Beating the Americans at their own game with customer service training

The Americans have a world-wide reputation for customer service – but they are lapping up a British-made board game – which helps to train staff.

The game – called Gamethingy – aims to make business training a pleasure and it is claimed that by making learning fun – memory retention can be improved by 70 per cent.

Gamethingy is the creation of Oxford-based Business Intelligence specialists and Mystery Shopping Company, Retail Active.

It teaches teams of players serious business realities in a light hearted and enjoyable way.

Retail Active’s managing director, Julian Chamberlain says: “It is very popular in the USA, where we have excellent sales. We sell to a wide variety of countries – including Russia – where it is also a big hit.

“The Americans have a well-deserved reputation for excellent customer service – but our British-made game is teaching them a thing or two about learning the art.”

“Gamethingy packages critical business information and re-presents it in a non-threatening way. Using business training games as part of your training and development programme tackles the most difficult training and development topics and present the content in a fun and enjoyable way.

All of the business training games come with simple instructions allowing trainees to start playing within minutes.

They are available in a variety of subjects

Health and Safety Training Games can be used to support in-house health and safety training and development programmes. Play the business training games regularly to confirm understanding of key topics e.g. manual handling, fire safety.

First Aid Training Games support first aid training and development programmes and . check trainees understanding of the key principles of first aid. The first aid training games are a great way to prepare first aiders to carry out their important role.

Hygiene Training Games support the training and development of care workers in care homes. MRSA is a hot topic, confirm that your teams are aware of why hygiene is important and the consequences of poor hygiene.

Customer Service Training Games deliver customer care training and development programmes or can be used as a stand-alone programme. They stimulate debate and encourage trainees to improve their customer service skills. Trainees also explore ways in which they can maximise sales opportunities within the business.

Food Safety Training Games covert all food safety training and development programmes. Prepare trainees for their food safety certificate in a fun and non-threatening way.

Julian Chamberlain added: “In a recent survey of the worlds top 500 companies 135 intend to adopt business training games for learning.

“The USA, UK and Germany are leading the way with the use of business training games to support their training and development programmes.

“Business training games help people gain a deeper understanding of their subject and the challenges they face. There is little doubt that business training games are serious training tools.”