SUPERSTAR STORY.....
Danny Meyer is the legendary hospitality guru in New York who relates this fantastic example of a service superstar.
A lady about to begin her lunch while at one of Meyer's restaurants suddenly became agitated upon discovering she had left her cell phone in the cab she had arrived in a short while back.
About to rush out the door - the head waiter stopped her and convinced the anxious diner to enjoy her meal instead as he promised to look after the matter for her. The head waiter called the lost cell phone, spoke to the cab driver who had it, and then promptly dispatched one of the restaurant staff in another cab to drive over to retrieve the phone.
The lady in question was obviously delighted.
Cost to the restaurant, about $30. Benefits to the restaurant, priceless word of mouth praise like this for a long time to come.
Thats Superstar service! Start using it in your business, or become just another average business doing the motions.
SERVICE FAILURE
Planning ahead for those rare occasions when something goes wrong will pay off. Turning a bad situation into a good one takes a little training to empower your front line staff.
Allow your frontline crew to fix the problem immediately and apologise instead of making the upset customer wait further whilst somebody finds a manager. Most angry customers are not looking to rip the company off, they simply want their problem fixed and to be heard.
Once you have allowed for that, it is a good investment to over deliver on expectations. If you can really please that previously upset customer by doing the unexpected (over deliver) then that customer will be a fan for life and tell many others about how you worked wonders for them.
Have a service recovery plan in place and make sure frontline staff are empowered to put things right.
SERVICE THINK TANK
Instead of ideas coming from head office or management, it is proven time and again that the best service improving ideas come from those on the front line of customer service.
If you set up a thinking group which can meet once in a short while, the ideas they can come up with will perhaps astonish you. I tried this many years ago and have used it with great effect since. Those who serve know how to do it better - especially if you allow their ideas to be heard and scrutinised by their peers.
Set up and encourage a customer service think tank and watch how your business improves. The added benefit is that the staff feel empowered and valuable too.
WELL SAID
I use this quote here as it strikes a personal chord with me - having spent most of my adult life serving others in restaurants around the world.
“Cooking is one of the oldest arts and one that has rendered us the most important service in civic life.”
Jean Anthelme Brillat Savarin. A Parisian lawyer and Gourmand,(18th century) who educated the world on so much.
FRONT & FOREMOST
It is so important to furbish the reception or front desk with a serious investment in talent, training, decor and salary. So often I have seen that the lowest paid and most inexperienced staff are placed on the front desk or answering the telephones.
Big mistake, as this area is the first and last place a customer or visitor passes through. If their impression is not a great one as they encounter the reception area, all the other efforts through the business are struggling then to win over that customer.
Again, recruit and reward the best talent on the front desk area.
THE COMMON GOAL
Struggling with accountants budgetary restrictions is a common if not daily obstacle for many managers.
Sometimes new ideas or department needs are obviously in need of funds but the purse strings are shut tight.
The answer is to explain your case from a customer service angle. Pitch the needs of the funding around if customers - and therefore the whole business needs what you are after, that way you can usually win the argument and avoid the usual tug of war scenario between service providers and the accounts office.
SERVICE SUPERSTAR WORKSHOP
You've asked for it, now its here!
Customer service training sessions to transform your business instantly.
Each workshop is 3 hours and there is an option of either Sundays 10am - 1pm, or wednesday evenings 5pm - 8pm. Book early, and if you bring more than one you get a large discount.
$60 per person, or $40 for multiple bookings.
Venues are training rooms at Papanui, Cashmere, and Kaipoi. Other venues can be arranged for groups.
SPECIAL TREATMENT
It is an enormous pleasure making somebody feel special.
For example, if treating someone in your family you know only too well how that special treatment is remembered for a long time. Same is true for your customers, so make it a regular feature to go out of your way to make someone feel special.
The rewards of loyalty and praise will follow you in return - I guarantee it!
FROM THE KING...
" Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. "
Martin Luther King
CONFIDENT CUSTOMER SERVICE
If you really want to give the best customer experience you can, then the crew delivering that exceptional service need to be empowered and confident.
That comes by having the tools, support and training behind them first. They should be never in a position where they feel under resourced, nor worrying about a competitor or what time their shift finishes.
This attitude comes when they really believe and understand the benefits of great service and the product they represent.
Instill confidence and the wow factor follows.
IN A GOOD LIGHT
I have written about first impressions already in this blog.
What still amazes me is how often I see companies getting it wrong. It is rarely done intentionally, it's just that their focus is too narrow.
Impressing customers is only half the job, it's your own staff you need to impress too. Staff talk about their place of work to others - and you really need to have them sell their company well, keep them glowing about the procedures and culture as coming from them the praise has added impact. Even job applicants need to get a glimpse of how fantastic your company is - those that do'nt get through still walk away singing your praises. Make sure your interview process is the best it can be.
Keep the company and your wonderful employees in a good light!
A SERVICE FREQUENCY
The universe we are learning, is like a mirror. What we give out reflects back to us. So if we project out a spirit of service and kindness, then we receive back the same to ourselves.Once you learn and believe that great service is fulfilling and rewarding you develop a service frequency.
Every atom in your body then resonates kindness, warmth and service to others.
" Joy can be real only if people look on their life as a service, and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness. "
- Leo Tolstoy
A MESSAGE FROM WILL
" I expect to pass through life but once. If there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do for any fellow being, let me do it now, as I shall not pass this way again. "
Governor William Penn
Founder of Pennsylvania
ZERO COST FACTOR
A service orientated company need not spend a huge amount on buildings or furnishings.
It is amazing to consider how much large companies can be willing to spend on peripheral eye pleasing gimmicks.
When I worked as a manager in large hotels, I would have a sizeable budget for new carpets, marble tables, or silk furnishings. Yet no money would be available for intangible things like encouraging great service, or pleasing the guests needs.
It is these hard to measure factors though which bring customers back time after time, and set you up for long term loyalty and profit, not the latest photogenic decor.
What so many often miss is the zero cost factor of inducing great service. It takes effort, not dollars to encourage a superior service culture
PHONE A FRIEND
Since the eighties, businesses have increasingly relied on technology to save them money and time with answering telephone enquiries.
However,the overwhelming feedback from customers has been that they are not liked, menu options and lengthy un-answered transfers being the surest way to alienate customers before you have even had the chance to find out how to deal with their problem.
Yet how many businesses recognise this as a marketing gift. If they become one of the only businesses to answer their phones with a PERSON, think what a major P.R coup that would be.
A customer ringing up would be so surprised to have a friendly voice answer, that they would be a fan from the word go!.
SERVICE SUPERSTAR WORKSHOP
You've asked for it, now its here!
Customer service training sessions to transform your business instantly.
Each workshop is 3 hours and there is an option of either Sundays 10am - 1pm, or wednesday evenings 5pm - 8pm. Book early, and if you bring more than one you get a large discount.
$60 per person, or $40 for multiple bookings.
Venues are training rooms at Papanui, Cashmere, and Kaipoi.
Other venues can be arranged for groups.
ARE YOU UPTO SPEED ?
Having the latest knowledge on your industry or profession is key for keeping customers served well and for retaining top staff. It is your responsibility to seek and learn that knowledge. You need to read the latest journals, websites and blogs or be on the training courses. Information in this digital era is key to promotion and success.
You will be asked many questions daily on your work, so it is vital to be seen to be upto speed on your subject.
Be interested, and dont shy away from using your own leisure time to further your knowledge too.
What you do in your eight hours at work just pays the bills.....what you do in your time decides how you succeed.
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