K.I.S.S.
Keep It Simple Service
How often do you anticipate getting great service at a restaurant, winery, resort, casino, retail store, or other type of hospitality business, and the actual experience misses the mark due to less than expected service? More often than not? If you answer yes, then you are in the company of many consumers who wonder, “Why can’t I get better service?”
In his book, Setting the Table, Danny Meyer states, “Hospitality is present when something happens for you. It is absent when something happens to you.”
How many of your service employees are giving your customer the gift of hospitality? Are they missing the opportunity to create loyal fans of your business?
The line in the sand is often drawn between great and unacceptable service when the employee takes their eye off the reason for representing your business in the first place: To serve.
Let’s look at a recent exchange between a service salesclerk and a customer at a specialty children’s retail store:
A customer at purchased tights and shorts for her granddaughter, and asked if the items could be returned if they didn’t fit. The salesclerk said they could. When the grandmother returned the same day to exchange the items, she approached the salesclerk who helped her earlier and was refused the return. The customer reminded the salesclerk that earlier in the day, she was told the items could be returned, but the salesclerk held her ground and refused to accommodate the customer. At some point in the conversation, the customer asked to talk with a manager and the salesclerk refused. The exchange went on for a few minutes and in a moment of frustration, the customer threw the package of clothing on the counter, which ended up hitting the salesclerk, who promptly called the police and had the customer placed under a citizen’s arrest. The customer was taken away in handcuffs, and when the manager was finally reached, he stated, “of course the items could have been returned”. What makes this situation so detrimental to the store is that the customer is a local business woman with strong ties to the community, and whose granddaughter attends a local, well known school with fellow students and parents who frequent the store.
No doubt this story has been told and retold several times, with the name of the store exposed. Who knows how this situation will impact this company, but without a doubt the bad press will. Obviously, unacceptable service, as in this example, will never help you secure loyal customers. The sad part is the salesclerk could have made a simple decision to accommodate the customer and the outcome would have been completely different.
Share the acronym; K.I.S.S. (“Keep It Simple Service”) with your employees to help promote sustainable service standards in your hospitality organization. The truth is, providing great service is not overly complicated. If you really break it down, great service can be consistently achieved by paying attention to 3 elements:
1. The Greeting/Welcome
2. Anticipation and Execution of Customer Needs
3. A Sincere Farewell
3 elements! That shouldn’t be too hard to achieve! But often it is, and the one thing you can do as a business owner is to always set the bar high for your service standards and hold your employees accountable. Take a “non-negotiable” approach to providing great service!
If you don’t already do so, start wandering around your organization to “inspect what you expect” with regard to customer service, and hopefully, you’ll catch your employees perfecting the K.I.S.S.
The following “SERVICE” acronym can be shared with your staff to help illustrate the 3 elements of great service: Greeting/Welcome, Anticipation and Execution of Customer Needs, and A Sincere Farewell.
Sincerity - Offer genuine and intentional service, because you enjoy and desire to satisfy the customer.
Enthusiasm - Passionately serve the customer. Make sure it comes from your heart.
Respect - Treat each customer with reverence. They are the cornerstone of your job.
Vision - Commit to anticipating and recognizing what the customer will need, before they communicate it.
Intervention - Immediately resolve customer problems with grace and professionalism. You're empowered to ensure customer is happy before they leave the property.
Care - Be accountable and responsible to provide consistent sustained service levels.
Enjoyment - Enjoy your customers and your workplace, as your mood is contagious to those around you.
Keep It Simple Service
How often do you anticipate getting great service at a restaurant, winery, resort, casino, retail store, or other type of hospitality business, and the actual experience misses the mark due to less than expected service? More often than not? If you answer yes, then you are in the company of many consumers who wonder, “Why can’t I get better service?”
In his book, Setting the Table, Danny Meyer states, “Hospitality is present when something happens for you. It is absent when something happens to you.”
How many of your service employees are giving your customer the gift of hospitality? Are they missing the opportunity to create loyal fans of your business?
The line in the sand is often drawn between great and unacceptable service when the employee takes their eye off the reason for representing your business in the first place: To serve.
Let’s look at a recent exchange between a service salesclerk and a customer at a specialty children’s retail store:
A customer at purchased tights and shorts for her granddaughter, and asked if the items could be returned if they didn’t fit. The salesclerk said they could. When the grandmother returned the same day to exchange the items, she approached the salesclerk who helped her earlier and was refused the return. The customer reminded the salesclerk that earlier in the day, she was told the items could be returned, but the salesclerk held her ground and refused to accommodate the customer. At some point in the conversation, the customer asked to talk with a manager and the salesclerk refused. The exchange went on for a few minutes and in a moment of frustration, the customer threw the package of clothing on the counter, which ended up hitting the salesclerk, who promptly called the police and had the customer placed under a citizen’s arrest. The customer was taken away in handcuffs, and when the manager was finally reached, he stated, “of course the items could have been returned”. What makes this situation so detrimental to the store is that the customer is a local business woman with strong ties to the community, and whose granddaughter attends a local, well known school with fellow students and parents who frequent the store.
No doubt this story has been told and retold several times, with the name of the store exposed. Who knows how this situation will impact this company, but without a doubt the bad press will. Obviously, unacceptable service, as in this example, will never help you secure loyal customers. The sad part is the salesclerk could have made a simple decision to accommodate the customer and the outcome would have been completely different.
Share the acronym; K.I.S.S. (“Keep It Simple Service”) with your employees to help promote sustainable service standards in your hospitality organization. The truth is, providing great service is not overly complicated. If you really break it down, great service can be consistently achieved by paying attention to 3 elements:
1. The Greeting/Welcome
2. Anticipation and Execution of Customer Needs
3. A Sincere Farewell
3 elements! That shouldn’t be too hard to achieve! But often it is, and the one thing you can do as a business owner is to always set the bar high for your service standards and hold your employees accountable. Take a “non-negotiable” approach to providing great service!
If you don’t already do so, start wandering around your organization to “inspect what you expect” with regard to customer service, and hopefully, you’ll catch your employees perfecting the K.I.S.S.
The following “SERVICE” acronym can be shared with your staff to help illustrate the 3 elements of great service: Greeting/Welcome, Anticipation and Execution of Customer Needs, and A Sincere Farewell.
Sincerity - Offer genuine and intentional service, because you enjoy and desire to satisfy the customer.
Enthusiasm - Passionately serve the customer. Make sure it comes from your heart.
Respect - Treat each customer with reverence. They are the cornerstone of your job.
Vision - Commit to anticipating and recognizing what the customer will need, before they communicate it.
Intervention - Immediately resolve customer problems with grace and professionalism. You're empowered to ensure customer is happy before they leave the property.
Care - Be accountable and responsible to provide consistent sustained service levels.
Enjoyment - Enjoy your customers and your workplace, as your mood is contagious to those around you.
Help your employees create a memorable experience for guests visiting Southern California Wine Country, by offering warm, gracious, and definitive guest service, inspiring our guests to visit again!
Jan M. Smith is the Founder and Principal of Inland Management Group, a Human Resource Consultancy located in Temecula, specializing in the Hospitality and Entertainment industry. You can contact Jan at (951) 302-6483, email at jsmith@inlandmgtgroup.com, http://www.inlandmgtgroup.com/, or follow her on Twitter at Temecula_HR, and Facebook: Inland Management Group
Permission to reprint allowed, with credit given to my name as author.
