Hospitality …

1. Hospitality… Mountaineer Style

2. Symptoms of Today’s Business Challenges • Organization Stress • Shrinking Brand Loyalty • Increased Price Sensitivity • Heightened Competition • Increasing Customer Knowledge • Demanding Customers

3. Today’s Economy is Coming Back …but not like it was Will today’s customer buy from you or your competition?

4. “There’s no good just being better…you have got to be different.” Charles Handy

5. Today’s Customers are Revolting...Excuse Me…Enough is Enough!

6. Today’s Customers Are Keeping Score ...and sharing their scores!

7. Why We Give Bad Service • We don’t understand the purpose of being in business. • We don’t understand customers. • We don’t understand what business we’re in. You aren’t in the coffee business serving people. You’re in the people business serving coffee. Howard Schultz, Starbucks

8. The First Step Is Desire

9. It’s a Choice • You can create GREAT service if you want to – but you have to WANT TO. • However, you have to give up your excuses first. • Ask yourselves this question: Why aren’t we giving it all we’ve got? • Decide to put some OOMPH into your • ordinary!

10. Service Cycle • Service is a process…not an event!The beginning of the customer relationship impacts the ending.How many hands do your customers pass through in the service cycle?

11. Can you afford me? Start with The right people

12. Start with The right people How about me?

13. Customer Service Is… Attitude Technique

14. What Is Customer Service Attitude? The inherent ability to look at every Customer interaction as an opportunity to create a smooth, seamless and memorable service experience.

15. The People Who Represent Your Business... • Have to genuinely enjoy people • Must be active, energetic, outgoing • Must be willing to serve • Must demonstrate a sense of urgency • Must have non-discriminatory attitudes about other people

16. It’s Not Easy To Teach Someone to… • smile • be friendly • want to serve • be personable • What you can do is hire people who have those qualities and then teach them about your products, services, expectations and service culture.

19. Five Core Principles Of Customer Care • To customers, frontline representatives ARE your company. • Employee Satisfaction Matters; directly impacts employees’ service to customers • Show customers they are valued…never assume. • Internal customer care is as important as external customer care. • Train your staff to deliver great service – and hold them accountable.

20. Principle #1: To Customers, Frontline Representatives ARE Your Company. • Do frontline employees view themselves as ambassadors? • Are they trained in communication skills? • Are they empowered to satisfy the customer on-the-spot? • Are you aware of the various customer touch- points that occur in your organization?

21. "An empowered organization is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire, and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organizational success.“Stephen R. Covey, Principle - Centered Leadership

22. Principle #2: Employee Satisfaction Matters – Directly Impacts Employees’ Service To Customers • What is the turnover rate for our customer-facing employees? • How do you measure employee satisfaction and motivation? • When employee satisfaction is low, what do you do about it? • Do performance issues in your organization stem from an employee’s attitude or from his/her skill level?

23. Principle # 3: Show Customers They Are Valued. Never Assume They Know It. • If you were a customer of your company, would you feel valued? • When closing a call or other type of customer transaction, are employees expected to thank customers for their business? • Do customer-facing employees understand the importance of earning a customer’s loyalty?

24. Humanize the Customer Experience

25. Customer Service is the New Marketing

26. Principle # 4:Internal Customer Care Is As Important As External Customer Care. • Do employees know who their internal customers are? • Are employees’ measured on the service they provide to internal customers? • Do they recognize that everyone in the organization is a service provider?

27. Sometimes…you have to fake it until you make it.

28. Principle # 5: Train Your Staff To Deliver Great Service – And Hold Them Accountable. • Do employees know what’s expected of them? • Do they have the knowledge, skills and competencies to provide great service to internal and external customers? • Do supervisors and managers provide regular, constructive and skilled coaching to employees? • Are employees rewarded for their success?

29. Bed-rock of Business Success…Clear Expectations for Your Team • Do they know… • what to do? • how to do it? • why they are doing it? • how they will be measured? • when you want it done? • Do they want to do it for… • themselves? • your business? • your customers?

30. BREAKTIME

31. The Telephone Is Your Storefront Window • 1st Impressions • Answer the “knock at the door” of a ringing phone line • Smile in advance • Enthusiastic greeting • Speak slowly and clearly • Give your name • Ask: “How may I help you?” • Ask if caller can hold…and wait for a response • Thank callers • Ask: “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

32. Telephone Taboos • Place callers on hold without asking them first. • Place callers on a speaker phone without asking permission first? • Eat, drink or chew gum. • Hold side-bar conversations • Reassure callers • Personal phone calls/ text on company time • Don’t allow your “foul mood” or your coworkers to carry over • Hanging up on a caller first • Your company doesn’t return phone calls or voice mail messages. (Call customers back promptly or have calls returned on your behalf.) • Rush callers • Vent to callers

33. You CANNOT...Not Make A First Impression! We are judged by people through what we say, how we say it, our body language, facial expressions, our tone of voice, and the way we answer the phone. Your company is judged by the way your telephone is answered.

34. If you only get one chance to make a good first impression how... enough are you to plan what happens in this important moment?

35. Customer Expectations • Know Me • Understand Me • Lead Me • Help Me • Serve Me • Respect Me • Thank Me • Surprise Me Wouldn’t it be nice to....? • Match our associates unknown expectations • With our unknown capabilities

36. Customer’s Perception…is “The Perception”

37. Senses Impact Customer Perception What Customers See What Customers Hear What Customers Smell What Customers Touch Will Customers talk + or – about their experience with you?

39. IS YOUR TEAM TRAINED TO HANDLE DIFFICULT CUSTOMERS?

40. WHOSE CONVENIENCE…THE Customer’s or the Company’s

41. Are you Listening to… CUSTOMERS?

42. Are You HEARING?

43. Are You Responding? Or…

44. “Executives say that the way their organizations interact with customers will be the greatest challenge in their operations.” Economist Intelligence Unit – Business 2010

45. Your competition is waiting for your customers to become dissatisfied with your lack of customer service. We will always be defined in the marketplace by what our customers say about us.

46. Jump Higher Raise the bar

47. Rise To the

48. Be Your OWN COMPETITION

49. Be an enemy of THE STATUS QUO

50. Take Action… Not notes