5 Keys to Customer Service, from a Customer (Imagine!)

There are certain essentials to properly serving a customer. There are also consistent gaffes perpetrated by the service industry which, if handled properly, may cost them short-term profits but result in long-term fortune. This is my second post regarding customer service. My first dealt with shopping, this one will deal with issues I faced at a hotel two nights ago. The principles are similar, and the solutions are painfully clear. Before I lay out 5 Keys to Customer Service, here is a summary of my hotel stay, which begins with my reservation one month ago:

When I made the reservation I was told about construction in the hotel, but was promised it would not interfere with my family's enjoyment of the facilities.
 The day before I left, I requested a late checkout, and was told it could be extended to 6pm should I choose to enroll in their "Preference" programme. I did so, and was connected to a different clerk when I called back to extend my checkout time with my new  "Preferred" customer number.
I extended out checkout to 6pm, and requested our friends with whom we were travelling be placed in the room next to us. "No problem" she said.
Upon our arrival at the hotel, our friends were booked on a separate floor; this was corrected, although they were now in a room down the hall. The morning of our checkout, our entire floor was under construction: drilling in every room except ours, dust covers and furniture in the hallway, and a strip of green tape outside our door as though we were being identified as cattle not to be slaughtered.

This short trip was not the first time I was confronted with a system in which the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing and one eye is blind to the problem. Here are 5 tips which would have avoided the whole debacle:  

LISTENING: The client making the reservation tells you he is there for one night only, with kids. This is a short getaway for a client looking to entertain his young family. He specifically asks about any facilities being out of service or possible interruptions. By listening to the customer, you pick up on these cues which may necessitate verifying the state of the hotel, of perhaps even suggesting alternate arrangements. This is not someone who is staying 3 nights or more, there is no margin for error.

HONESTY: "There have been no complaints about the noise". That may be true, but is that because other people haven’t stayed in these particular rooms, or on this particular floor? After walking               around the rooms where your client will be staying, a more appropriate answer may have been: "There is some drilling taking place; however we ensure all construction is ended daily at an hour         which will not interfere with meals, or sleep." Again, this may discourage some clientele, but a potential client discouraged is preferable to an active client dissatisfied and deceived.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: This may be the most important and also the most simple step to proper customer service or interpersonal relationships. Any individual's minimum  requirement is that              their  needs to be acknowledged. Before answering: "There is not much that can be done about that", try first: "I understand you frustration. If I was in your position I would feel the same way. This           is not the information you received on the phone, and now you've driven all this way, you must be disappointed." You have just succeeded in significantly deflating the situation.

COMPENSATION: For our troubles of having been booked on separate floors, despite a request and confirmation to the contrary. And for having our floor ripped to pieces despite being granted a        late checkout (which would have allowed tired kids to nap after a long morning of touring the city), we were given free hot breakfasts, and a $75.00 discount on each room. This is fair compensation,         although it would be nice if, for once, the client didn't have to grovel for it. What a pleasant surprise it would be to have someone visit our door, or mention these perks during a visit to the front desk.         A customer doesn't want to spend part of their short stay haggling over what they already deserve.

PREVENTION: I once attended a customer service seminar during which they presented an outline of some customer service practices of the Ritz Carlton. One of the chain's preventative measures        was to re-lamp the hotels at regular intervals. They would change every single light bulb every three months whether or not they needed to be changed. Why? Because, they felt, a customer should               not have to put down their bags and reach for a light which won't turn on. Their first phone call to the front desk shouldn't be to report a problem. This type of thinking requires someone to play the        role of the client. It requires forethought, and a little creativity and role-play. Go, experience your product to the fullest, and you will immediate notice where improvements can be made.

Yes, being forthright may cause some customers to have pause and choose to stay in a hotel which is not under construction. But, treating like royalty the ones who choose your establishment despite its inconveniences will pay large dividends in the long term.
In others words, rent "Miracle on 34th Street."

By the way, I am available to give a talk at your next convention; especially of it's held in Maui.