Employer Story
Helping Youngman Group to invest in its customers through its staff
Youngman Group is recognised internationally as a leading provider of innovative access equipment and systems, such as safety ladders and scaffolding, designed and manufactured to the highest quality standards. Therefore, the company relies heavily on its Customer Service Team to deliver a high-quality service in line with the quality of its products and brand reputation to help steer sales and guarantee repeat orders.
In order to better support the business in this vital role, without increasing the resource, Customer Service Manager, Mark Phillips, decided to maximise performance through on-the-job training by upskilling his team to a set standard. Mark’s goal was to make sure that Youngman Group had a high-performing team in place to support the business as trade increases and to be confident that every customer receives the same level of service.
To achieve this, Skills Training UK has delivered a tailored programme of training to Youngman Group which includes a mix of Business Admin, Team Leading and Customer Service NVQs in order to best meet the needs of each individual within the department and support them in their different roles.
Mark Phillips continued:
“The training has really helped to bring out the best in my team and has also supported our internal restructuring – we’ve recently promoted within the team creating a Team Supervisor – and the Team Leading training has really helped to make that transition seamless. I can see that everyone is enjoying the training and that they’re getting so much more from Skills Training UK than just a qualification.”
As a result of Skills Training UK’s excellent guidance, I’m confident that we’re now offering our customers an even better level of service, which is really important. I know that all of the team is now working to a recognised, professional standard and that this has greatly contributed to the continuous improvement within the department, which is increasing our customer satisfaction all the time.
Mark Phillips, Customer Service Manager, Youngman Group
Sharon Langstone, Divisional Administrator – Defence, completing Business Admin Level 2
“I’ve been with the company for 25 years * and it’s really good to see the company investing in its staff. I was a bit anxious at first but the Skills Training UK Trainer Assessor was been really patient and flexible so it’s fitted in really well around my work. I’ve really appreciated going through things on a one-on-one basis and how to apply the techniques to my work.
“I feel I’ve benefited most from the IT training by learning new functions in Word and Excel and new programmes such as Publisher that are saving me time. But, most of all, I now feel I approach tasks with a different attitude and am always asking myself if I am doing things in the best way or if I can improve. The training has been a real confidence boost for me and I know I am much more capable and productive now.”
Lisa Walsh, Customer Service Team Supervisor, completing Team Leading Level 2
“During the training I was promoted to Team Supervisor and the training has really helped me cope with that transition. On the whole I’ve found the course really helpful in terms of improving time management and how to best delegate to others and, as Supervisor, keep the team motivated and support them when they need me to.
“I’ve learnt how to be much more proactive and assertive and feel a lot happier, not just in the way I’ve fitted into my new role, but by being more confident and using the new skills I’ve learnt to do my job better – which is a great feeling!
I was surprised by how much of the training was done one-on-one and really impressed in the way that Skills Training UK really took the time to get to know us both personally and what our jobs involved so that the training was really relevant. I’ve learnt so much from the Trainer Assessor, he’s been a great mentor, and I’d really like to continue to Level 3.”
Matt Fielding, Customer Service Advisor, Customer Service Level 2
“I’ve learnt a lot form Skills Training UK about how to structure my day better and how to be more efficient and make sure that I’m dealing with customers in the right way, both verbally and in written correspondence. It’s been great to get that reassurance that you are doing things correctly but also learning better ways of doing things at the same time.
“I also did really well on the Maths qualifications, which was an added bonus as I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed maths at school. It’s also really important in processing a lot of our product orders as you need to be able to calculate exactly which size and type of product a customer needs and to advise them properly over the phone, for example, if it’s a scaffolding tower, you need to know you’re quoting them for a product that will do the job correctly, so refreshing my maths has definitely helped me to improve in this area which has been really worthwhile.”
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