Cultivating a Culture of Extraordinary Customer Service
Copyright © 2019 by Dr. Michael S. Brown
Director of Sales & Marketing, Conference & Event Services, Bowling Green State University
Founder, Chief Consultant & Lead Coach, DMB Coaching
For most companies and organizations, the subconscious perception is that customer service is an optional add-on to consider once the more important and pressing details are accomplished. Quite the opposite, client satisfaction is the most important commodity for any business, particularly for those of us who work in the hospitality and event management industries.
In fact, what would ensure that your unique venues are undeniably unique is genuine human connection. These personal touchpoints are at the heart of extraordinary customer service. Undoubtedly, a paradigm that focuses on positive human interactions as central to every memorable client experience is what sets apart the mediocre from the magnificent.
Read on for five essentials of exemplary sales, marketing, and event management professionals who rise above the pack and stand out from their peers.
1. Your Personality: You are unique – even more unique than your venue. There is only one of you on your team, with your one-of-a-kind personality and distinct strengths and talents. Knowing yourself and leveraging your personality temperament in naturally relating to clients and guests is a game changer.
2. Your Passions: When channeled into the art of relating, those natural and unforced passions within every human spirit will come alive in the context of connections with clients. Most notably, as you cultivate your passion for people (their well-being, pleasure, satisfaction, and joy), the lifegiving energy from within you will enhance each encounter with every guest, ensuring a positive experience while etching this moment into their permanent memory.
3. Your Proficiencies: These are the abilities and skills actually required to do the job. Furthermore, these proficiencies are rooted within a powerful leadership portrait that include the following qualities in acrostic form: lifegiver, eager, authentic, driven, empowering, resourceful, sacrificial, humble, inquisitive, and proactive.
4. Your Performance: At its best, performance is about enthusiastic engagement and excellent execution. It is about dependability and consistency in following through on what needs to happen at any given moment. There are ten positive workplace habits that create an over-the-top customer experience, which include the following: maintaining a posture of an optimistic problem-solver, as opposed to a pessimistic complainer; realizing that value-added (and not just longevity) is the best gift you can offer your supervisor and co-workers; a refusal to participate in office gossip; and doing every task with excellence without ever cutting corners.
5. Your Presence: The most notable gesture you can offer human beings is to be fully present in their presence. Sincere interest, genuine concern, and a true desire to serve is a contagious quality that will make a distinct and lasting impression on every client. Do you remember the last time when someone offered you the precious gift of his or her full attention? Of course you do. It is these infrequent and unanticipated human interactions that seldom go unnoticed… and are never forgotten.
For more information about Unique Venues’ exclusive partnership with Dr. Michael Brown and his innovative and inspirational training curriculum and professional development retreats, e-mail [email protected].