The Melbourne Cricket Club’s innovative customer service program at the Melbourne Cricket Ground last night won the Customer Service Project of the Year - Cultural Transformation Award at the 2017 Australian Service Excellence Awards.
The MCC, stadium manager at the MCG, created the CARE program after identifying customer service as the next major step in its evolution as an organisation and a stadium. The model has at its core a focus on people and their capability to provide a consistently great experience to all customers at all times.More than 5000 people who influence the customer experience are being trained in the key habits, values and behaviours that the MCC has identified as being critical to great customer service.
The three-year-project involves more than 1000 event staff, 160 permanent staff, 400 volunteers and a range of service providers across security, catering, ticketing and tourism functions.
MCC CEO, Stuart Fox, said the club was delighted to be recognised for its efforts.
“With more than three million people attending an MCG event each year in this heightened security environment, we are proud that we have achieved a balance between keeping our customers safe and providing them with fantastic customer service,” Mr Fox said.
“A great deal of work went into the planning and delivery of our customer service program, so we’re thrilled that it has been recognised as best practice by the industry. We know the MCG holds a special place in the heart of so many people and we are determined to enhance those positive memories by delivering exceptional service for customers at every touch point.”
“I want to thank all of our event workforce for their efforts in bringing the CARE program and our customer service principles to life on a daily basis,” he said.
The MCC continues to expand the MCG's role as an entertainment venue and a tourist destination. The stadium now hosts more than 90 days of events each year and, last year, it welcomed more than 3.4 million visitors.
The Customer Service Institute of Australia is regarded as Australia’s peak customer service body to provide education, certification and recognition to organisations and individuals in the field of service excellence.
The judging criteria for the Australian Service Excellence Awards is based on the International Customer Service Standard (ICSS:2015-2020), a framework of 27 specific measures that can be applied equally to government, not-for-profit and for-profit organisations of all sizes and across industry sectors.
View the list of award winners