The famous motto ‘there’s no I in team’ is clearly one that Peter Bruno subscribes to as a travel agency manager of 23 staff.
So when he was named best employee in the Walsall Town Centre Awards for 2013 earlier this month he wasted no time in attributing the award to his team.
“I am privileged to have won but I couldn’t have done it without everyone,” he says. “The trophy is on display in the branch because it represents a team achievement.”
Peter, who joined the company 15 months ago, won the award – organised by the Black Country Chamber of Commerce – not just because his branch had increased sales in 2013 by more than £1 million and added an extra 1,000 customers, but also for taking on a broader remit as a regional fundraising champion for the group and for working with local schools and colleges.
It was the agency’s second award in three months. In December it was named most improved travel branch out of Midcounties Co-operative Travel’s 60 branches.
Ask Peter, 35, why the branch has done so well and he’ll tell you it’s all the result of hard graft and a focus on customer service.
“We worked really hard as a team and I had a new training initiative about seeing everything from the customer’s perspective,” he says. “We even got staff to walk in the door as if they were customers and observe what we were doing so we saw everything through the customer’s eyes. That was really important in helping us improve.”
As well as his day-to-day duties, Peter helps to organise fundraising events for the company’s chosen charity, Teenage Cancer Trust, and spends time at local colleges.
He has already given a talk to students on customer service and is involved in shaping the curriculum for current travel and tourism NVQ students to ensure it remains relevant to today’s travel industry.
In addition, the shop takes on six to eight students on work placements each year.
“Everyone on the course wants to be a holiday rep or work as an air stewardess but what I try to do is ensure they realise there is a wider career within retail travel and there are some fantastic organisations to work for,” adds Peter.