Pubs fall very short in National Customer Satisfaction Survey

Title – Pubs fall very short in National Customer Satisfaction SurveySource – BIIAB & Retail Eyes
Date – 30th October 2009

The BIIAB recently released figures from the National Customer Satisfaction Survey carried out by market research company Retail Eyes into customer satisfaction in various sectors.

The figures make for disturbing (if not unexpected) reading for the pub sector.

The figures suggest that only 6% of respondents said pubs offer good standards of customer service.

The hotel industry fared better with 52% (of 6523 respondents) ranking the industry as the best for customer service. Restaurants scored only 23% with supermarkets at 11%.

Tim Ogle, chief executive of Retail Eyes said: “Some of the things we found that turn off customers the most about drinking in pubs and bars are tables with empty glasses or dirty plates left out, having to wait at the bar and bar staff that aren’t interested in engaging.”

The UK is not synonymous with great customer service, walk down any high street and the number of outlets offering excellent customer service are heavily outnumbered by those offering indifferent or poor service to customers. We have developed an attitude in many sectors where businesses operate to meet employees needs rather than focussing on customers. Employees are often only trained to understand their particular role rather than the customers expectation.

The pub sector is clearly struggling in these more challenging times, I am often asked by people who are starting new businesses if it a sensible time to come into such a depressed industry? My answer in always unequivocally yes, now is a perfect time. The price of ‘entry’ is depressed and there are some bargain properties out there worth purchasing / leasing for anyone looking to buy into the industry.

It’s true that competition is fierce; some parts of the industry are discounting heavily offering price sensitive customers a glut of choices, but the one area where there is still plenty of room for new businesses to flourish is a business providing excellence in customer service.

I write this as if it is the easiest thing in the world, because I believe providing excellence in customer service is not difficult, but only if you are prepared to develop your business round your customers rather than round yourself or your employees.

Key decisions in this process will be who you employ, how you train them and developing an effective management style. All three have to be in place to be successful in this area.

I have always also adopted the policy that employees have to have ownership of the business, in other words they have to have a vested interest in the success of the business rather than simply be salaried. This can be achieved in a number of ways; share schemes develop loyalty; pay and bonuses can work but such schemes must be proactively managed to ensure they are linked to service standards rather than just turnover; but the most effective does not require any additional costs and is achieved by employing and training employees with integrity whose reward is doing the best job they can and meeting agreed targets, this is the hardest to achieve and is wholly reliant on an excellent management style.

I think we have become complacent in this country, we expect certain things to be given to us on a plate (including pay and employment), success is defined by the financial reward rather than pride in the work you do and all too often we don’t value other opinions in a positive manner but rather see it as a criticism; in other words we are closed to change and new ideas, rather than embracing them.

I am not going to be telling anyone anything new when I say it is very important to regularly look at your business from a completely new angle, to see what your customers see; effectively from ‘outside the business’. This is one of the most difficult things to achieve as a manager and while most think they are doing this, the majority will be unwittingly ‘blinded’ by familiarity.

There are various ways to achieve this; you can employ consultants like us to come and look at your business and advise you on how to progress it; you can talk to your customers and ask for feedback (make sure you are asking ‘open’ questions, not yes / no questions and consider asking only for criticism not compliments as that will tell you how and in which areas you need to improve); or if you are the one in 1,000,000 who can be entirely impartial and detached you can do this yourself.

The point is, this is one of the most difficult aspects of management; successful managers are those who recognise this as a problem and find the solution. Asking for another opinion is not a sign of weakness it is a sign of strength.

Think about it this way. There are no businesses where every customer is entirely satisfied. So what about the customer who ‘is never happy’? They are the one you have to work hardest to please and then treat everyone the same way. Meeting the most difficult customer’s expectations will set standards high, improve overall customer service and set your business apart from others and on the road to success.

If only 6% of pubs offer good standards of customer service, just think of the potential of 94% of customers to pubs in your area who will consider your pub first, if you can get the service standards right…

At Beyond The Blue we run a number of courses for those working in the Licensed Retail Sector to help them improve customer service standards. These include; BIIAB Award in Customer & Drinks Service (Licensed Hospitality) (ACDS) and the Award in Customer Service Excellence (Licensed Hospitality) (ACSE).

We also run statutory qualifications such as The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements; The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence; Our Conflict Management and Resolution (CMR) course compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.

Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

NHS Assault ‘not taken seriously’

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Title – NHS Assault ‘not taken seriously’
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 29th October 2009

The statistics are shocking by any standard; an NHS employee is physically assaulted every nine and a half minutes or to put it another way every 570 seconds; or to put it yet another way over 150 NHS workers are physically assaulted every day!

Even when you work in this sector these types of statistic seem unbelievable, we know it is a big organisation (the third biggest employer in the world), but our country should really be ashamed that this takes place.

There are undoubtedly risks presented by some of the people that healthcare workers have to deal with, but there are also too many excuses made for the perpetrators of these crimes and why those who are criminally culpable not held criminally responsible, where it can the whole weight of the law must be brought against them?

It is of coarse much easier to write this then to enforce it and it requires more than simply the will of those involved in enforcement to follow through, but rather a fundamental shift in the attitude of our society to those who perpetrate such crimes.

It is difficult to see what it will take for such change in mentality to take place nationwide, if the thought of 150 physical assaults taking place every day against healthcare employees is not already enough to shock us.

For our part we support those who seek to push on with prosecutions by highlighting the problems where ever we can. We very much support the NHS and its employees and understand the limitations faced through budgets and sheer size which can stifle even the best intentions. However we also support the continued efforts which are being made by the NHS and the NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service (CFSMS) in providing assistance to the NHS workforce; it is work that despite any set backs must be ongoing.

For our part we provide

Conflict Resolution training to the sector and believe strongly in the benefits this training can bring, both to the prevention of Violence in the Workplace and in the confidence imparted in the workforce.

Training in the sector does vary considerably and our approach is to provide comprehensive courses which incorporate the ten learning objectives set out by the CFSMS and go beyond them.

We understand that time is often a limiting factor in Conflict Resolution training, but believe that taking the time to provide effective training is a valuable longer term strategy. On a financial basis the time lost when staff are assaulted through reduced productivity, absenteeism and high staff turnover is significant. On a human level, providing the skills to reduce the effects of conflict in the workplace from harassment, aggression, threats and physical assault, allows employees to be more confident and effective in dealing with the more ‘difficult’ people they meet.

We are aware that every NHS employee has to attend Conflict Resolution training, we believe this to be a very proactive step, however that training must be effective. A couple of hours skimming the surface can simply not meet the training needs of those working in this environment; yes it may tick the box but does it really meet the learning objectives?

Our one day course in conflict resolution is designed to help candidates really get to grips with the techniques and skills required to resolve conflict. All our instructors have attended the CFSMS familiarisation seminar and are highly experienced professionals. Our working practices ensure effective learning is delivered every time to every candidate. We train only in small groups and use classroom based teaching, interactive discussion, group work and scenario based learning to ensure we meet the preferred learning style of all candidates attending.

Each candidate is provided with a unique individually numbered certificate of attendance from Beyond The Blue and the employer is provided with comprehensive training records for each candidate including feedback forms.

We also run Physical Intervention courses, these provide effective disengagement and break-away techniques as well as restraint and escorting techniques where required. All techniques use low-impact skills which do not require strength, force or pain-compliance to be effective.
Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Lip gloss test that spots if your drink is spiked with rape drugs / Women 'duped' by spiking myth

Title – Lip gloss test that spots if your drink is spiked with rape drugs (Evening Standard 16-10-09)
Title – Women 'duped' by spiking myth (Metro 27-10-09)

‘Date Rape’ or ‘Drug Assisted Rape / Sexual Assault’ is a serious issue, unfortunately the press have done victims and potential victims of this depraved crime no favours. If ever there was a need for a sensible approach then this subject is it.

Of coarse we welcome any device which helps reduce the risks faced from Drug Assisted Rape and this lip gloss / testing strip can be one line of defence. There are problems; how many strips are provided in comparison with the number of drink that might be consumed? How co-ordinated will an alcohol consumer be after a few drinks to remember or even be able to complete the fiddly test? But I don’t want to take anything away; something is always better than nothing.

What is much more important is education, alcohol retailers and consumers alike need to take proactive measures to prevent ‘drink spiking’ in the first place.

The first step is understanding the nature of the problem. When I ask a group I am teaching what substances are used in ‘drink spiking’, they generally refer to Rohypnol, GHB, Liquid Ecstasy, the more enlightened ones mention Ketamine, GBL, but strangely I almost always have to drag the most common drug out of them…. Alcohol.

