The store chain is a major stockist of produce from a number of family run regional farms and is committed to selling only the highest quality products. The store has developed a reputation for its second-to-none customer service and was voted best fruit and vegetable shop by readers of the Sydney Morning Herald.
Despite the business’s reputation for its exceptional service, staff requested further training in a bid to improve their skills and consistency in service delivery. Ben Lai, Human Resources Manager for Harris Farm Markets teamed up with the ARA’s Business Development and Training division to devise a customised customer experience training program to further enhance the standard of service in its stores.
An aspect of the program was designed to strengthen the leadership skills of store managers. The training of management was aimed at enabling them to lead staff with confidence within their stores. The objective was also to equip managers with the skills to effectively mentor their team in service delivery and quality control.
The other aspect of the program focused on non-managerial staff. According to Mr Lai, this training largely focused on how to approach, listen to, and understand customers in order to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction and strong customer loyalty.
To ensure consistency across the board, new team members were provided with a clear structure to assist them in understanding Harris Farm’s customer care commitment and standards of excellence. Current team members were also up-skilled so their performance was of the highest industry standards.
To understand their place within the company, all team members were taken through the process of clarifying how they manage their role and how their actions impact on the customer care standards across the Harris Farm network.
ARA Senior Retail Consultant Garry Terrill says that the process of staff learning about their place in the organisation is integral to the structure of the ARA’s training program. He explains that once consultants have an understanding of how a particular business operates and what the objectives of the training are, it’s important that participants are shown the effect of their actions on the overall business as part of their training.
According to Mr Lai, one of the reasons the program was so comprehensive is its structure.
“The ARA retail consultants spent time learning about our business first and devised a customised training program that was specifically suited to our business. The initial consultation, together with the training and the post training feedback ensured that they didn’t miss a thing.”
He said that considering ARA consultants had to train 800 staff in total, the entire program was extremely well coordinated.
“The staff were very professional and personable. This was particularly important to our objectives because we wanted to make the training fun and something that staff would want to do.” Mr Lai added that straight after the course there was a real buzz and a lot of discussion around the topic of customer service.
“Although our staff were already great at what they do, there was a shift in perspective as to how to approach certain aspects of service. I think it’s important to have these team building exercises from time to time. I also think that good customer service can come naturally, but exceptional customer service needs to be cultivated.”
