Towards the end of last year Keystar was contacted by a midium sized company in the North of England. They were concerned about the number of customers that they were losing. We were asked if was possible for one of consultants to act as a mystery shopper and spend a day wandering around and observing. He was then to write a report on his findings.

On his arrival he was greeted by a receptionist sitting behind her reception desk that was to say the least dirty and untidy. She herself looked scruffy, unkempt hair very little make-up and a terrible telephone manner, made worse by the fact that she was chewing gum. Our consultant was asked to wait in the reception area which was littered with used empty plastic cups out of date papers and magazines. A course in Telephone Technique and Reception Duties would not go amiss here.

He was then taken to the Customer Service department. This consisted of four desks covered in pieces of paper, empty soft drink cans,dirty coffee mugs and out of date computers. The chairs were falling apart and mis-matched. The four operatives matched in well by adopting the I don't really care attitude.

Next stop was the warehouse. Boxes all over the palce, men running around like headless chickens trying to find things, telephones constantly ringing and being left unanswered. Absolute chaos.

On reading our consultants report the Managing Director (who was rarely on site) was horrified. He immediately booked a Telephone Technique and Reception Duties course for the receptionist. Customer Care and Telephone Technique for the Customer Service team and Management Skills and Time Management for the warehouse manager.

The training took place in January and February of this year. We are plaesed to report that business has picked up and they are not losing as many customers as before.