Management Futures is currently designing and delivering a major programme of customer service training for BBC Resources Ltd, now a separate company with a turnover of £500m each year. Something like 300 days are planned with tailor-made events designed to meet the needs of individual business units. For Project Management Services, who are technology and engineering consultants, this bas been a two-stage programme named respectively Delivering the Difference and Making the Difference. Janet Driesman, a senior consultant at PMS, recently wrote in BBC Resources about her experience. Her article is reprinted below.

Customer Service is the BBC's 'buzz' phrase these days and Project Management Services (PMS) is no exception. Recently, eight key values were identified which would enable PMS to become a world leader in broadcast media consultancy and project management. It's not surprising to find that customer service was top of this list. As every business textbook says: 'You need customers to be in business'.

To heighten customer awareness, a two-step training programme has been developed and attendance is mandatory for all PMS staff. In February I took part in Managing the Difference, the second stage in this programme, which was held at Marylebone High Street in a dazzling orange and turquoise room that looked as if it had been given the Changing Rooms treatment by infamous designer Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen! Our trainer, Janette Blakemore, from Management Futures, kicked off with introductions. In our 120-strong department, there are colleagues whose paths rarely cross, as we are based at four different London locations.

Janette asked everyone to give their 'level of commitment' to the day on a scale of one to ten. Of our group of ten, a few sat on the fence at five, while the majority wavered between seven and eight. I gave myself a seven and said I was approaching the day with a healthy scepticism. Having undergone customer service training before I had a 'been there, done that' attitude. Most of us were reserving our judgement until later in the day.

Managing the Difference took up where Delivering the Difference left off. This had concentrated on making staff aware of the importance of the customer's first experience of a business. This was defined by 'The 4P's of Customer Service – Product, People Skills, Presentation and Processes' and 'Moments of Truth'. These are the split-second decisions customers make as the direct result of their experiences of dealing with an organisation or its products, decisions which can have a vital influence on whether they remain customers.

Our 'Moments of Truth' for PMS included the initial contact; defining the project brief; implementing the project; and aftercare. For each 'moment' there was at least one issue that we felt needed addressing. Voice mail, unanswered phones, no central number and no discernible reception area all contribute to a negative first experience for customers. However, changes are already being implemented as a result of feedback from the first sessions.

Managing the Difference employed actor Miles Cherry for role-playing scenarios to illustrate effective listening techniques when dealing with customers. It proved an entertaining, albeit exaggerated, way to demonstrate the wrong way of doing things. The session attempted to identify problems and to offer solutions, through effective listening, influencing and clarifying communication.

A quiz about PMS revealed confusion about who are out top five customers and competitors and raised the question that, if this information is known, why isn't it widely available to staff? The afternoon session focused on the team's impact on customers. Janette introduced the concept of the 'Climate Lab' and explained how a customer will certainly pick up on disharmony within a team. Equally, how if it is functioning well, the customer will sense it.

The day illustrated that there is much more to customer service than saying 'have a nice day'. In some respects, it raised too many concepts to deal with in one day.

However, if did highlight the individual and departmental effort required to fulfil the vision of PMS becoming a world class leader in its field.

By Janet Driesman