Passport to Service – Statewide Customer Service Training in Montana

Can you name a successful business that does not make its customer service a priority? This National Tourism week is a prime opportunity to join the Montana Department of Commerce-Travel Montana, and Flathead Valley Community College in making customer service training a priority. Scheduling for the interesting and useful statewide Passport to Service seminar is taking place right now.

“Every employee has an impact on the customer,” said Governor Brian Schweitzer. “Last year over 10 million people visited Montana, so let’s keep them coming back by offering nothing but the best. Investing in training to broaden the skill base of every employee involved in our tourism industry will benefit businesses and our visitors.”

Passport to Service will broaden every participant’s skill base by exploring ways to connect with customers and build a positive reputation; learning the skills of an effective travel counselor; identifying resources available in their community; building skills for tactful and effective communication with challenging customers and co-workers; understanding the economic impact of tourism in Montana; and committing to personal steps to make a difference.

The three hours of interactive training will involve exercises with direct application to your business; the Tourism Speaks presentation; a Montana map scavenger hunt with region-specific questions; real-life service examples to examine; and scenario discussions to resolve service challenges that apply to your community location. Participants are encouraged to bring brochures and information about their business or organizations to share with other participants.

The trainers for this Passport to Service seminar have an extensive background in customer service training and a broad range of businesses in Montana’s tourism industry. They are focused on bringing you concrete information and ideas applicable to your organization and your community to take away and implement immediately.

Participants from the Red Lion Colonial Inn in Helena, who attended a Passport to Service seminar, said the training was, “very full, active and lively;” They appreciated “sharing unique places throughout Montana,” “the group interactions,” and “talking about dealing with customers with problems.” They were, “re-energized to do the best job possible” while planning to “offer positive solutions,” “take care of situations myself if possible,” “pay more attention to details,” and “take time to learn about guests.”

For a flat fee of $300 for up to 30 participants, we will bring the training, all participant materials with certificates of completion, interactive exercises and videos onsite to your business or community training location. To schedule a session or to find out where sessions are already scheduled, please contact Jodi Smith at (406) 756-3833, Eden Franchi at (406) 756-3840 or email to [email protected] .

Passport to Service is made available to Montana organizations by the Montana Department of Commerce Promotion Division (Travel Montana) and Flathead Valley Community College. For more details on this statewide program, log on to: http://www.travelmontana.state.mt.us/ourprograms/supehost.htm .