Ford Retail has gained the Institute of Customer Service’s (ICS) ‘training mark’ in recognition of its 'moments of truth' training scheme.

Other businesses that have had their customer service training accredited by the institute include Virgin Media and Santander.

Chief executive of the ICS, Jo Causon, presented the Ford Retail board with the Training Mark following an assessment of the group’s ‘Moments of Truth’ customer service initiative – a £1.2 million training programme aimed at taking Ford Retail to the highest levels of customer service experience in the industry.

Chairman and chief executive of Ford Retail, Chris Hayden, said: “Through our Moments of Truth programme we are determined to set ourselves apart by delivering a world-class customer experience and lead the way in doing this.

“Providing a great customer experience is down to creating a strong ‘emotional connection’ with customers, as well as getting the ‘non-emotive’ basics right. It applies to everyone in the business including non-customer facing staff who play a vital role in the end-to-end process of delivering service excellence.”

Ford Retail’s Moments of Truth programme is a long term initiative which the company launched last year and will see Ford Retail’s 3,000 staff across its 74 UK locations gain a recognised qualification in customer service. As well as Dagenham Motors and Polar Ford, other trading names include Lindsay Ford, Heartlands Ford and Brunel Ford.

One of the group’s dealerships, Polar Ford in Huddersfield, is considered to be the first car dealership in the UK where every member of its 60 staff have recently gained a formal customer service.

Over the next year, Ford Retail’s other dealerships and support sites will follow Polar Ford Huddersfield and it is expected that in early 2011 all 3,000 employees will have qualified. Leading by example are members of Ford Retail’s board and senior management team who have also undertaken the coursework and gained their qualifications.