Over the last 18 months, a fictional street - Boyd Terrace, has been home to a range of role-playing actors who typify Yorkshire Waters customer base. Interactive and highly engaging workshops have been set up around this street allowing Loop employees to understand what great customer service looks like.

From role-playing phone calls regarding complaints, issues or general enquiries, to carrying out face-to face meetings with customers the training aims to develop the skills of all agents better equipping them to provide an excellent level of customer service.

Much of the programme is based on agents understanding the impact that their behaviour has on customers and the use of effective communication skills such as tone, manner and what is said.

The new training seems to be paying off, customers complaints have dropped by 25% this year, customer satisfaction scores taken from a random sample of customers by industry regulator Ofwat remain high and Yorkshire Water are now one of the top performing water companies in the UK in terms of customer service.

One customer had the following to say about the service he had received at Loop said: "It makes a refreshing change to hear voices who genuinely want to help and I would describe it as service with a smile down the phone!...Continue to carry out the high levels of service, because it makes all the difference."

Head of customer service at Loop, Zoe Mason said: "The training that our employees have been undertaking is all about providing them with real experiences in order to help them make the right choices when dealing with customer calls."

This year Loop, for the fifth time, has made it into the Sunday Times Top 100 Great Places to work, it has been awarded a one star best companies accreditation for its employee engagement policies and was short-listed for a national customer service awards.