Alcohol is the drug most commonly used in Drug Assisted Rape; fact.

I have yet to see any accurate numbers in relation to ‘drink spiking’. There are horror stories written in the press, but in reality that we may never see accurate figures, for the reasons highlighted in this second article. Sadly I would agree from experience that in many cases people now scream ‘drink spiking’ because they are embarrassed or unsure of how they got so drunk. The fact is those working in the Licensed Retail Sector have to take every potential case seriously and can never dismiss the potential consequences of a real drink spiking as exaggeration or an excuse.

If we consider that because of excess alcohol consumption many people have had nights they can’t remember (or part of the night); that alcohol is the most frequently used ‘date rape’ drug; that Ketamine now being used ‘recreationally’ as a drug of choice by 125,000 people in the UK; and that ‘date rape’ drugs they tend not to be traceable within relatively short period of time, it makes the prospect of ever finding out the true numbers of people spiked very low.

For those in danger of having their drink spiked, education into the risks and how to protect yourself from them is the most important step. Just understanding that alcohol is the most prevalent drug used in drink spiking, should go some way to helping people understand the real dangers. Protecting your drinks, being cautious of strangers behaviour or accepting drinks from them and in some cases the use of testing kits is a start. Having friends you trust to look after you, who are loyal, unlikely to disappear half way through the night and who will ensure you get home safely is the best ways of protecting yourself.

At Beyond The Blue we run a number of courses for those working in the Licensed Retail Sector to help them sell alcohol more responsibly. These include; The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements; The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence; Our Conflict Management and Resolution (CMR) course compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.

For young people we run the Certificate in Alcohol Awareness (CAA) which provides real honest advice on the effects of alcohol and sensible measures which can be taken to ensure that the harm that can occur as a result of excessive consumption are reduced.

Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Drink trader’s luck runs dry

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Title – Drink trader’s luck runs dry
Source – Staines Informer
Date – 23rd October 2009

I’m not about to write another blog entry on the virtues of Responsible Alcohol Retailing and the short term business model that involves selling alcohol to children; these are areas I have touched on many times in the past.

Why I think this article is interesting is that it highlights one of the virtues we discuss in a number of our courses; people working in the Licensed Retail Sector need to work with the authorities in a partnership approach, rather than seeing them as ‘the enemy’.

We urge people to consider the following mantra which we are often heard quoting: ‘if you are viewed as seen of the solution, then you are less likely to be treated as part of the problem’.

It seems from this article (and I emphasise that I am unfamiliar with the case itself) that this alcohol retailer was looking for ways round the Licensing Act and the appeals process; through the constant delays they were able to continue to sell alcohol despite the offences committed. That the act provides for traders to continue to trade pending appeal is very important and must be maintained, any other course of action (where licensed premises were forced to close) would in many cases mean businesses become insolvent while they wait for an appeal hearing.

However the law must not be toyed with or abused otherwise the industry as a whole will undoubtedly suffer as a result.

What always strikes me as odd in these cases is the short sightedness of the business owner. A premises without a license to transfer, has a distinctly lower re-sale value then one with a licence with relatively few restrictive conditions.

What I don’t like to see is this type of prejudice by licensing officers who suggest that somehow it is the premises history which determines future ‘trouble’ and use this to make future premises licence applications more restrictive through the addition of conditions based on history rather than the content of the application, the integrity of the applicant or the nature of the new business.

We see this regularly; a ‘troubled’ premises has been closed and the licence revoked and new proactive responsible business owners are punished for the inability of previous owners. Surely it is obvious to see that although there may initially be a ‘history’ associated with a premises, a new professional designated premises supervisor will soon change this. Our experience shows that long term trouble is almost always due to poor management rather than simply the premises. Every licensing officer will know of an area on their ‘patch’ which has good and bad premises on it. What is the real difference between these two; almost always the DPS / manager.

This approach that the history of this premises should determine that future applications should ‘…not be easy in light of the unit’s troubled history.’ punish the new owners, customers and the community generally rather than the person who should be punished; the original owner.

The Licensing Act and subsequent guidance issued, provides for each and every premises licence to be considered on its own merits and without prejudice; for me this should include poor behaviour of previous owners who are no longer associated in any way with the premises.

