St Stephen Street in Stockbridge is the first retail destination in Scotland to be accredited with a world acclaimed award for excellence in customer service. The street has been accredited as a WorldHost Recognised Destination for customer service excellence recognised by the World Host Customer Care programme.
The programme was originally developed by the Province of British Columbia to train the 44,000 volunteers and tourism staff who made the 2010 Winter Olympics such an outstanding success. More recently, the programme has been adapted by leading employers and training providers for the UK market. It was also used to train the volunteers at the 2012 London Olympics in customer care. Nearly one million people in over 20 countries have been successfully trained using the World Host programme.
Cllr Frank Ross, Convener of the Economy Committee, said: “High quality customer service is key to ensuring that your customers want to use your business again and again. This is a tremendous achievement for everyone working in the Street and this will help to put the location firmly on Edinburgh’s retail map. As part of the Council’s building stronger town centres initiatives, businesses in St Stephen Street have shown commitment to excellence through their training from Edinburgh Skills Shop.”
Kirstine Hale, Director of Edinburgh Skills Shop said: “We are thrilled to have been involved in the accreditation of St Stephen Street becoming the first World Host destination in Scotland and want to offer our congratulations to all of the businesses who successfully completed their part in the WorldHost training.
“It is a huge achievement for a group of traders to come together and recognise the importance of excellence in customer service. To officially become the first World Host retail destination in Scotland is an accolade in itself. The street is filled with wonderfully different boutiques and independent businesses, all of which deserve the highest of recognition for this accreditation.”
George Robertson of Vox Box, said: “A significant numer of businesses in the street benifited from the excellent training day sponsored by the Council. We all learnt the importance of how to improve customer service, attract new business and very importantly encourage repeat business. The value of businesses interacting and supporting each other was another key factor of the day. The more business a reatil steet gains the greater the likelyhood of more staff being taken on, especially young people and thus in the long term providing more employment in the area. Small businesses, I believe, are key to reducing unemployment.”
