G-U-E-S-T

Acronyms are often used as a mnemonic device to help folks recall new information or sometimes to remember the order in which things should be completed. Basically it’s a great way to learn things.

I heard a great acronym for the term “Guest” that I’d like to share.

Greet – Greet every customer you come near with a warm smile and an open attitude, ready to receive what ever they are interested in sharing with you, be it good or bad.

Understand – Make sure that you completely understand what the customer is sharing with you. Feel free to ask questions. Whether it’s a complaint about something in your place of business, or feedback on the restaurant down the block where they just ate, it’s important to “get” what they are saying.

Empathize – Empathize with the customer. That means put yourself in their shoes and observe their experience from their perspective. This is very important on a regular basis, but even more so if your customer has a complaint.

Suggest – Make a suggestion. This is your house, in your neighborhood, and the person in front of you is your friend. Let them know what you think, and why. Or tell them what you would do, and why. Bottom line here is information is power, and you should be arming your customer with all the information you can so they can be the powerful one.

Thank – At the end of every customer interaction, thank them. Whether your customer brought you a complaint or a complement, it was information that you didn’t have before, and it will elevate the service you provide in the future. For that, they deserve “thanks.”

A service provider who keeps this acronym in mind, and uses each of these points in order when they deal with their customer, will improve the service they provide, and will be well on their way to becoming a Service Superhero.  

Tune in next week for more adventures from a Service Superhero where we’ll explore another aspect of providing great customer service.  

Remember, I can transfer my abilities, or Superpowers, to anyone who truly wants them. Let me know if you'd like to set up a training seminar for your service team, so you can begin to deliver "Superhero Service" to each and every one of your customers.  

If you agree or disagree with anything I’ve said here, or would just like to share a Service related story or insight, I'd love to hear from you. Please post a comment below.

How To Affect Your Customer’s Experience

Last week in Customer Experience: Future, Present, Past we discussed in detail the three phases your customer goes through when they deal with your company. I’ll give you a brief recap of last weeks post for context, but you should click the above link, and read it before you continue.

Phase One is primarily a left-brain, cognitive process that takes place when your customer plans his or her visit to your place of business. This is where they set their expectations.

Phase Two is where they actually visit your establishment, which is primarily a right-brain, sensual and emotional experience.

Phase Three is also a cognitive process, but it’s a different part of the brain. This is where your customer reflects back on their emotional, sensual experience and tries to put it into words. 

Maximize Your Impact During Each Phase

Let’s once again follow Stan through the three phases as he visits your hotel, but this time we’ll look at the best ways to positively affect his stay in each phase.

Phase One: The Future

In Phase One, Stan’s setting his expectations of his trip. It seems like in keeping with the adage “under promise, over deliver” we should lower his expectations, but that doesn’t work. If Stan’s not excited by the prospect of staying at your hotel, then he’s not even going to give you a chance.

While your potential customer is in Phase One, you need to sell the hell out of your place of business. You need to communicate everything you intend to provide: nothing more, but definitely nothing less. You need to tout all of the amenities that will be available, and all the services that you will provide.

In other words, you need to tell your potential customers about all the things he or she can expect to find when they arrive.

Feel free to use all the emotional language you can think of, because the left-brain likes to pretend it understands the feelings attached to those words, and it will paint an even better picture.

If done correctly, Stan will book the room, and leave Phase One, excited about his future stay at your hotel.

Phase Two: The Present

Once Stan actually arrives at your property, you need to deliver on all of the things you’ve promised and this will satisfy his left-brain. Once he’s gone through his mental checklist, comparing what you’ve promised with what you’ve actually provided, this hemisphere basically goes on vacation because it’s no longer needed.

As explained last week, Phase Two is both sensual and emotional. It’s all about the right-brain, and because the two hemispheres of your brain don’t use the same language, they have difficulty communicating to each other. Consequently, Stan has difficulty measuring whether or not his stay is meeting his expectations, so he trusts his gut, and if he’s having a good time, he’s happy.

