Service Expectations- Attaining the Impossible Guest Experience

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Service Expectations: Attaining the Impossible Guest Experience March 18, 2019

Written By: Anthony D. EsparzaÂ

Service the Loyalty What makes a customer want come back to your establishment? How fast would it take for you to lose the loyalty of your customer? Is your sta trained and educated to gain the loyalty of a customer and to provide service that will contribute to the existing loyalty of your customer?

These are just a few questions I ask leaders in their organization. I had an interaction recently with a store manager from a local pizzeria. The day before our conversation I endured a very frustrating experience with their delivery service. I placed my order online for two pizzas and was quoted a speci c delivery time for my order to arrive. As that delivery time passed and another 45 minutes went by, I became frustrated and my loyalty to this company was running thin. I called the company and explained my frustrations. The store assured me that my order was in-route and would be arriving very soon. When my order arrived, the quality was sub-par. I called the store back and spoke with the manager on duty, which was just lling in from another store for the day. She apologized and applied a credit to my account for the amount that I paid, and she hoped I would call them again. The next day, I received a call from the Store Manager, and he informed me that he was very sorry for my experience from the day before and wanted to inform me that he was currently short sta ed and in the process of training 3 new people and wanted to make sure that my loyalty to his company wasn’t lost. He said he wanted to be 100% honest with me and make sure that yesterday’s experience didn’t hinder me from ordering from them again.

This was a great follow up and quick conversation for the manager to do and to ensure that customer loyalty is continued with his company. He took time out of his day to follow up with the customer to gain as much continued loyalty and used his honesty to make the customer understand. It can take twice as long to gain the customer’s loyalty as it does to lose their loyalty.

Loyalty is a Fragile Thing: Gained Over Time, Lost in a Moment What would it take to lose a customer’s loyalty? Put yourself in their shoes, the situation, and their frame of mind? Most customers can lose their loyalty with an inconsistent service or product.

What could you or your sta do to increase the loyalty of one customer? Loyalty is gained over time, lost in a moment. People live for the moment that will completely attract them to your company or completely detour them from your company. If one person has bad experience with your company and then tells ve people about their experience that detours them and then they tell ve people. It could come down to my friends, brother, heard from his aunts friend, from her co-workers husband bosses wife about a bad experience that they had with your service and product and now detouring that one person, easily turns to 5, 5 to 50, 50 to 500 and if 500 people have one negative experience to that they heard about and now you have a bad rap that has been created. And if the negative experience is posted on any kind of Social Media platform, then the word of mouth reach can easily snow ball into thousand in a matter of minutes or hours.

Handle each customer situation good or bad with the highest grade of care and concern. Why lose one customer’s loyalty as well as loosing the loyalty of others that we will never have the opportunity to gain over one negative experience?

Operation: Service Recovery If a negative customer experience arises, we’ve forgotten a detail, we loose control of our guest’s experience, and something falls out of sorts. Call the troops, call for backup, it’s now the time set out a plan for what I refer to Operation Service Recovery. Whether it’s a drawn out or a think on your feet plan, don’t waste a moment as the overall customer experience and loyalty is at stake and needs immediate attention.

Step One: Assess and understand what is happening, does this negative experience need a Service Recovery?

Step Two: Understand what the guest wants or need to turn this negative into a positive.

Step Three: Do you need to get anyone else involved with this matter, your colleagues, your leader, or key individuals that need to get involved to make this service recovery a success?

Step Four: Begin to act. Even just the slightest amounts of e ort to begin the service recovery can sure the customer that you care about their business and loyalty. The longer you wait, the higher a customer’s frustrations can increase. Think, 2-3 minutes of your time can feel like 10-15 minutes to a customer.

Step Five: If you haven’t begun a full approach on the recovery take action now. This is the point where the service recovery is taking place and you begin to revive and treat any wounds that have occurred during the negative customer experience. Listen to your customer with empathy and understanding. This can be di cult and very confrontational but maintain the sight of the goal to achieve the outstanding satisfaction of your customer. Own that customer and don’t pass the buck to someone else, see it through the end.

