Can you increase your WOW?

As I write this I am relaxing in my suite in the amazing resort of Dom Zeen, Chania. This is not to brag but to give you insight and share with you some experiences I have had that I will be taking home to use in my practice and businesses.

We love to come away to top hotels and resorts not just to be looked after but to learn! My wife is a huge fan and critic of customer service, this is one of the reasons we strive so hard to excel at Epoch. And with the rise of independents and the love of smaller businesses, customer service, as you have heard me say before, is the forefront of your success or your loss to the competition.

I have done many blogs on this before so this week I will share what we experienced and give you three practical takeaways to implement right now.

So we had a tough travel here, a long car journey with a grumpy baby certainty strained Sarah and I, a few choice words between us (out of Sophie’s earshot). We then stayed in a hotel hear Heathrow, with the 3am wake up and not to our hotel until 5pm, for a short hall flight it was a bit of a mission!

A row with the car hire company over the safety of the car seat meant we ended up at the hotel that evening looking like we had been kicked in the nuts and dragged through bushes backwards.

As I pulled up onto the forecourt, I was immediately greeted with a friendly welcome, as soon as he saw Sophie and Sarah in the back seat he invited us to simply grab the baby bag and come on in “everything will be taken care of”. This was the first wow and a consistent theme in every conversation. I handed him my keys and walked into the hotel.

Our greeting from the next staff member was exceptional too. By name they welcomed us, knowing up front who was arriving, they went through a welcome and orientation with such calmness and their own personality. Which was so interesting as a day later I saw someone else being checked in and guess what?! Same script, different personality. Amazing to see used outside a chiropractic setting. Perfect script recital, but you would have no idea. Overlaid with personality. Something that can only be achieved with a LOT of practice.

Needless to say the rest of the experience has been much the same, after just one conversation with any staff member they remembered your name and room number at the second interaction. And every time you asked for something it was at first ‘intently listened to’ and immediately replied with ‘of course I will take care of this’. And crucially it was taken care of with haste.

SO as far as hotel experiences go, not only is this place stunning, but above all it is some of the best customer service I have experienced, and certainty I will be taking elements of this back to my businesses.

Here are my Top 3 take home customer service essentials:

1.       Listen.
The customer always wants to be heard, as soon as a patient comes to ask you or the team something, make sure you are listening. Not just hearing them. Stop what you are doing and listen to their question/request. If you do not hear it first time, clarify and ask again.

2.       Acknowledge and take ownership.

If asked something, try always to say ‘yes’ and then go ahead and figure it out and action. No one likes to be told ‘no’. So however you can try to say yes, and then follow though to make it happen.

3.       Practice scripts.
Patients are put at ease if they trust you, they trust you with confidence that you have. This comes from leading them in their process or decision making which can only come with knowing what is next. This is why scripts are so important. Being able to lead the conversations and know what is next is very easy when you follow a script. The only resistance that comes to scripting is saying that it is not authentic. Nothing could be further from the truth, but you have to practice and perfect it. Once done you can add your flavour. Use the scripts and practice.

So there you have it, see you next week.

With love,

Tom