B&B Attachments Ltd, Northumberland, is the leading independent supplier of forklift truck attachments in the UK. Seeing an opportunity to develop business through their people, B&B has teamed up with a local training provider, who has helped their team to build upon their existing customer service skills. Recently, this has led to the 11 members of staff who completed the course achieving a nationally-recognised qualification to add to their list of achievements.

B&B Attachments, founded in 1980, has had industry success for over 30 years with a highly knowledgeable, enthusiastic team. The company has always acknowledged that businesses grow and thrive through the quality of the service delivered to customers. Having previously identified wide-ranging, good levels of customer service within the business, they felt confident that they could raise this further to provide an excellent level of service.

The Customer Service training began in April 2012 and has now reached completion. It was intended to elevate B&B Attachments from its UK number one position, and place it as an international player in the forklift truck attachment market. Running a combination of group workshops and one-to-one sessions, the course was tailored to meet these specific requirements of B&B; focusing on implementing consistent standards of customer care. This led to the development of an internal Customer Charter, ensuring that everyone knew and agreed to the same standard of client response.

The company's Operations Director, John Lamberth, enthuses about the performance of the staff:
"I am really happy with how the team has succeeded in embracing the training, and they have immediately put their new skills into practice. We're delighted that this has already led to a positive reaction from our customers, building excellent working relationships going forward. We hope this will continue to flourish as the company progresses."

The training, which was conducted by Amacus Ltd, led to all members receiving an NVQ Level 2 certificate. To mark the occasion, B&B Attachments recently held a presentation to hand over these awards to their staff. Judith Donnelly and Peter Jackson from Amacus attended the event, alongside Steve Bell, an assessor from Gateshead College. Chairman of B&B Tim Christian welcomed guests with a speech, and Peter Jackson from Amacus closed with a few words about the group.

B&B is already planning their next set of training sessions, which are due to commence in 2013. The promise of further employee development, in addition to the Customer Service course, has led to the company being shortlisted for a Northumberland Business Award 2012 in Training. With positive results already apparent, B&B is looking to expand the business, and hopes to move to larger premises in the near future.

John Lamberth concludes:
"Speaking on behalf of the directors and staff at B&B Attachments, I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds for our company. We can't wait to begin the next stage of staff development, continuing to watch the progress of our team first-hand."