By Lisa Schick

Service Best means the best service for P.A.

Jan 18, 2011 | 7:21 AM

The phrase “we’ve got attitude and it sparkles” jumps off the papers on the wall in the room for the Service Best seminar, Monday.

Several Prince Albert organizations including the Prince Albert Downtown Improvement District, Prince Albert Tourism and the Prince Albert and District Chamber of Commerce have joined forces to improve customer service in the city.

They have started an initiative to have Prince Albert become the first Service Best community within the next year.

“We've heard recently that Canada is rated number one for customer service in the world, so we want to be number one of number one (…) we think this will make us a benchmark for customer service,” she Deb Honch, executive director of Prince Albert Tourism

She said she is excited about the project.

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To become a Service Best accredited customer service business, the business must have at least 60 per cent of its employees go through the Service Best seminar, offered by Sask Tourism Education.

And for a community to become a Service Best Community it must have at least 60 per cent of its businesses be Service Best certified.

“What are the skills we need to be looking for and developing in our front-line staff?” asked Jan Rodda, the instructor for Service Best.

She believes that good customer service revolves around an ability to connect with the customer on an individual basis.

Rodda shows the participants how to identify their core product, the customer’s expectations, and how to wow the customers.

“I really hope that it’s going to put Prince Albert, not just on the map, but people will come to Prince Albert because they want to experience the customer service,” said Rodda, about Service Best’s potential effect on P.A.

There are already a few businesses in Prince Albert with the Service Best certification including the Northern Lights Casino.

The City of Prince Albert supports the initiative as well and Mayor Jim Scarrow is optimistic about the project and what it will do for the city.

“It’s about expanding the customer experience in Prince Albert,” he said.

The official kick-off to the project takes place on Feb. 9 with key-note speaker Donald Cooper who is best known for Cooper Canada hockey equipment.

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