Service Quality Institute of Minneapolis signed three agreements, with its Chinese government partner in China, World Expo Group Shanghai Foreign Service Co. Ltd. (SFSC), and Shanghai FESCO International Training Center (ITC), a branch of SFSC.

Service Quality Institute, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, recently signed agreements with the Chinese government to help it drive world-class service in China. The first agreement is the licensee agreement to translate SQI's customer-service training programs into Chinese and duplicate and print its learning systems throughout China. For 34 years Service Quality Institute has been helping organizations improve the performance of their workforces in order to provide superior customer service. SQI has representation in more than 40 countries and their customer service training programs are available in Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Arabic and Portuguese. More than 70 percent of its revenue is international.

The second agreement is for SQI to provide the customer-service training and certification for more than 1.4 million workers for the World Expo. This might well be the world's largest training contract.

The third agreement is for the Chinese foreign rights for a new book--Loyal for Life--by John Tschohl, president and founder of the Service Quality Institute, who Time and Entrepreneur magazines describe as a "customer service guru." This is one of the first books ever published on service recovery.

Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co., Ltd. was founded on February 18, 2004 with the joint investment from state-owned Assets Supervision & Administration Commission of the Shanghai Municipal Government, Shanghai State-owned Assets Operation Co., Ltd., Shanghai Media & Entertainment Group, and Council for the Promotion of International Trade Shanghai. Its registered capital is $135 million.

Authorized by 2010 Shanghai World Expo Organizing Committee, Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co., Ltd. is solely responsible for the construction of the World Expo Park and the World Expo Village, the management during the World Expo, the venue disposal and reuse after the World Expo.

Shanghai Foreign Service Co. Ltd. (SFSC) specializes in human resources services. Established in Shanghai in 1984, the company leads the human resources services in China in the realm of human resources consulting, outsourcing, agency, education and training, immigration and overseas study. The company has more than 100,000 staff members working for more than 8,000 multinational companies and foreign enterprises in China, 280 of which are Fortune 500 Enterprises.

SFSC, as the key part of Shanghai World Expo Group, is responsible for recruiting, training and utilizing human resources for 2010 Shanghai World Exposition and the municipality of Shanghai as a whole.

Shanghai FESCO International Training Center (ITC) was founded under the auspices of Shanghai World Expo Coordination Bureau. As a Bridge of Sino-Foreign Cooperation and Base of World Expo HR Development, ITC is serving foreign and Chinese organizations as well as 2010 Shanghai World Expo. ITC conducts services in three areas: training (mainly customer service, foreign languages testing and training, logistics, event management and public relations), foreign education (teaching Chinese as a second language) and culture exchanges (cross-culture communication and immersion programs), and interpretation and translation (in various languages).

SQI training and Certification in China

Chinas international economic influence grows every year, and has now become the focus of the world. Shanghai aims to become a world-class city of international economic, financial, trade, and shipping with world-class customer service. In 2010, this city's attraction to the world will reach the climax with the hosting of the 2010 World Expo. It is conservatively estimated that this event will welcome more than 70 million visitors from throughout the world during 184 days.

The 2010 Shanghai World Expo is expected to dramatically increase Shanghai's GDP and employment rate and will be the launching event for Shanghai to achieve its vision and strategy of becoming a world-class city. The local government is investing over $10 billion in infrastructure, including harbor, airport, city transportation, and cultural facilities. However, it is consensus of the government and residents that the hardware, such as infrastructure, is easy to improve with enough investment, whereas software, such as service, is difficult to improve within a short period of time.

In February of 2005, Shanghai drew up a guideline for the development of its service industry, which means the city has recognized the significant impact of the service sectors on the growth and efficiency of its overall economic performance. Until now, GDP from the service sector has grown to more than 51 percent of total GDP in Shanghai, a figure that is expected to reach 80 percent.

Shanghai has more 17 million people now; the number of residents in the Yangtze River Delta area (including Shanghai) will reach more than 90 million by the end of 2010. On average, people age 20 to 65 account for 70 percent of the total population, and 50 percent of them work in the service industry. Approximately 1,420,000 people will be using Service Quality Institute's customer service training and certification programs by 2010.

It is estimated that there will be 300,000 volunteers and 20,000 professionals serving 2010 World Expo directly, plus tens of thousands of others working in other areas such as hospitality, security, finance, banking, medical services, automobile, and higher education. At least 70 percent of them will attend training in customer service, and a large number of these people will need to be certified by Service Quality Institute's partner, Shanghai Foreign Service. Thousands of organizations will take the certification seminars as a proof of their service quality.

Two or three SQI products will be launched in China each year. SQI's Service First Video Library and Leading Empowered Teams were recently released in Chinese. Four books by John Tschohl--The Customer is Boss, Cashing In, Achieving Excellence through Customer Service and e-Service--have been published in Chinese. By 2010, all of SQI's products and services will enter the China market, and SFSC and SQI jointly will provide the certification and training programs to build exceptional service and customer loyalty throughout that country.

It is estimated that the revenue from service quality training and certification in China will grow by 60 to 70 percent each fiscal year during the next five years will have a continuous and steady income for Service Quality Institute and its Chinese government partner SFSC. In the Yangtze River Delta, alone, the annual revenue will reach several million dollars by the end of 2010, a figure that could double or triple by 2015.

The 2010 Shanghai World Expo is an unprecedented opportunity for SFSC and SQI's joint success in launching Service Quality Institute products and services, first in Shanghai, then in the Yangtze River Delta, and then in other parts of China.

(John Tschohl is the founder and president of Service Quality Institute, the global leader in customer service. He is the author of five books on customer service and more than 40 training programs. John can be reached at 952-884-3311, John@servicequality.com or www.customer-service.com. He is available for interviews.)