WORKERS must have complete knowledge of the services they provide to the public, a trainer told workers of the Nasinu Town Council during a recent customer service refresher training course.
Balbeer Singh of Prime Vision told 30 council workers "that just because you are employed at the council, does not mean you are well-versed with the council's services".
"If a ratepayer asks an employee about a particular service and how it works and that employee does not know, it reflects poorly on your business and it is perceived as incompetence by the customer," said Mr Singh.
He said as a result of stiff business competition, more organisations were becoming more customer-driven which meant the entire operations of any organisation must be realigned to "how we can satisfactorily satisfy our customers".
"In order for the front line staff to serve customers efficiently, they must have the full support of the back hand staff who must be supportive as well," said Mr Singh.
He said the more training staff members received in customer service, the more it would help them deliver services better "and will result in ratepayers gladly paying their rates to you".
Mr Singh added workers needed to show more empathy to the ratepayers, particularly during these tough times.
Special administrator Mosese Kama said the training was a refresher program for the staff members to help them review and update their knowledge and skills on what they had learnt.