I have this seemingly never ending quest to find an increasingly disappearing commodity in our great country: good customer service.
I worry sometimes that my zeal overshadows common sense until I hit that occasional raw nerve that reminds me: good service makes a difference.
Tonight is a culmination of 3 weeks of travel and lots of awful experiences. On my latest sojourn to Washington I experienced the bain of every business traveler: the lone diner. My hotel didn’t have a dinner restaurant but my trusty iPad pointed to a supposedly good place just a block away: RIS. I went in early (6:30) to a fairly empty restaurant but busy bar. The hostess displayed the “I need to find a seat” look (dear God, I’m ONE person). She traipsed around the bar (eating at a packed bar is not an option) and, on the way back to help me, stopped and engaged a couple in long conversation, ignoring my desire to eat. I told the other hostess, thanks but no thanks and found the West End Cafe around the corner at Ritz Carlton who warmly welcomed me and provided me with a great meal and great service.
On a trip last week to Davenport, Iowa I found myself awake most of the night as freight trains passed beneath my window. Granted my review to Carlson may have been tainted by just one hour of sleep but I’ve heard nothing from Carlson or Radisson.
The earliest trip was to DC and a stay at the Beacon hotel where the AC died on my last night. It wasn’t the heat as much as the staff response that sent me over the deep end. I was surprised when, a couple of days later, I heard from the general manager. He talked a lot about what went wrong, I just hope he has an action plan for the future. None the less, he did reach out.
What differentiates it? Pretty simple: as a leader, put yourself in the customer’s shoes and maybe your perspective will change.
My mom taught us the Golden Rule. It works. Somehow, somewhere…others were asleep and missed the chancew to “wow”.
Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
