Customer Service
The Essentials of Excellent Customer Service
Whether you are selling a product or promoting a service face-to-face, it takes only seven seconds to form a first impression and after 30 seconds for that impression to be set.
Body language represents up to 55 per cent of a person’s first opinion of you, so make sure you smile! Make direct eye contact and try to make your conversation personal. Listen carefully to your customer and make them feel important.
Build a relationship by using positive words and phrases like “good value”, “family friendly”, “convenient” and “no problem”. Be positive. Don’t say “can’t”, “don’t know”, or “maybe”, and saying “I’ll see what we can do” is infinitely better than “no”!
Once you have made a good first impression there are a number of essentials to think about in your on-going communication with your customers.
Try your best to get to know your client. Don’t be afraid to ask questions to find out what customers already know, and be ready to offer accurate and up-to-date advice when they seem unsure. The customer might not always be right, but he or she is always important. Most people are very understanding – if you have to refuse a particular request, explain why. They’ll be annoyed if the restaurant is closed, but they’ll be a lot less annoyed if they’re told it’s closed because the chef’s wife is having her first baby!
When visitors first arrive, whether it is in a hotel, a restaurant, or any other tourism-related establishment, they will need immediate information – where are the lifts, what time is breakfast, do you offer discounts for families?
As far as possible, have all that information to hand, such as directions to the lift. Try to offer additional snippets about, for example, local tours or attractions or one-off local events. Taxi telephone numbers are always appreciated.
When they leave, advise them on the best route out of town, direct them to the nearest filling station if they need to top up with petrol before heading home. Thank them for coming and make sure you ask them for contact details so you can invite them back.
A simple text or email to thank them for their visit and saying you hope that they will return, is always worthwhile.
Customer Service Policy
As the proprietor you may be confident that you always treat customers in the way you would like to be treated yourself. But the same may not be true of your staff. Write a Customer Service Policy and make sure it is communicated to staff. Welcome to Excellence run courses to support development of customer service strategy.
Training and Development
In the Tourism industry there are 2 standard customer service training programmes – Welcome Host and World Host. They are very similar in content, just presented slightly differently, but both offer an excellent introduction to the importance of customer service and how to deliver it effectively in the workplace.
Both are delivered all over the country, often with local partner organisations offering destination specific content.
For certain destinations the NCTA offers free online customer service training with destination specific content. Check out Bournemouth Ambassador or Lincoln Ambassador.