On a recent business trip, my father ran into some trouble with his hotel room. On the first morning there during his shower, the water went from warm to freezing cold and never returned to normal.
After finishing in cold water and getting ready for the day, he notified the front desk of the problem. They reassured him it would be fixed.
The next day, all seemed fine in the shower but the temperature dropped suddenly. Once again he had to finish in freezing water.
Afterward, Dad went to the front desk and asked to speak to the manager. The clerk at the counter disappeared into the manager’s office. The manager then promptly came out of the office and invited my Dad in to speak with him.
Dad was a little shocked that he was so quickly greeted and even invited into the office. He retold his story of broken maintenance promises and freezing showers. He even told the manager that he wanted to be compensated for his troubles.
The manager didn’t miss a beat and agreed completely. He arranged to have the first few nights’ fees waived, the shower repair really made, and the remainder of his stay billed at a discounted rate.
This manager did a great job resolving my father’s concerns and refunding him for the problems. However, this was all set up by the fact that the manager was available and accessible.
Are you accessible to your customers?
If you’re the boss or owner of a business, how hard is it to reach you? Can customers request to speak with you in person? Via phone? What about posting your email address on your website?
The closer you are to the customer, the better you’ll be able to respond to customer needs as you guide the company’s direction.
Don’t isolate yourself or get too far removed from the people you serve: the customers.
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Phil Greazel
January 22, 2007
Another option is to create an atmosphere where good employees stick around. Then you can train them and have the trust in them to the point where they are empowered to rectify this situation before it escalates to the manager. Somebody in this equation didn’t respect the customer enough to solve the problem and make amends prior to throwing it onto the manager’s plate. Is it there more blame on the employee for not providing good service or the manager for not managing to the proper expectations?
Joe Rawlinson
January 22, 2007
Phil: You’re right. The less the front line employees do, the more that will fall back to management to correct. In the example I share my Dad’s issues should have been resolved the first time. Prompt and accurate resolution of the problem would have eliminated the need for manager involvement or discounts.
Glenn (Customer Service Experience) Ross
January 23, 2007
I’ve seen the acme of this in an incident at a Four Seasons where the clerk immediately refunded the guests’ full night stay because they have several complaints. He didn’t even think, it was almost instinctual.
I’ve also seen the exact opposite when a desk clerk argued with the guest.
Bottom line: Empower your employees.
Regards,
Glenn
Joe Rawlinson
January 23, 2007
Glenn: Absolutely. Employee empowerment can solve a lot of customer problems.
In the experience my Dad had with his hotel, he specifically asked to see the manager when he went to the front desk. I suppose an empowered employee could have asked how he or she could be of assistance. However, the clerk immediately deferred any action to the manager. This was good in that the clerk did what my father asked but bad in that the issue probably could have been solved without the need to escalate.
Jared Chandler
February 2, 2007
Employee empowerment is often a key to customer satisfaction. It is an essential activity if a business desires to keep customers returning(or gain new customers via word of mouth). Empowering employees should free managment’s time to think of ideas that make more money.
The question to ask, in regards to the hotel situation, is why did something so simple as discounted rates, returned fees, and service delivery need escalation to management. For line level employees to feel empowered, management must invest in T&T(training and trust). It does not appear that this desk clerk had these investments put toward him.
Lower paying jobs, such as front desk work, do not pay very well. Many companies then simply do not invest time and funds toward employee development. This is a mistake too often made in the service and fast food industries.
I think I hire smartly. So, I have the right mix in my group(and i believe that is a skill in itself that managers need to build). If I train my teams and empower them(who are very much assets and not liabilities on the “books” for me) then I am free to think of business processes that save money and leverage corporate investment. This is the only way that I have personally had time to work on Six Sigma projects.
BTW, I enjoy reading the commententary and comments on this site. I take a look at it every so often and it helps me think of ways that I might keep my own customers satisfied. Thanks to my mother in law for pointing me to it a while back.
God Bless,
Jared
Joe Rawlinson
February 2, 2007
Jared: Thanks for your comments. I like your idea of building T&T (training and trust). As a manager myself, I whole heartedly agree with you that independent, trained, and trusted workers free me up to focus on bigger opportunities and problems. The distractions of day to day logistics can too easily bog down longer term objectives.