With 32 DSA awardees across the Midland Holdings group of subsidiary companies, there was recognition for the importance the organisation places on training and developing customer-focused, professional salespeople, according to Angela Wong Ching-yi, Midland Holding’s deputy chairman and managing director. Midland Holdings is also one of the DSA programme’s leading sponsors.

“We establish and clearly define service standards for business success and communicate the expectation of professionalism to all levels of staff,” explains Wong, who adds that through its training arm, Midland University, the company provides staff with progressive and systematic training. In addition, Midland also established an integrated customer centre and recruited mystery shoppers to collect customer feedback, designed to promote better service.

Wong says it is important to invest resources in training employees. Equally important is the need to communicate the value of continuous improvement, which aligns with Midland’s customer motto: “To be prompt, precise, sincere, caring and professional.”

Wong says all-round training organised by Midland University helped to prepare staff members for the DSA programme. “Through training, our staff members not only enhance their presentation and selling skills, they are also able to prepare mentally and build up their self-confidence and positive attitude,” she notes.

In addition, she says that by preparing for the DSA programme, employees have improved their interpersonal and communication skills, which reinforce relationships when interacting with clients.

 “The DSA programme does more than give recognition to successful salespeople for their achievements, it helps them develop their careers and enrich their reputations in their professional field,” Wong notes.

This article appeared in the Classified Post print edition as Talent is the greatest asset.