The Importance of Good Customer Service

In my current role as a consultant and trainer, I travel quite regularly, and am able to experience service at some of the finest hotels in the world. In fact, I consider myself to be an expert in not only assessing world-class service, but delivering world-class service as well. During a recent business trip to Chicago, Illinois, I stayed at one of that city’s finest hotels, and was thoroughly impressed with the flawless execution of virtually every service detail. Particularly, I was privileged to have been “roomed” by the most professional and genuine bellman I have ever met. In strength management, a strength is defined as consistent near-perfect performance in a given activity. Basically, that means that someone is doing something so remarkably well, that everyone else looks on in awe as this strength is being displayed (this is easily seen in many professional athletes). This particular bellman definitely has a phenomenal strength for making people feel not only welcomed but treated as royalty. His delivery was effortless, precise, and genuine at the same time.

Allow me to walk you through the service experience as I witnessed it…. After the front desk agent checked me in, she walked around the counter and introduced me to “Tim”. He immediately used my name and welcomed me to the hotel, and told me that I should anticipate having a wonderful stay at “his” hotel. As he escorted me to the guest elevator, he gave a thorough description of various hotel amenities such as the dining outlets, spa facilities, and gift shop. He then said that he would meet me at my room in about five minutes with the rest of my luggage that I had given to the doorman earlier.

Sure enough, five minutes later, Tim knocked on the door. When I opened the door, he again used my name and asked if he may enter. Once I said yes, he proceeded in, and immediately asked if the room temperature and lighting was to my satisfaction. Like any five diamond property, he asked me where I’d like my luggage placed. Tim then proceeded to explain all of the room’s features including the following:

• Laundry service

• CD player/Radio operation

• Shoe shine service

• Location of In room dining menu

• Location of ice-bucket (which was already filled with ice).

He then asked if I had a laptop with me. When I said yes, he explained the internet connection, and showed me where the internet cable was. He then inquired about laundry, and told me if I had items to be laundered and/or pressed, he would be happy to take them for me. I did, and Tim ensured that I would have them back within two hours (which is what I requested). He then wished me a wonderful stay, and asked if there’s anything else he could do to assist.

From a leadership perspective, I am always looking to study success and what type of environment fosters such remarkable excellence to flourish. Usually, there is a clear and unbroken link to leadership. So I asked Tim how long he worked at the property, and he told me 28 years, and loving every day of it. I then asked him what keeps him so motivated to do a great job. Besides the obvious answer of being in the right role and using his talent often, he said that the leadership (especially the hotel’s senior leaders) made it a point to consistently solicit his opinion on various service matters, and always made sure that he felt greatly appreciated and taken care of.

This brings me to my next point about how leaders should treat stars. From my travels, one of the biggest misconceptions leaders have is that they should treat everyone on their team the same way. That is probably one of the fastest ways to accelerate mediocrity on a team. Think about it…if I’m consistently doing a superior job, is it fair that I get offered the very same coaching, development, and recognition opportunities as those colleagues who don’t put forth the same effort? Don’t get me wrong…of course, everyone has to be held accountable for standards of conduct, attendance policy, etc. I’m referring to the amount of effort that is bestowed on various employees. To put it plainly, people should be treated the way they deserve to be treated. In an ideal work environment, people shouldn’t even be paid the same. Payment should somehow be linked to identifiable and quantifiable performance metrics (guest satisfaction, financials, generation of repeat business, etc.).

On sports teams, every athlete doesn’t get paid the same. On the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James doesn’t get paid what every other player on his team is paid. Why not? He contributes more than everyone else…he scores more, grabs more rebounds, and as a result, more is expected of him, not only from his coaches, but from his teammates and the fans as well.

Now, back to our bellman…he is also the bell captain of this particular hotel, and I would always see him giving feedback to his team (reminding them to smile more, and use the guest’s names). It was as though he was a conductor in the middle of the lobby, orchestrating (and inspiring) the actions of the team around him.

Clearly, he loved his job, and more importantly, he took exceptional pride in making his guests feel like they have returned home. Whenever he saw me in the lobby, he made it a point to inquire if my stay was indeed wonderful, and if there was anything he could to assist me. Always very classy, articulate, and genuine. He is a role model of what a world-class service professional should be like.

Tim is, by far, the best bellman I have ever met.

Find more articles relating to service excellence at http://www.bwenterprise.net
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This short video and attractive poster have been getting rave reviews worldwide. They are being used in settings like customer service training and department meetings.

About the Author

Bryan K. Williams is the Chief Service Officer of B. Williams Enterprise, LLC. He is a seasoned service expert, who has facilitated workshops and delivered keynotes all over the world for various companies. Bryan speaks on a variety of topics related to service excellence, employee engagement, and organizational improvement. As a consultant he works closely with companies to design, develop, and implement sustainable service strategies.

About B.Williams Enterprise, LLC

B.Williams Enterprise, LLC is a consulting and auditing company which focuses on service excellence. The goal is to assist organizations to enhance their levels of customer service to world-class levels. This can only be achieved by focusing on service excellence as a way of doing business, rather than an “initiative of the month”. Service excellence must be weaved throughout the organization…at every level.