Last Step: The follow up. Is the customer outstandingly satis ed with what was accomplished in your conversation and does the customer honestly believe that they received genuine service, and have you successfully completed an Operation: Service Recovery. This can take time to master and you should approach each negative experience with two goals in mind, 1.) learn from this experience to always be better the next time and 2.) don’t loose their loyalty.

Servicing the Highest Level of Guest Expectation: The Gift of Exceeding Your Expectations Think about the last time you received great service. The company or speci c person that provided you the service exceeded your expectations to the fullest. You left the interaction or their establishment and thought that was amazing and you can wait to tell all your friends and family about it. Did they spend more time to describe the menu at a restaurant? Did they help create a special memory for a special occasion? Did they truly provide genuine, sincere, and unique service? I remember when I was a working at a luxury resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. We were always driven to go above and beyond to provide memorable guest service and experiences.

There was one time, I went shopping for tennis shoes for a guest because he forgot his at home and needed something to wear more comfortable. Other times it’s remember the guests name or what they ordered from the previous day. No matter what industry you work in, when it comes to customer service people have high expectations and they seem to just get higher and higher with more the e ort and time people take. We are raising the bar for ourselves and our competition with every phone call, interaction, and follow we have with the customer or guest. How can you achieve higher level of guest expectation? First, listen to the customer and look for areas that you know you can exceed their expectations. Second, personalized service is a great way to exceed someone’s expectations. Third, genuine, non-robotic service, this can show the customer you really care to help and assist them all the way through. Forth, the execution must be awless and followed through. Talking a lot about doing something is one thing, but doing it is another. Think about exceeding the expectations of not just your customer, but your boss, colleagues, and even your family.

Think Hospitality Matters We need to train and motivate our colleagues and teams to think Hospitality Matters: what makes a customer want to come back to your establishment? How fast would it take for you to lose the loyalty of your customer? Is your sta trained and educated to gain the loyalty of a customer and to provide service that will contribute to the existing loyalty of your customer? #HospitalityMatters

About the Writer: Anthony Esparza has over 15 years of hospitality and customer service experience. He is accomplished and results-driven professional with extensive experience in managing sta including goal setting, team meetings, performance management/coaching within hospitality/food & beverage markets. Demonstrated expertise in customer service, sta management, and training and development. Adept at delivering a range of unique and executive-grade policy interpretation, advising on recruitment and training plans, consultation on general front/back house operations issues and concerns. Exceptional leadership skills with proven success in building relationships and promoting synergy across all levels of the team.

Food & beverage leader known for developing strategic vision to assist the development of optimal sta performance. He strives to educate others within the industry to increase their overall leadership and versatility within the hospitality industry. He has a Bachelors in Hotel and Restaurant Management from Northern Arizona University. At the age of twenty-three he founded the non-for-pro t hospitality association YAHLOT, to create a stronger out reach to community charities as well as educating those that want to get more involved in the hospitality industry. In 2019, he founded Esparza Hospitality Advisers, L.L.C. in Phoenix, Arizona to help businesses with consulting to create their brand presence and achieve their goals. He also donates his time to Chair for Arizona C-CAP Council, Careers Through Culinary Arts Program.

About the Esparza Hospitality Advisers, L.L.C: Founded in January 2019, developing a new breed of Hospitality Consulting. Their services include a comprehensive consult to help identify gaps and opportunities, and results in a comprehensive report that includes a project plan with timelines a cost analysis. Their individualized plans are made up of quality services that will help you get there quickly and smoothly such social media marketing plans and revenue optimization planning. O ces are based in Phoenix, Arizona. For more information visit EsparzaHospitality.com Social Media Facebook: @EsparzaHospitality and @AnthonyEsparza.94 Instagram: @AnthonyEsparzaAZ and @Esparza.Hospitality LinkedIn: @AnthonyEsparza1 and Esparza Hospitality Advisers L.L.C. For Media Inquiries: Please contact Anthony Esparza directly at Esparza.Hospitality@gmail.com.

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