Tess O’Hagan joined CCS in March 2011 as Office Manager/Training Coordinator to establish our new office in Frenchs Forest. Tess has a strong background in hospitality and event management.  Tess coordinates all training delivery, liasing with clients, trainers and students. Tess has an Advanced Diploma in Event Management.

Tess is based at our Frenchs Forest office.

Helen Campling bring over 20 years of learning and development experience to her work as a Trainer. With an extensive corporate background in L&D, marketing and retail management, and in the call centre and financial services industries, Helen has in-depth practical experience that informs her training delivery. An expert in adult learning principles, motivation and training methodology, Helen believes training is successful only when learning from the classroom is transferred to the workplace to lead to improved behaviour and better results. Helen is based in Sydney.

Carmel Maher has deep experience in the contact centre environment having been a customer service agent, team leader, trainer, and operations manager in existing and new contact centres. Carmel focuses on training and assessment in the customer contact, frontline management and business administration qualifications. Carmel is based in Melbourne.

Our new office address is Suite 2.06, 10 Tilley Lane, Frenchs Forest NSW 2086

Postal address is PO Box 6038, Frenchs Forest NSW 2086

Our new phone number will be (02) 9452 1185

The User Choice program provides public funding paid directly to Pre-qualified Suppliers for the delivery of accredited entry-level training to eligible Apprentices and Trainees.

The AQTF is the national set of standards which assures nationally consistent, high-quality training and assessment services for the clients of Australia’s vocational education and training system.

An AQTF audit reviews evidence of an organisations’ compliance with the requirements of the AQTF Essential Conditions and Standards of Initial/Continuing Registration to confirm that it is achieving quality training and assessment outcomes. The process also identifies opportunities for improvement on these outcomes.

This information is published to assist apprentices, trainees and their employers to make informed decisions regarding their selection of a Pre-qualified Supplier for the delivery of training and assessment services.

Audit Date: 30 August 2010

Qualifications audited

 Audit Outcome

The auditor identified three Minor non-compliances that have subsequently been rectified.

Customer Contact Solutions received a Fully Compliant audit rating.

Details of the Non-Compliances and the Rectifications for each follow.

Non-Compliance 1  

Information not available on day of audit relating to the vocational training and assessment competencies of one of the trainers.

Rectification  

Summary of work experience, copies of qualifications, mapping guide and professional development plan provided to auditor.

Non-Compliance 2 

BSBFIM4501A Manage budgets and financial plans. Assessment tools did not provide the student with opportunity to demonstrate competency in required skills concerning techniques involved in ledgers, financial statements and profit and loss statements

Rectification 

Assessment tools were strengthened to rectify issues identified by the auditor.

Non-Compliance 3  

SIRXMGT001A Coordinate work teams

SIRGLC001A Monitor compliance with legal and legislative requirements affecting business operations

SIRMER004A Manage merchandise and store operations

No assessor’s marking guide was available at audit for units listed above. Assessment tools did not fully address all unit required knowledge.

Rectification 

An assessors’ marking guide and assessment tools have been re-developed to address all unit essentials and rectify gaps identified at audit. 

Explanatory notes:

Non-compliance with the AQTF means that requirements of the have not been met based on the evidence reviewed. Non-compliances are categorised as minor, significant or critical. For the purposes of the User Choice 2010 – 2015 program, only significant and Critical non-compliances need to be published

Minor: No, or minor, adverse impact on learners with no serious breakdown of provision of quality training and assessment.

Significant: Significant adverse impact on learners with insufficient focus on quality training and assessment outcomes.

Critical: Critical adverse impact on learners with widespread or persistent dissatisfaction with services and outcomes.

Garry has extensive experiences in leading and growing professional services businesses in Australia and in the UK and Europe. He was previously a Worldwide Partner at Mercer and Region President Northern Europe at DBM. He also has experience as an Asia-Pacific Human Resources Director for a US multinational.

Garry is passionate about building first-class professional services businesses that provide excellent service to clients, challenging and interesting roles for staff, while providing an appropriate return to shareholders.

Garry is also a Director of Magellan Consulting Partners, a strategic HR and organisation change consulting firm. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), International Coach Federation (ICF) and Institute of Learning Practitioners (ILP). He holds post-graduate qualifications in industrial relations and management development.

CCS has been approved to provide 200 funded Traineeships in 2011 under the NSW Apprenticeship & Traineeship Training Program.

We can provide Traineeships in the following program:

• Customer Contact (Certificate III, IV)
• Retail (Certificate II, III)
• Retail Management (Certificate IV)
• Business (Certificate IV)
• Frontline Management (Certificate IV)

We have also been approved to offer Certificate III, Certificate IV, Diploma and Advanced Diploma programs under the Strategic Skills Program (SSP).

