Great combination

A good friend was recently bestowed with a well deserved good fortune and took me out for dinner along with another good gal pal. The three of us would sometimes take off for a "girls nite" out, leaving our spouses to spend quality time with the kids.

We decided on western and picked to have our nite out at TGIF. It was a Saturday and we thought it would be cool to head on to The Curve and experience the excitement and happenings there. So there we were, headed to TGIF at The Curve, all the way from Ampang. Traffic was heavy yet smooth and it tool us a cool 20 minutes to get there from our homes. Good fortune must have been smiling at us that nite, too for we found a parking space pretty easy, and right in front of the stairways that literary lead us to the front doors of the restaurant.

We weren't all particularly hungry so we decided to do a little bit of shopping first - the stalls and their products all seemed to be inviting us to go to them first...ahhh....the thrill of being a woman. By the time we headed to TGIF, it was already past 9pm and there was a wait list of more than 8 names when we checked in at the concierge. Seeing our look of dismay, one of the staff suggested we try their sister outlet down the corridors, an Italian concept restaurant. Western nonetheless.

We still had to wait, though not as long. The service was excellent from the moment we were led to our table. The waiter handed us their menus, gave us time to go through and promptly came by when we called, ready to order. Each of us ordered a different type of meat dish - salmon, beef and chicken. We ordered a salad to share, and their salads are portioned for sharing between 4 to 6 people. Then the drinks.

The waiter, a Filipino (by the name-tag on his shirt and his accent) patiently took down our orders, then scrutinised what we ordered and then, made helpful suggestions based on the variations we ordered. He described our dishes and gestured with his hands to show us the serving portions; then he offerred alternatives while being careful not to offend us ("I think you may have ordered too much....the starters is almost a main dish by itself....why not try this dish instead... the portion is just nice...it is RM(cheaper), if you don't mind....).

He suggested drinks to go along with the dishes we ordered - excellent! I am always under this impression that one must order wines or alcohol to get this kind of culinery advise...but fruit juices and fruit punch, too? Fantastic, and what he proposed we ordered, just for the fun of it. Guess what? The fruit drinks really go well with our food orders!

We wanted a cosy setting so we could catch up on our latest development (since we last met at breakfast that morning...!!!). The restaurant gave us that. This person who waited on us really knows his stuff - and he was courteous, too. On top of that, the restaurant serves really great food. And drinks. Overall, the service was fast and food presentation good.

We ended the nite with orders of coffee - and a complaint from my friend. Her capuccino cup was too big.

A great nite out, indeed. Great friends, great place, great food - excellent service.

High tech less high touch

Two days ago, I received a reply to an e-mail enquiry I had sent the sole supplier of some food supplements. This sole distributor is based in Singapore and distributes a food supplement from herbs that I found to be working for me. I bought a few bottles of the herbal supplement during one of those international trade exhibitions held in Kuala Lumpur, after being informed that the products then were only sold in Singapore.

Now, my e-mail enquiry was made when I began consuming the last bottle and I wanted to find out if they already have a local distributor appointed. They replied, to apologise for the delay in responding to me and to inform me that they have yet to appoint a Malaysian agent.

Now, their reply would not have been such an issue to me had it not been for the fact that my enquiry was made in July of last year! And I thought that e-mails were the fastest and most cost efficient way to communicate and maintain relations with your clients...

Did I mention that they were willing to deliver the supplements to me, all the way from Singapore, at a discount with some charges added in for freight?

Customer service is common sense

Customer service personnel were taught to match the emotions of their clients, in managing and facing difficult situations.

When a customer is angry, match that with confidence (please...not anger). Let them talk, pay attention to them and stay focused on their face, soften your own facial expression and your posture, acknowledge their emotions with nods in between their anger outpour (never, ever tell them to calm down, sir/madam!) and when there is a pause, put in your say.

When you think of this, try to remember a time at home when we were growing up and an adult (parent or elder sibling or relative) got angry or is upset over something....what were we told to do?

"Shut up and listen to me"..."Don't say anything"..."Don't interupt"...""Don't talk back, I'm not done" and such along the lines of "I talk and you listen". No doubt at the home front, the words sound harsh and they are,but don't they sound very much like what we are now (again) taught to do???

I knew they were reasons why mums, and dads, say they always know whats best!

We never loose a customer...

It has become almost second nature for me to observe service providers in action, and mentally make notes of their service behaviour.

This incident took place at a posh fashion outlet in KLCC...one of those "open-concept" shops that sell one-off pieces per colour per size. It was late evening, and besides me, there was another customer browsing through the shop's products.

