Award in the Principles of Customer Service in Hospitality, Leisure, Travel and Tourism.

The first Welcome to Excellence training day took place at the end of January at Burnley Youth Theatre and was a resounding success, with most of those who attended having also completed the City & Guilds course which is a nationally recognised qualification.

Chief executive of Burnley Borough Council, Steve Rumbelow, said: "To help the economy of Burnley to grow and prosper we need people to be committed to the town and the place and this is what Welcome to Burnley is all about.

"Taking part in the Welcome to Burnley course will help participants provide an exceptional and knowledgeable level of service to people visiting Burnley and is vital to continue our ‘comeback’ trajectory.”

Marketing Lancashire will deliver the next Welcome to Burnley training day at Towneley Hall in March and will deliver a ‘Train the Trainer’ programme. This will enable teams in Burnley to develop in-house training sessions and to roll out the course to front-facing services across the Borough, including hotels, gyms, restaurants, taxi and bus drivers.

Ruth Connor, chief executive of Marketing Lancashire, said: “As Lancastrians we need to applaud our very many achievements and none more so than Burnley, which has, in recent years, shown genuine innovation and determination in transforming perceptions. Marketing Lancashire is proud to be co-ordinating this new training initiative to help further Burnley’s reputation as a destination that excels in customer service, encourages innovation and celebrates success.”

David Grant, Burnley Bondholder and managing director of Moorhouse’s Brewery, said: “One of Burnley’s many recent successes has been the formation of the Burnley Bondholders, a small group of business leaders fed up with the negative attitude Burnley receives from those outside the town.

“As businesses grow in an ever competitive market, reacting to and improving customer service will be one of the factors that set us apart from the opposition. Every day we have the chance to provide the best welcome, attracting returning customers - the kind who will tell other people good things about us. “Studies have shown that satisfied customers will tell two or three people about their experience, while dissatisfied customers will tell eight to ten people and some will push this number to twenty. You can do something about this if you act quickly and deal with the complaint, then an unhappy customer becomes a loyal customer. 80% will come back to you if you’ve treated them fairly and that rises to the upper 90s if you respond immediately.”