While Stan is in Phase Two, your goal should be to stimulate his right-brain as much as you can by attaching a sensual or an emotional component to every element of his stay. This will elevate each experience to an event. Strolling mariachis while he eats, or a mint placed on his pillow are great examples.

The language barrier between the hemispheres provides you an opportunity, which you should take full advantage of. Since Stan is assessing his stay based on how happy he is, you should actively seek to anchor those feelings by using these two steps:

1. During his stay you should seek opportunities to makes him smile, or preferably laugh. This fully engages his right-brain and puts him in his happy state. It also instantly warms him to you.
2. While he’s in this state, ask him if he’s enjoying his stay. This question, coming right after you’ve made him smile, makes him feel like you really care. The question itself forces him into his left-brain to answer, and since in that moment he’s happy, his answer will generally be something positive.

If this sequence happens often enough during his stay, when he moves into Phase Three, which again is a cognitive process, he will recall all the times he reported having a good time, and he’ll tend to remember his stay more favorably.

Phase Three: The Past

I had lunch the other day with a friend of mine, and when I shared my theory of the three phases of a Customer Experience, she addressed Phase Three by telling me about a 1995 study designed to measure people’s recollection of pain. Click here for the abstract.

The study focused on the recipients of a colonoscopy, an uncomfortable and painful procedure. They interviewed the control group immediately after the procedure to determine a baseline of just how painful the procedure was. The patients seemed to remember the moment of peak pain, and the pain experienced in the final minutes of the procedure.

The next group, according to my friend, went through the exact same procedure, but instead of removing the scope immediately after, it was left in for an additional three minutes and then removed. When this group was asked about their experience, they reported that the entire procedure was much less painful then the control group.

Same procedure, three minutes longer, but perceived as less painful because the final minutes were relatively pain free.

Our takeaway from this study is that regardless of how good or bad our customer’s experience was, we can make it better if we take these two steps:

1. Don’t screw up their departure
2. Slow down their final moments with us

Regardless of how hard we try, things happen from time to time, and not every customer is happy when they leave. Let’s imagine that despite our best efforts, Stan’s stay at our hotel wasn’t great. A number of things happened and overall he wasn’t happy. The front office manager, who has had several conversations with Stan over the course of his stay, is not looking forward to reading his TripAdvisor review. Let’s also imagine that I’m the bellman.

Step One – On Stan’s final morning, he calls down for luggage assistance, and advises us that he’s in a hurry to get to the airport. If I show up to his room quickly and none of his items falls off the cart, we’re halfway done with Step One. If, when he gets to the front desk his bill is right, then we have arrived. His final moments with us will have been without incident. Whew!!! Step One complete.

Step Two – I’ll spend time with Stan until his car or a taxi shows up. I’ll engage him in conversation, and if he insists on talking about how crappy his stay was, I’ll empathize with him, but quickly change the topic. My goal is to get him to talk about anything positive.

When Stan’s car arrives I’ll open the door for him, this way I’m in control of when it shuts. I’ll demonstrate that I care for him by making sure that he has directions to his destination. I’ll take a second to thank him for staying with us, and, if he’s made me aware of his troubled stay, I’ll apologize once again. I’ll give him a warm smile and invite him to give us another chance in the future. Then I’ll gently shut his door, and my final gesture will be to smile warmly and give a quick wave good-bye as he drives away. Step Two complete.

This whole departure routine might have taken an extra fifteen seconds, probably less. It was quick, but it didn’t feel rushed. By winding down his stay, I kept it from feeling like someone had abruptly removed a colonoscopy scope.

This two-step departure process will, to some extent, have positively colored the end Stan’s experience with us. Based on the results of the study, his recollection of his stay won’t be as bad because the final moments were “pain free”. Consequently, when he does write his review, it won’t be quite so harsh.

