Becoming Who You Want To Be

The invention of the customer satisfaction survey has ruined the customer service industry. Customers now think that in order to get free stuff at their hotels and restaurants all they have to do is complain. All of the businesses are struggling to retain customers and good reputations so the service men and women, who work hard for their money, are forced to bend over and take it whenever a customer feels like they want some free food. Here are a few things I’ve learned from my time as a customer service representative in a major hotel chain.

Have you ever heard of the saying: A picture is worth a thousand words? Well, the same is true for a smile. Prevent any anger from occurring by smiling as much as possible at your customers. When you smile they are forced to try and match your cheery demeanor and will have a much harder time yelling at you for no reason. White teeth and bright smiles are the best precautions against customer outbursts but they won’t solve everything.

All customers want to here are praises for them. You have to remember that a customer is like a toddler. They don’t care that you’re doing your best and trying to help hundreds of people at a time, all they care about is that you love them and want to do everything you can for them at your own expense. Shower them with compliments and sing about how much you love seeing them. That will surely appease their troll-like attitudes.

The foundation of all customer complaints is greed. The customer service industry has changed with the invention of customer satisfaction surveys and corporate complaint centers. Customers know that all they have to do to get some money taken off their bill is chew out the little guy and threaten to take it up with the higher ups. If you want to avoid this make sure you add a bunch of costs to their bill that you won’t mind removing when they give you a problem. My hotel has insane parking charges and breakfast fees that are easily removed and won’t hurt the hotel when people complain about things like scratchy towels and missing lotions.

Often when a customer comes to you to complain about something it is going to be something that they caused themselves. I had a customer come to be the other day and berate me and my housekeeping staff for not cleaning his room. Well, I asked him if he had left the Do Not Disturb sign on the door because that would cause our housekeepers to not disturb his room. He said he didn’t (he had) and then started screaming about how I assumed it was his fault (it was.) I’ve learned now that I should always just automatically assume it was something my business did wrong and immediately give him free stuff.

If all else fails in the customer service business, give the customer what they want. They are complaining to you not because they are interested in bettering your business but because they are interested in getting a better deal. They want you to cut their rates in half and they want you to give them free stuff that isn’t normally free. Just give it to them and save yourself the head ache.