-We exist to serve others so they may better serve the world.-

Email: info@bwenterprise.net

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If you really want to know how your customers perceive your retail store’s customer service, there’s only one way to find out. And it’s really very simple: Ask them!

There is a problem however, these questions, when asked by the store owner, manager or personnel usually produce skewed answers. Unfortunately too often, store personnel get the answers they want to hear and not answers that can help them improve their customer service. As part of a Discovery Process our company conducts customer service surveys and we find that customers, as a group, give us more candid answers than they would store employees. Our survey system occurs in three parts:

Entrance Interviews: Some of the questions we ask are: Where do your customers come from? How did they learn about you? What is their Zipcode? Are they searching for something specific or just “browsing”? If they are searching for something specific did they try you 1st, 2nd, or 3rd as their source? We estimate the age of the customer, note their sex and record their entrance time.–This type of information can help you determine where to advertise and what current advertising is working effectively. It can help you determine your store’s slotting (destination store, regional competitor, price-driven niche, product-driven niche, convenience…extremely important) and whether your store is perceived as a “primary” source for what your customers are looking for. The information regarding age and sex can help clear your understanding of an “ideal” customer (also very important).
Exit Interviews: We record the shopper’s exit time to determine the total shop time. (You may need to identify them by giving them a numbered coupon in order to accurately track their shop time) This is an important measurement and as you strive to increase shop time (through display and store layout) you will almost certainly increase per customer purchases as well. If the shopper was shopping for something specific, as determined in the entrance interview, we ask them if they found the item. If they found the item but did not buy it, we determine if it was a pricing issue. We ask them their overall opinion of their shopping experience and reward them with a small gift for participating in our survey.
Random telephone interview: This type of interview can be most enlightening and we use these interviews to answer a number of questions. For instance: What is the perception of your store’s shopping environment? How does the customer contrast the shopping experience in your store against your head-to-head competitors? How does he perceive your customer service? Are hours of operation convenient? What does he see as your store’s biggest weakness? How would she describe your store to a friend?

Customer service surveys in your retail store are critically important. Customers are the heart of your retail operation. To gather this important information, it’s best to use an outside service as an objective approach gathers more reliable and informative data.

Philip H. Mitchell is the author of Discovery-Based Retail. His book has been endorsed by Scott Wright of the North American Retail Hardware Association, Art Brown of the Mid-American Lumberman’s’ association and other industry experts. Philip is also one of the founding partners of a retail consulting company of the same name, Discovery-Based Retail. His company works with retailers, both small and large, helping them enhance their profitability by improving their customer interface. Their company also specializes in improving the production of the entire sales space and designs floor plans to accomplish this.

Visit his website at http://www.discoverdbr.com

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Do you have good customer service? Even for your free giveaways?

I have been thinking over the past couple of weeks why some WAHP’s have trouble growing their business. They host chats or do online parties. They do giveaways and exchanges and it seems everything that they can do to help promote their business. So why do so many fail to get new customers?

I stumbled across the answer this holiday season. I had attended an online event that had giveaways that were sponsored by WAHP’s and their Home-Based Business. I won two awesome products! I was so excited, as they would make wonderful Christmas gifts. I had won these prizes in the beginning of November in plenty of time to receive the prizes and wrap them for the holidays. I even told my son the awesome gift he was going to be able to give to his favorite tutor and he was so excited.

The weeks went by, I had contacted the sponsors and was told numerous times that they will be sending out the prizes ASAP. Well, just yesterday I received one of the prizes. The other, I have no idea if I will ever receive.

Now I know that sometimes things happen that are beyond our control. I understand that as unexpected things came up when I had to send something to another WAHP, but I made sure to inform the person what had happened and make sure I go out of my way to mail the item as soon as possible.

It’s really no problem in my book as long as I am informed that something came up and I was not forgotten. BUT when you have contacted a rep numerous times to be told every time that it will be sent out and you never receive the items, you tend to lose faith, not in the company this person represents, but the actual rep themselves.

My point to this article is: Good customer service is not limited to only those who actually purchase items from you. Good customer service also includes those who have won items from you. You do not know who that person is going to give your prize to. I planned on placing those businesses cards in the package for re-orders, if the person liked the items there would have been future business.

As a Home Business Owner and a Direct Sales Rep myself, I keep track of those I do business with. Please remember even if someone did not purchase an item to still treat them like a valued customer. I refer people to others, if I know they have excellent customer service. I have a list of WAHP’s that I will gladly refer others to.

Your main goal in doing giveaways, barters, trades, and prizes are to gain more customers. If you do not treat those people like you would your paying customers, you are defeating the purpose of your free giveaways.

Keeping your customers organized

File box with 3×5 cards filled out with names, emails, what they have purchased, birthdays, address, phone number, etc., work well to help keep you organized.

Have a section for paying customers and giveaways and contest winners.

Make a note of when you sent out their items and staple the delivery confirmation receipt to the card.

You can also keep all this information on the computer.

Rebbekah White is the Owner of: http://www.advantagemarketingforyou.com
.

Rebbekah specializes in Word Press customization, audio & video editing, graphic designs and much more for your business needs. With personal one on one consulting Rebbekah White can help you grow and expand your business even if you are on a limited budget.

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