I’m sorry about the length of this post, but I had a lot of information to give you, and I didn’t want to leave anything out. 

Be sure to come back next week for more adventures from a Service Superhero. 

Remember, I can transfer my abilities, or Superpowers, to anyone who truly wants them. Let me know if you'd like to set up a training seminar for your service team, so you can begin to deliver "Superhero Service" to each and every one of your customers. 

If you agree or disagree with anything I’ve said here, or would just like to share a Service related story, or insight, I'd love to hear from you. Please post a comment below.

The Three Phases of a Customer's Experience

When we talk about the Customer Experience, what exactly are we talking about? A lot of people just focus on the time that a customer actually spends in your place of business, but I think it starts way before that, and ends way after.

The Customer Experience should be thought of in three distinct phases. Each phase has its own rules, and the customer behaves completely differently depending on which phase of the experience they are in.

The three phases are: Future, Present, and Past.

Why do I start with Future? Because when we look at the Customer Experience, we have to do that from their perspective. As we go through the process, I think you will understand. Lets take a few minutes and examine each of these phases through the eyes of a Hotel Guest named Stan.

Phase One: The Future

Stan has to fly to a part of the country he’s never been to before, and he needs a place to stay, so he does what most of us do in the age of the Internet: he goes online. He may go to third party sites like TripAdvisor, Expedia, or Yelp, or he may go directly to the website of his favorite chain.

Stan looks at all of his choices, and using his intellect to begin to narrow things down. He selects a location that is relatively close to where he needs to be, and in a price range he can afford. He reads the reviews, and further narrows his selection based on the feedback of others.

Once he has his shortlist, Stan begins to use his imagination, comparing what he thinks his stay will be like at place “A” versus place “B” and so on. He looks at pictures of the property and tries to imagine walking through the lobby, or staying in the room, or eating at the restaurant. At some point Stan makes what he thinks is an informed decision about where he’s going to stay. He hopes he’s made a good choice, but he can’t possibly know for sure.

The entire story so far has taken place in Stan’s head. It has been a cognitive process that has taken place primarily in the logical left-brain. He has spent this entire time thinking about what his stay will be like when he finally gets to the hotel, sometime in the future. 

This process, has created benchmarks, or minimum requirements. If those expectations are not met, Stan's hopes for an enjoyable stay will begin to fall. 

Phase Two: The Present

Stan has now arrived at the hotel, and is greeted with sights, sounds, smells, and things to both touch and taste. There will be moments of cognitive processing, primarily when he checks in and out (how much is parking?!?), but for the most part, his stay will be filled with sensual and emotional input.

The thing to keep in mind is that Stan is actively trying to take measurements periodically throughout his entire stay. When he's asked, "Are you enjoying your stay?" he trys to determine whether his actual experience is meeting, or exceeding his previously imagined experience. This however, is not an easy task.

Remember, in Phase One, Stan created his future stay primarily in logical, plan-making, left-brain, and now his actual experience is taking place in the emotional, sensual, right-brain, and these two hemispheres don’t use the same language. He finds that some of the things he thought were going to be important, don’t matter after all, and things he didn’t even think of, have become vital to his enjoyment. 

When it comes to determining whether his actual experience is measuring up, the best he can do is to trust his gut. If he’s having a good time, if he’s happy, then he assumes that this stay is meeting, or exceeding his expectations.

Phase Three: The Past

Stan has now returned home, and as he reflects on his trip, he is using yet another part of his brain. His memory of his trip is filled with his experiences, both in his hotel and elsewhere, and his recollection is of the emotional journey he was on during his visit.

True, this is a cognitive process, but this is nothing like the Phase One planning phase. Here, Stan is trying to make rational sense of the sensual and emotional experience he had. As he attempts to answers the requisite question from friends and family about his trip, he tries his best to put his experience into words, but often words just seem to come up short. Depending on his audience it may turn into a one-line summation, “It was great!”

