BEE, the industry's leading 'peer to peer' customer experience training programme, has a new owner and new programme director.

Previously owned by Fitpro and managed by BEE master trainer Lesley Aitken, the programme is now owned by Optimus Consult. The Norwich-based company lists David Albutt, former executive secretary of CLOA as one of its directors.

Optimus has appointed Dave Monkhouse as the new programme director and master trainer with immediate effect.

BEE, which is used by around a dozen operators, trains staff from front line departments to deliver "bite-sized" modules to the rest of the organisation, focusing on developing soft skills and changing attitudes and behaviours.

Monkhouse is an experienced and established trainer for organisations including the UK quality scheme for sport and leisure, Quest, as well as a coach and consultant to the active leisure industry.

He said: "Customer service is still the biggest challenge facing our sector and traditional approaches to customer service training just don't have a lasting impact.

"I am looking forward to building on the great work that Fitpro and Lesley have carried out, and in particular developing more web- based and e-learning options for the programme."

BEE will also be working with leading customer insight company Leisure-net - where Albutt is an associate director - to align its programme with customer research and feedback services they provide, including Net Promoter Score.