Atlet Ltd, a multi-national manufacturer of forklift and pallet trucks based in Thame, has over 3,500 customers who use around 8,000 of their trucks.

After Touch of Taste had catered for a sales conference lunch we were asked if we could help with their customer service training. The idea was that we would create a 'Fawlty Towers' lunch with exceptional food but poor service, with the tables badly laid, waiting staff poorly briefed with no product knowledge, untidy staff with different uniforms, abrupt responses to customer questions and requests.

All of this was to emphasise to the delegates that a good product can so easily be ruined by poor customer service and lack of attention to detail. It worked so well that one person was heard to say to her boss '' isn't this awful and we have just had a customer care course.''

At the end of the meal there was a review of what had happened and delegates were asked for their comments and our role in the exercise was explained. It proved to be a powerful training tool that effectively demonstrated, in a situation everyone is familiar with, how the best product can so easily be spoilt by poor customer service and care.

The follow up a few months later was to cater for another lunch but this time with both exceptional food and excellent service. It is the first time we have ever gained more work from poor service and, although it was enjoyable to role play, the staff found it very hard to deliberately get things wrong.