If Stan is going to write a review about the hotel he stayed in, this is the mental state where it would be created. If you think about it, this is where all reviews come from. If you’ve ever told someone about a movie you’ve seen, or about a meal you enjoyed at a restaurant, or a sculpture you loved, you’ve experienced the difficulty of putting your emotional experience into words.

So the question is, now that we understand that there are three phases to consider when thinking about our Customer’s Experience, how can we use this information to our benefit?

Tune in next week for more adventures from a Service Superhero where we’ll answer the question, “What can we do during each of the three Phases to positively impact our Customer’s Experience?”

Remember, I can transfer my abilities, or Superpowers, to anyone that truly wants them. Let me know if you'd like to set up a training seminar for your service team, so you can begin to deliver "Superhero Service" to each and every one of your Guests.

If you agree or disagree with anything I’ve said here, or would just like to share a Service related story or insight, I'd love to hear from you. Please post a comment below.

Improve Your Customer Experience Today

Customer experience seems to be the latest buzzword in the customer service world. All the Blogs, podcasts, and books that have come out over the last buncha years have been touting the customer experience as the new standard in customer satisfaction. This seems like a no-brainer to me. How can you possibly hope to provide great customer service if you don’t take their experience into account?

For us in the Hospitality Industry to be able to assess our Guest’s experience, we need two ingredients: empathy and imagination.

Empathy:

Motivational speaker Jay Cuccia once used this example to explain the difference between sympathy and empathy:

“Let’s say you’re on a boat and this guy gets seasick. He’s all leaning over the side of the boat throwing up. Sympathy just means that you feel bad for the guy. Maybe you go get him a towel or something. Empathy means that you go over to the side of the boat and start throwing up with him.”

That explanation has stuck with me for years. Without empathy there is simply no way that you can begin to gauge your Guest’s experience.

Imagination:

In order to fully understand your Guest’s experience, you need to imagine you are your Guest. You need to experience everything your property has to offer as if you are seeing it through their eyes, listening to it through their ears, smelling it through their nose, and, well… you get the idea. What I’m saying here is that you need to use all your senses to gather as much information as you can about your property.

All of your preconceived notions about how things are, or explanations about why they are not the way they should be, will not serve you. You need to clear your mind and just allow the things you encounter to wash over you.

Field Trip

So, if you’re ready to improve your Guest experience, it’s time to take a field trip. Get up from your desk, and walk out the front door of your property. This is not a mental exercise. You actually have to exit you hotel in order to get the full benefit. Now take a deep breath, clear your mind, and imagine that you are your Guest. 

Ready? 

Walk into your hotel through the front door. What do you see? Hear? Smell? What is the impression you get from the entryway of your property? Be honest. Admire the good things, and make a mental note of the things that needs attention. Don’t stop to fix anything right now, there will be plenty of time for that later. For now, just keep going.

Walk to the front desk how does it look? Are there lights out? Scuff-marks? Are there scraps of paper lying around, or is it a clean and orderly? How do the associates look? How about their uniforms? What impressions do you get when you look at them?

Now go over to the elevators and punch the button. Does it light up? When the elevator arrives does the indicator ding and light up like it’s supposed to? If so, great. If not what kind of an impression does that make on you. I could go on, but I think you’ve got the idea.

This is what Service Superheroes do all the time, everyday. They look at things from the Guest’s perspective, and make appropriate changes when they see something that needs to be fixed.

Tom Peters, in his book The Pursuit of WOW!, talks about the importance of the first time your customer comes in contact with your product, good, or service. He says that a benchmark is set in that moment.

A Guest in your hotel makes a determination about his or her entire stay based on their first moments on your property. This is the beginning of their experience, and if it’s anything less than, “WOW!” then there’s room for improvement.

If you’ve determined that there IS room for improvement, then I’ve got two pieces of great news for you:

1. You now understand what the problems are, so consequently you are in a better position to fix them. 
2. Fixing most of these things will not require a tremendous capital expense.