I supposed the other sales assistants must have gone off their dinner break for there was only 1 young girl attending to both of us. She was very discreet and chose to stay in the background while we each browse through the few hanging racks, with me selecting a few pieces to try out in the fitting room.

The other customer, a man, and obviously a foreigner judging from his accent and features found something he liked and called the sales assistant over to help him with his purchase. Immediately my service senses started tingling....and I moved close enough to eavesdrop on their conversation (am not embarassed about this!).

The customer is on a business trip and will be flying back to his home country in 2 days. Since this was his first trip to the country, he wanted to get his wife a gift specially made in the country and he had chosen a modern batik designed loose long blouse. I must say he had great taste, and can imagine his wife to be a pretty lady, too. However, while he liked the design very much, he wanted the blouse in a brighter colour than the one he was holding.

The sales assistant was all smile throughout their conversation; very graciously she informed him that the blouse did come in bright colours but these had been sold out. The customer was disappointed - his facial expression and body language showed this. The sales assistant was quick to pick up on this and proceed to offer the customer other options.

Very diplomatically, she escorted him to another rack of clothings and showed him several other pieces, almost similar in design, for him to consider as alternatives. In between, she took the time to look my way and thanked me for waiting to be attended to. Now, the customer wasn't a dificult customer but he still wanted the one design he had set his heart on. Then as if in exasperation, he asked her if she knew of other places where he could get the same blouse, and in the colour he wanted.

Remember that this is an upper class shop - the pieces sold here starts from a 3 digit figure, and you can almost calculate the commissions their sales assistants stand to earn from every sale they made. The girl was on duty alone, with 2 potential customers. So do your math if she were to close the deals with the 2 of us...yet, what she did was a pleasant surprise to me, and to the male customer.

She knew she wasn't going to make any sales from this man and she did not mind. But she was no sour grape; instead of telling him "No, I don't know", she casually told him of another shop at another mall where he could find similar designs. No promises but the colour of his choice may be available. She even proceeded to write down the correct name of the mall for him to show any taxi driver that will take him there.

You can immediately see the change in his facial expression - all smiles, he shook her hand and thanked her profusely before hurrying out to catch a cab to that particular mall. He also promised to return to her shop if he couldn't get the blouse from the other shop...which wasn't even a branch of this outlet!

Then it was my turn to be waited on - by now I had found what I wanted and simply proceed to make my payment. I commended her for her action and asked if she didn't mind losing a customer to a competitor. Her confident response confirmed my belief that she truly lives and breathes service - she said she didn't loose a sale, she merely made a customer happy and that is the main principle of great service!

Well, I wondered if the customer did eventually return to get the blouse from her...I hope he did.

Service recovery at its best!

I love to complete the feedback forms given by most service providers whose services I had experienced. Be it at a fast food outlet or a fancy restaurant and especially hotels.

Many years ago, I had stayed at a 5 statr hotel in Penang, located atop a hill quite close to the Bayan Lepas International Airport. I was there on business, visiting the Penang branch of the company I was working for, then. I was travelling alone and travelling light.

The hotel had just started its operations there and during that time, the room accupancy was not at its peak. I was given a standard room, as I had reserved, which was on a high floor and situated at the very end of a corridor. My business dealings meant I had to return to my room at night or late in the evening, at the earliest. Although the hotel had security personnel patroling the floors every now and then, I dreaded the walk from the elevator to my room as I had to pass a lot of closed doors, making the walk eerie.

Aside from that, my stay at the hotel was great - great food, great service. On my first day, I was given complimentary fruits (an apple and a banana). I used up all the shampoo and foam bath and wrote a short note to their house-keeping for replacements. I also wrote a short note asking for additional writing paper with letterheads for my personal collection. When I came back to my room later that day, I could not help smiling to myself for there on the bathroom counter were bottles of shampoo, bath foam and a few other items that I did not ask for. And on the dressing table, a stack of letter-heads, envelopes and post-cards. All complimentary! Housekeeping even bothered write me a short note asking me if what they had provided met my needs...Wow, wow and WOW!!!

So before I checked-out, I completed their feedback form and left that on the dresing-table, sealed. I did not expect any action on this as usually when I left completed feedback forms on dressing tables or any tables, nothing happens. I strongly suspect these completed forms almost always do not reach the people concerned. And if they do, nothing much comes out of it.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I did get an acknowledgement from the General Manager himself a few days later, mailed to my house address. He assured me that what I had commented, especially my discomfort at being given a room away from the maddening crowd, was noted with regret.

Some months later, I again had to be in Penang for several days. And again, I made reservations with this same hotel. As before, I was travelling alone. And surprise, surprise...the hotel remembered me!

