guest service
This Halloween, 10 Ways to Scare Your Competition and Steal Their Customers
Shep Hyken | October 31, 2024
Halloween brings up images of spooky costumes and haunted houses. So, here’s a question for you: Are you confident your customer service and CX won’t scare your customers away? That’s a rhetorical question. If you’ve been reading my weekly newsletters or watching my videos, it means you’ve been investing in yourselves and your company by creating an experience that doesn’t scare customers away … but it may scare your competition. I’ve created a list. If you do any of these, your customers will love you – nothing scary about that – but your competition will be scared their customers might find out and switch to ...
Why Handling Mistakes Well Is a Key to Amazing Customer Service
Shep Hyken | October 17, 2024
Good customer service becomes noticeable for two reasons: A company or brand can be known for amazing customer service and experience. Customers may notice the employees’ attitude, how easy they are to do business with and more. But sometimes they don’t, because it’s expected. However, over time, customers will notice that there are never problems. It may not happen right away, but eventually, customers will realize why they like the company. The experience is what they want and expect every time. A customer’s complaint or issue is resolved in such a way that the customer notices. They are pleasantly surprised at how...
Separate Checks: A Metaphor for Good and Bad Customer-Focused Policies
Shep Hyken | October 10, 2024
It often amazes me how difficult some companies make it to do business with them. I could share so many examples, but let’s use the restaurant industry to illustrate my point. Recently, I attended a conference. I met three colleagues for breakfast. When the server approached our table, the first thing she said was, “No separate checks.” Really, that was the first thing she said. I could think of better opening lines. Regardless, it was clear that the restaurant had a policy. We were informed. Compare that to the experience I had the other day when my hockey team – yes, I still play hockey – went to a restaurant for break...
Famed Park Lane New York Empowers Guests With Luxury and Convenience Through Deployment of InnSpire’s Full-Featured Mobile App and Integrated Servic
InnSpire | October 8, 2024
Iconic New York City property partners with leading hotel technology provider to enhance guest convenience and service through a comprehensive digital guest journey. Stockholm & Washington, D.C. – October 8, 2024 – InnSpire, the leading provider of innovative hospitality technology solutions that help drive seamless, world-class guest experiences for some of the world’s most iconic hotels and brands, has partnered with Park Lane New York; a historic hotel located along Central Park South in Manhattan to provide a comprehensive suite of technology solutions designed to maximize and streamline the guest experience. The property, o...
The Tricycle of Guest Service Excellence: A Perfect Model For Remarkable Experiences
Doug Kennedy | October 4, 2024
Complimentary Registration Now Open For Doug Kennedy’s Next Hospitality Training Webcast! Sponsored By Travel Outlook and Track Hospitality Software Register your team and participate live, or view the recording, of Doug Kennedy’s next 40-minute training webcast scheduled for Monday, October 21, from Noon – 12:45pm EST. REGISTER HERE “Speakers and trainers like me are always looking for new ways to represent intangible concepts,” said KTN President Doug Kennedy, “So I’m excited to share the model we use, a simple tricycle. I think it’s the perfect model to represent the components needed for a guest to have an overall ex...
Customer Service Week 2024
Shep Hyken | October 3, 2024
If you’re reading this article the day it comes out, then next week – the first full week of October – is Customer Service Week. This special week was created in the 1980s when the International Customer Service Association suggested that organizations should recognize the employees who create the experience that gets customers to say, “I’ll be back.” Here are five ideas to celebrate. There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging customers during this week. I encourage it. But who makes those customers want to do business with you? Your employees! So, with that in mind, here are five ideas, one for each day of the week, to insp...
How’s the Weather and Other Stock Lines that Prove the Rep Is Uninterested
Shep Hyken | September 26, 2024
Recently, Toyin McArthur, a trainer and facilitator for Storage Vault in Canada, asked me if I had any thoughts or suggestions related to customer service reps using questions like “How’s the weather?” to establish rapport with a customer. The concern was that using the “weather” is a sure way to leave the customer feeling like the agent or salesperson is disinterested and unauthentic, resulting in an overall “blah” experience. “How’s the weather?” works if it’s a topic for the day. For example, a question about the weather may be appropriate if there’s a snowstorm. But if it’s just a generic icebreaker, there...
Potential Profit Killer: Making Assumptions About Customers
Shep Hyken | September 19, 2024
By Shep Hyken My friend Norman Beck sends me interesting articles and stories on a regular basis. Recently, he shared the story of a wealthy customer who entered a luxury store and asked to see a $25,000 chess set. The customer wasn’t dressed well, and the salesperson made the assumption that she couldn’t afford to buy it. The customer walked away, but before leaving the store, she visited the owner’s office, who also happened to be a close friend. She bought the chess set – but only after the owner promised not to give the salesperson a commission. Eight years ago, I wrote an article titled Big Mistake … Don’t Judge a ...