If you want to deliver Superhero Service to your Guests, this is where you start. When you use your empathy and imagination to look through your Guest’s eyes, and then make changes based on what you see, your Guest’s experience will instantly increase… like today.

Tune in next week for more adventures from a Service Superhero where we’ll delve into the future, present, and past of your Guest’s Experience.

Remember, I can transfer my abilities, or Superpowers, to anyone that truly wants them. Let me know if you'd like to set up a training seminar for your service team, so you can begin to deliver "Superhero Service" to each and every one of your Guests. 

If you agree or disagree with anything I’ve said here, or would just like to share a Service related story or insight, I'd love to hear from you. Please post a comment below.

Guest with a capital “G”

One of the requests I got from readers of last weeks post, Confessions of a Customer Service Superhero, was for more book recommendations, so I figured I would both move the story forward, and give you a few more books to put on your wish list.

I confessed last week that I was a pretty bad employee prior to 1993, but my life took an unexpected turn when I was shipped off to a secret facility in Orem, Utah for management training. That's where they implanted a radioactive “Service Larva” into my brain, and that began my transformation into a Service Superhero. As this Larva lived inside my head it began to grow, and so did my desire for more information. I became obsessed with customer service, and I began to consume whatever I could find on the subject.

I had been pursuing a retail management career at the time, so I grabbed The Nordstrom Way by Robert Spector and Patrick D. McCarthy to learn about this retail giant’s commitment to their customer. I learned that they began as a family run shoe store, and that their entire service philosophy was formed kneeling at the feet of their customers. By reading about the lengths that they would go to take care of their customers, I began to understand what a true Service Superhero could be. To this day, when you walk into a Nordstrom’s, everything and everyone in the store is there to make your experience more comfortable. They're always thinking about you. Often they’ve even got live piano music wafting through the store, because it makes your time in their store a little nicer.

I also studied Disney. Did you know that visitors to their theme parks are not called customers? They are called Guests, and every time they write that word they spell it with a capital “G” to indicate the importance they place on these folks. When I learned this, my brain started working overtime.

Words are powerful, and when I thought about the word "Guest," I thought about someone staying in my house. There are a lot of things that I might do to a customer that I would never do to a Guest in my house. For example, I wouldn’t think twice about making a customer wait in line, I’ve been to the grocery store, that’s what customers do, but a Guest in my house… Well, I wouldn’t want my Guest to have to wait for anything.

Customers buy goods and services, and I thought back about the expressions I’d heard growing up “You get what you pay for.” and “Buyer beware.” These expressions always made me feel like I had to keep my guard up. Although I was a customer, I was made to feel like the person I was giving my money to was trying to take advantage of me. No one would treat a Guest that way, would they? 

The government has even felt the need to step in and protect the customer on several occasions throughout history. “Lemon Laws” were enacted so that a customer that got screwed when buying a car, had recourse. Conversely, a Guest in my home is someone I take care of. I’m the one concerned with their well-being, and if I can do anything to help them out, I will. My Guest doesn’t need protection from some third party, governmental source; they've got me. 

If you're interested in learning more about Disney’s customer service philosophy, you should read Be Our Guest by The Disney Institute with Theodore Kinni. 

Studying these, and other titans of service, helped shaped my philosophy when it came to serving a Guest. It nourished the worm in my brain, which grew and morphed, transforming into the “Service Bug” that has since taken over my life. It has changed me, forever, into a Service Superhero. 

Remember, I can transfer my abilities, or Superpowers, to anyone that truly wants them. Let me know if you'd like to set up a training seminar for your service team, so you can begin to deliver "Superhero Service" to each and every one of your Guests. 

Be sure to come back next week for more adventures from a Service Superhero. 

If you agree or disagree with anything I’ve said here, or would just like to share a Service related story, or insight, or if you’d like to mention your favorite service related book, I'd love to hear from you. Please post a comment below.