Guest Blog: A Mark of Great Service – Consistency
This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post, my colleague Roy Atkinson writes about an experience he had at a hotel and the inconsistencies in the service. I agree that consistency is so important in the customer experience. Consistency isn’t part time. It’s all-of-the-time. – Shep Hyken
Recently I attended a conference at a major resort hotel complex. I was greeted in a friendly and professional manner at the front desk and sent off to my room, which was ready despite my early arrival.
There was a welcome reception at the beginning of the conference, and I noticed that the wait staff at the reception were making very little eye contact with the attendees, and saying nothing. (I realize that this is the preferred behavior in some cultures, but usually not in the USA.) Although I don’t especially like chatty, interruptive wait staff, I found that the silence and lack of connection was more disconcerting. Even when I tried to catch an eye or elicit a smile, I was unsuccessful on all but one occasion, when I was able to briefly converse with two Spanish-speaking attendants at lunch. (I’ve been a Spanish-speaker since age 7.)
On the other hand, every interaction I had with the hotel staff was pleasant and professional. It was as if there were two entirely different entities here: One was mindful of their employees’ demeanor and how it might affect the customer experience, while the other was only concerned with getting work done, regardless of the customers.
On the last day of the conference, I decided to grab a coffee during the scheduled beverage break in between sessions. I grabbed a cup, got my coffee, and headed over to stand where the lids, stirrers and sweeteners were. (I don’t use sweetener or sugar in my coffee, but I wanted to be out of the way while I put on the lid and grabbed a napkin.)
While I was at the stand, a woman from the staff came over to refill the sweeteners, which were already nearly overflowing. This meant that she had to remove the sweetener tray from its position, and, for some reason, refill it right at the stand. This created a backup of customers who were trying to get at the sweetener during their 15-minute interval.
Why, I thought, is someone trying to do this now of all times, especially when it’s not necessary? The alternative would have been to simply stand aside with the extra sweetener and wait to see if the tray needed to be refilled. No interruptions, no taking up space at the stand that was intended for customers.
Of course, this all made sense. While the hotel has management that clearly understands how to make customers feel comfortable and at ease, the catering and event management is much more focused on getting tasks done. They haven’t encouraged their staff to be people-minded or even people-aware. What prevented this hotel from being excellent, in my opinion, was the disparity.
Consistency counts
In order to truly achieve customer service excellence, the attention to customers must be consistent across the entire organization, no matter how many parts it has. If I hadn’t been staying at the hotel (friendly), my opinion as a customer would have been formed by the catering staff (no-so-friendly). I thought of the many conference attendees who were staying nearby, since the host hotel was full for the event, and how their perception of the venue’s staff would reflect on the conference as a whole. Would they rate this conference lower—perhaps not recommending it to their colleagues for next year—because of the impersonal service?
Great service has ripple effects we can’t even imagine. Less-than-great service does, too.
Roy Atkinson is a principal with Clifton Butterfield, LLC, a training and consulting firm, as well as a support industry analyst and writer. He has been named to many “Top 25/Top 50 / Top 100” lists on the topics of customer service and customer experience, and has written for many outlets, including The Economist Intelligence Unit. He is a frequent speaker on the subjects of customer service and customer experience, and one of the hosts of the popular #CustServ chat on Twitter, now in its fifth year. Follow him at @RoyAtkinson on Twitter.
For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com
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