Raising the bar: Cheers to lifting standards

The ANZ Bank's John Eaden kicked off a series of Raising the Bar workshops at Rydges Hotel last night. Photo/Stephen Parker

The first of a series of service-related workshops took place in Rotorua last night as part of the Raising the Bar campaign to boost service standards in the city.

About 55 people from a wide range of local businesses took advantage of the free workshop titled "how to deliver outstanding customer service" delivered by ANZ Bank business training manager John Eaden at Rydges Hotel.

A repeat workshop was also held this morning.

Raising the Bar is an initiative being run by a group of passionate Rotorua business people who want to help Rotorua become the best place in the country for friendly, efficient and high-level service.

Mr Eaden said service was the key ingredient to any business.

"No matter who you talk to everyone will tell you they give good service, but that's not always the case."

He said 100 per cent of a business' profit came from its customers.

"While 42 per cent of people will tell a business they didn't like their service, 20 per cent of them will tell 10 other people about their experience."

He said recent statistics revealed 36 per cent of people were not happy or satisfied with their customer service experience.

Mr Eaden said on a positive note, the perception of service standards in general had gone up, albeit slightly, for the first time in six years.

Raising the Bar spokesman Heinz Fett said he was very pleased with the turnout, which exceeded expectations.

"It's a good start," he said.

"We also want to know what people would like to see at future workshops."

Mr Fett said the first workshops were free to attend after generous sponsorship from Rydges and the ANZ Bank.

Anyone interested in Raising the Bar can contact Kay Clarke by email at kay@stayandplaynz.com.