The original booking was for a standard room since in my position that was the entitlement, I was given a room on a lower floor and closer to the elevators. The room was bigger and more spacious - I was given an upgrade! Never mind that the upgrade was because that was the only room available, on a lower floor and close to the elevator. There was a card from the General Manager welcoming me back and hoping this time, my stay would be even better. I found 2 pieces of chocolate (imported) elegantly laid on the pillows with a stalk of orchid and given a complimentary fruit basket that was refilled the next day!

Talk about service recovery....and all they did "wrong" was made me feel unsafe. Now thats a Wow! element from a well deserving 5 star service provider.

Being exceptional

An element that contribute to the "Wow" factor in customer service is when you as a prospect and client are given some form of recognition. Don't you just love it when the shop assistant refers to you by name or your designation; or suggest you get that nice sweater for your daughter whose turning 10; and then casually strike a conversation on a topic related to your business...WOW!

One of the things I always always reminded my subordinates back when I was a Manager in Customer Service & Training, was to be observant without being too obvious. In other words, be discreet when they getting information from a client. Or prospect. The moment a potential client walks into the office, discreetly give them a once over. And see and digest what you can of them in that short span of time.

I had the opportunity of being given this "once over" several years ago. I was with a friend and we happened to walk into this shop that sells accessories for teenagers (I guessed...since the majority of their clients ARE teenagers and girls young enough to be my daughters!); besides, the designs would also look out of place on anybody in my age group.

To continue, the shop was quite packed; it was during a lunch break, it was month-end and it was during the YES (Year End Sale) period. We went in anyway, with no intention to purchase, just to look-see. A pretty sales assistant immediately started following us around, and unlike any other instances, this time I didn't mind her because she kept a pretty good distance away from us. Well, what do you know - further in the shop were items that did caught the interest of my friend and I. Suddenly, we remembered another friend's birthday coming up and how this friend loved asseccories...

All this while we were busy talking and picking up pieces we thought would be suitable...before finally deciding on a lovely necklace and brooch set. At this point, the sales assistant who had been tailling us discreetly stepped forward, offerred to pack the item for us and casually asked if I wouldn't also like to also get that green pendant set for my 7 year old daughter...Wow!

At the cashier, I provided my credit card as payment and waited for my bill to be printed. She then returned my credit card to me, using both hands. The sales assistant wrapped the necklace and brooch in an elegant birthday wrapper....Wow! She then handed the item to me in a nice paper shopping bag and thanked me for the purchase, refering to me by my short name...Wow!

Wow! Exceptional...the outlet should pride itself for having such Exceptional service personnel. You can imagine I was very excited and honored - having personally experienced what I have been preaching all these while is very exhilirating indeed.

The girls in the shop were discreet yet very observant - they kept their ears and eyes open. They caught on my conversation with my friend and they observed our body language - a friend's upcoming birthday, my excitement at seeing the green pendant that my daughter would love though she's only 7 years (I remembered telling this to my friend). And when I handed my credit card, they bothered to look at the name on the card - which is actually a mandatory security check, but they also used it to their service advantage and made me feel like a friend!

I never stop sharing this experience with my trainees whenever I am called to conduct a program on Customer Service. To the shop's management, I wrote a nice appreciative letter, and yup, I actually did get my daughter that green pendant!

Wow!

Service lost

Ever been in a situation where you finally found that piece of dress in the design that you've been searching for, all these while? Hanging in the windows of an exclusive looking store, inviting you to come in and try it on...

And you step in, act as polished as you can possibly be, picked up the item, check out the size (and a quick glimpse at the price tag)...ah, of course, it is not in the size that you want. It had to be like 3 sizes down. So you looked around for the sales person and asked if they have it in your favourite size...

The sales person was all apologetic when she told you.."Sorry, maam, this is the only size available", took the item gently from your hands and proceed to hang it back at the window display...gently swaying to the air flowing from the air-conditioner directly above it, enticing and inviting yet another unsuspecting prospect to walk-in and....the story goes on.

Then she discreetly walked away, leaving you in a daze before you could even ask her for anything else. And you do..you do want to ask her if she could suggest some other items of similar design or other colours or even if the store has another outlet where you could possibly get the design you so wanted.

But alas! that is not to be...so you walked out of the store and most probably would not walk in again. Ever.

Service makes Sense

We give and receive service every day...we don't have to carry any title or designation that say we are "Service" personnel to do so.

For as long as we are doing something for someone, we are giving a service. And likewise, when we get things done for us, we are receiving service.

A classic case in point is at the home front. Think about this...