At Beyond The Blue we run a number of courses for those working in the Licensed Retail Sector to help them sell alcohol more responsibly. These include; The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements; The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence; Our Conflict Management and Resolution (CMR) course compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.

Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

War memorial defiled

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Title – War memorial defiledSource – Metro
Date – 16th October 2009

You can present every argument under the sun in defence of the

Licensed Retail Sector, but if a picture speaks a thousand words, this one speaks several million.

This type of behaviour is deplorable, there is no way or desire to defend it. This man (you can call him a student, but at 19 he is a man not a child) is going to pay very heavily indeed for his actions, not just in the immediate consequence of his actions, but in his name and this image being on the internet forever.. a punishment which even he probably does not yet understand the severity of.

But we can and should not concentrate on this individual, but on a society which breeds such behaviour. Is alcohol to blame?

Certainly alcohol is not innocent in all of this, it plays a part in our society and not always in a positive role; but equally not always in a negative role. Alcohol is present in almost every civilisation in history, every country on the planet and has been around for longer than humans have ‘ruled’ the planet. Ever since plants bore fruit, fruit has fermented producing alcohol; the infamous images of drunk elephants are a David Attenborough special.

We have to learn to live with alcohol and we have to learn to sell and consume it responsibly; something sadly sections of society have forgotten. Prohibition does not work and neither does deregulation; tackling alcohol consumption alone is not the answer.

This behaviour can only be prevented by a much wider co-ordinated approach and in partnership with the many authorities involved in regulation, the Licensed Retail Sector itself and consumers, parents, teachers and other key figures in communities. We need to work together to create a society which doesn’t accept that drunkenness can be an excuse for vile behaviour, but which honours the heroes our country produces and the sacrifices some of them make and doesn’t stand idly by while those who abuse alcohol ruin it for the majority who enjoy alcohol responsibly

At Beyond The Blue we run a number of courses for those working in the Licensed Retail Sector to help them sell alcohol more responsibly. These include; The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements; The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence; Our Conflict Management and Resolution (CMR) course compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.

Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

My Wife is too young to drink – at 22 / Supermarkets reject calls for ‘alcohol kills’ warning signs

Title – My Wife is too young to drink – at 22 (Metro 16-10-09)
Title – Booze plan ‘will not work’ (Metro 16-10-09)
Title – Supermarkets reject calls for ‘alcohol kills’ warning signs (Evening Standard15-10-09)

The argument about the Responsible Sale of Alcohol by supermarkets runs on and on, both sides (the supermarkets and the government) seem to be getting further and further apart; this makes the prospect of further legislation for the whole of the Licensed Retail Sector more likely.

The first two articles here are from the same paper on the same day and demonstrates the ‘no-win’ position the supermarkets are in. On the one hand berated for selling alcohol as a loss-leader and for high profile promotions and chastised when they enforce their policy towards the sale of alcohol to ‘children’.

Many of the arguments simply don’t work and seem to be as a result of the desire to grab a headline rather than a sensible argument. The current proposal for minimum pricing is not a ‘stealth tax’ as it is not an additional tax, it is money that will go to the drinks manufacturers and retailers (welcome I would think, unless the analysts believe that overall sales will fall, which they must if they are so worried about it). That it will lead to some kind of explosion in illicit production is a farfetched suggestion, as if we will all set up stills in our front room… Equally going down the route that ‘alcohol kills’ signs be displayed under the shelf displaying Moet Chandon is a slippery slope to warning that chocolate, salt, chips, petrol, cars etc. kill (I know my argument is a little extreme). Why not give the general public some credit and provide information and ‘education’ which allows them to choose for themselves without lowering ourselves to scaremongering and patronising.

That in the same edition there is an article effectively mocking a supermarket for it’s very responsible approach to underage sale of alcohol seems a little strange. In this case I am 100% on the side of Sainsbury’s. Yes it is frustrating for the couple involved, but they should be able to see the sensible side (and for that matter the funny side) of this situation. Hundreds of times a day up and down the country people selling alcohol are faced with adults trying to buy alcohol for youngsters and making up all sorts of stories to justify it. If they are caught they face personal sanction, fines and the threat of loosing their licence. Most of the big supermarket chains have now adopted a challenge 25 policy (if you look under 25 you’ll be asked to prove you are 18) to make life easier for employees and to meet their responsibility of not selling alcohol to children (and if we are honest to meet the requirements of licensing officers). This lady not only looks under 25, she is under 25, so the member of staff followed their required procedure.