Please contact Garry Adams (garry@ccsol.com.au) or Robert Parker (rob@ccsol.com.au) for more information about how we can support your training needs in 2011 and to discuss eligibility to access funded places.

We have received funding approval for our Certificate IV programs in Business, Business Administration, Customer Contact and Frontline Management.

If you currently hold a TAA40104 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, we are offering an upgrade to the new TAE40110 for only $250!

To take advantage of this fantastic offer please contact our office on (02) 9452 1185 or email info@ccsol.com.au

“We found that there was a cause-and-effect relationship between the two; that it was impossible to maintain a loyal customer base without a base of loyal employees; and that the best employees prefer to work for companies that deliver the kind of superior value that builds customer loyalty… building loyalty has in fact become the acid test of leadership.” Frederick Reichheld, The Loyalty Effect and Loyalty Rules

 For most organizations, the goal of improving customer service levels is an article of faith. And so it should be, because there’s an overwhelming body of research to show that building customer loyalty has a major impact on profitability. In fact, according to one study – based on 46,000 business-to-business surveys – a “totally satisfied” customer contributes 2.6 times as much revenue as a “somewhat satisfied” customer.

Clearly, there are significant benefits to be realized from trying to improve an organization’s service/quality. And that’s why managers devote so much time and money to training programs that “instruct” employees on the specifics of dealing with customers. What these managers don’t understand, however, is that such attempts are largely cosmetic. Real improvements in customer service start with providing superior service and support to the employees themselves.

All too often, this misunderstanding results in sending staff through “smile training,” issuing edicts to be more courteous, or teaching them how to handle dissatisfied customers. In the meantime, processes and systems don’t support frontline servers. Irritants and issues that reduce morale are swept aside as excuses. An airline manager attempted to address the problem of declining customer satisfaction by issuing a directive urging staff to smile and be nicer to passengers. A flight attendant’s response showed how that manager just didn’t get it: “We’re smiling in spite of the fact that we’re doing our job one, two or three flight attendants short, with equipment that often doesn’t work properly and with a product that has deteriorated.”

Harvard professor and author Rosabeth Moss Kanter likens this type of change-effort to putting lipstick on a bulldog. Rather than deal with an ugly and nasty problem (my apologies to bulldog owners), the manager makes superficial changes and tries to pass them off as real improvements. The result of this cosmetic effort is, as Kanter observes, that “the bulldog’s appearance hasn’t improved, but now it’s really angry.”

Taking an organization from good to great customer service ultimately depends on the people who provide that service. It can only happen through the volunteerism – the willingness to go beyond what is merely required – of people who serve on the front lines. Going from ordinary to extraordinary performance happens through the discretionary efforts of frontline staff deciding to make the thousands of “moment(s) of truth” (any time a customer interacts with the company in person, by phone, or electronically), they manage every day as positively as they possibly can. This enthusiasm, loyalty, or devotion can’t be forced on people. It only happens through a “culture of commitment,” where frontline people reflect to the outside the intense pride and ownership they are experiencing on the inside.

Here are some examples of the research showing the connection between internal and external service:

- The best predictor of customer satisfaction among workplace attributes is what Vanderbilt professor Roland Rust calls service climate: “those attributes of overall workplace climate that characterize how well equipped employees are to deliver customer service, such as the adequacy of resources and equipment and job skills development.”

- For every one percent increase in internal service climate there is a two percent increase in revenue.

- In cardiac care units where nurses’ moods were depressed, patient death rates were four times higher than in comparable units.

- Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration found that employees’ emotional commitment and sense of identity with the company is a key factor in providing excellent service.

- A study of call centers conducted by The Radclyffe Group found that “satisfied contact center employees make for satisfied and loyal customers… customers decide whether or not to make future purchasing decisions with a company, or to recommend its services to others, as a direct result of their experiences with a contact center representative… key indicators of contact center representative satisfaction include relationships with co-workers and management, job challenges, and frequency of development or training opportunities… sense of pride with their job and within the overall company.”

- A company’s external customer service is only as strong as the company’s internal leadership, and the culture of commitment that this leadership creates. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, our service or brand promise can’t fool all of our customers all of the time. If the service messages are out of step with what’s ultimately experienced by customers, marketing dollars are wasted. And customer dissatisfaction rises right along with staff turnover. Scott Cook, founder of Intuit (creators of Quicken software), puts it this way; “Great brands are earned, not bought. Customer experience is where brand is built, not in the marketing budget.”

Vicki Stableford

Customer Service Manager

Austar Entertainment