Customer care is at the core of any successful business. Without well-tended clients or customers, your business may survive, but it’s unlikely to thrive. If you intend to grow your business, customer care has to be at the top of the day’s agenda. Everyday.
Last year I was on the organising committee for a conference that was held at a premier conference resort. From the moment I arrived at this prestigious and pricey venue, I ran into case after case of mishaps and missed opportunities.
It started when I arrived very late at night and was told that I didn’t have a reservation. My room reservation had inexplicably been changed by the hotel staff. Now mind you, I’m on the organising committee of this shindig. And I don’t have a room. Okay, mistakes happen but I don’t want excuses, I want solutions. And to be fair this issue was resolved quickly.
But things got worse. After several “minor” incidents I asked the Meetings Assistant Manager why we’d run out of dessert at the opening night barbeque. Her response was “overeating.” She later complained to her manager that I had been “too aggressive” in querying why we’d run out of food, and her manager wrote a letter of complaint to the conference organizer.
Memo hotels: You don’t write letters of complaint about customers unless it’s a rock group who trash a room and you’d like reimbursement.
What really concerned me was that the staff totally ignored the fact that the resort had run out of dessert, and further down the time line we also ran out of both meat and salad on one of the buffet tables.
In each case complaints were met with excuses not fixes to what were obvious systemic problems in the kitchen. Unfortunately, this was the approach the resort took throughout our conference. Excuses.
The last experience is the one that remains uppermost in the human mind. That’s the nature of perceptions.
You may frequent a certain eatery for several months and enjoy the experience each visit. Then, one evening, you’re seated at the “table time forgot,” and assigned a waitperson who makes a point of ignoring you. Going back to that restaurant next weekend? Not very likely, even though you’ve enjoyed yourself there three out of four times.
Bad WOM (word of mouth) is toxic to any service-driven business. It not only slows business growth, the CPA (cost per acquisition) for each new client or customer increases proportionately.
On the other hand, positive word of mouth is no cost advertising. And it packs a real punch. Think about it: you’re more likely to check in to a resort recommended by your neighbour than one you read about in a slick brochure.