People who look or are under 25 need to get used to being asked to provide ID, that is the way local authorities and government are leaning and many outlets are now forced as part of their licensing conditions to enforce a ‘challenge 21’ or ‘challenge 25’ policy. Imagine this lady had been under 18 and this man had been buying alcohol for her and they had been caught, the story would be all about the irresponsible retailing of alcohol; sometimes the industry just can’t seem to get it right. As for the argument that they should have used ‘common sense’, well ‘common sense’ is much easier when you know all the facts and less easy when on a daily basis you are lied to by people trying to purchase alcohol, battered by the press & government for being irresponsible and all on close to minimum wage… A sense of humour and a little perspective rather than a newspaper article would seem a more logical an approach…

At Beyond The Blue we run a number of courses for those working in the Licensed Retail Sector to help them sell alcohol more responsibly. These include; The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements; The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence; Our Conflict Management and Resolution (CMR) course compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.

Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

16-year-old student died during party drink binge

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Title – 16-year-old student died during party drink binge
Source – Metro
Date – 15th October 2009

I don’t think that there is much need for comment on this story, it speaks for itself.

It is terribly sad that someone of such promise should die in this way and this story should act as a warning not only to others who are tempted to drink similar amounts (20 shots is a figure that far too many will associate with a ‘big night’ rather than a ‘lethal dose’) but to alcohol retailers who may encourage excessive consumption of alcohol, turn a ‘blind-eye’ to excessive consumption or sell alcohol to young people.

The only thing I must emphasise is that this is not an isolated incident; it is not unique to underage people and can happen to anyone regardless of their previous experience, size, sex or the amount they normally consume.

At

Beyond The Blue we run a number of courses for those working in the Licensed Retail Sector to help them sell alcohol more responsibly. These include; The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements; The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence; Our Conflict Management and Resolution (CMR) course compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.

Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Cocaine abuse doubles in 4 years

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Title – Cocaine abuse doubles in 4 yearsSource – Independent
Date – 9th October 2009

I have often commented on the number of cocaine users in the UK, the addictive nature of cocaine and the fact that cocaine use has become ‘accepted’ in certain parts of our society.

This article is of interest for two reasons, firstly it highlights the concept that cocaine is (or more accurately ‘has’) taken over from heroin as the drug of choice for those parts of society which ‘glamorise’ the use of drugs like this as an acceptable even desired aspect of ‘a active social life’. The description of cocaine as London’s middle-class dirty secret’ by a former addict and the very fact that the number of addicts seeking help has doubled is a good sign that a few people are seeing cocaine for what it is an addictive illegal drug; we should however note that 2000 out of 1 million users is still a very small percentage of users seeking help with their addiction and sadly a very small number of addicts realising that their desire to include cocaine use as part of their ‘social life’ is an addiction.

The second part of this article which I liked as it dispels another myth is Paul Hayes’s (National Treatment Agency – Chief Executive) comment that in ‘…early-20s night-clubbing, pub-going, cocaine use is becoming more normal among that population. It’s become an adjunct to alcohol or cannabis use.’ This is a statement which should worry those charged with enforcement of drug policy and treatment of drug users. When drug use becomes part of every-day activities, it becomes socially acceptable and almost decriminalised in the minds of users. By being glamorised in the eyes of users, the rhetoric of the dealers is believed rather than information provided by health-care workers, scientist and doctors who really understand the chemistry, social and medical consequences of drug use.

The other group of people who should be worried about this association between ‘normal’ social activities and cocaine use, is the business owners in whose premises drug use inevitably takes place. The consequences to them personally, to their business and premises licence where drugs are used can be severe; where there are drug users there are inevitably drug dealers.

At

Beyond The Blue we run a number of courses for those working in the Licensed Retail Sector including The National Certificate for Licensees Drug Awareness (NCLDA). For other sectors our bespoke Drug Awareness (DA) courses, which examine illegal drugs, their effects and the drug litter synonymous with their use, are specifically designed to reflect the nature of our clients working environment. Our Conflict Management and Resolution (CMR) course complements these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and drug related behaviour.

Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.