On the lookout
I find myself frequently working under cover as I travel around the UK, looking for new examples of great customer service, I can share with the dental teams I work with.
I am constantly on the look out because it reminds me what I am trying to achieve, and reminds me of the ideal I am trying to help teams create.
Recently I found myself living out of a hotel bag for just over a week and over that period I travelled a great deal of miles and was really struggling........... Struggling to find any sort of experience to share with the team I was about to work with in London. I kept looking and felt a little bit like Indiana Jones on a crusade by the end of day two. Nothing was remarkable and there was nothing to remark upon. Lots of people doing enough and sufficient, but nothing more
Then suddenly it happened, there I was standing on Petersfield railway platform along with several hundred other people (I stupidly booked the busiest train that happened to be going to Wimbledon on the day that Andy Murray was in the quarter finals). I was a part of a huge number of tennis fans wanting to board the next train. A coffee was required then I would be prepared to join the challenge of finding a space and if I was lucky a seat!
I am constantly on the look out because it reminds me what I am trying to achieve, and reminds me of the ideal I am trying to help teams create.
Recently I found myself living out of a hotel bag for just over a week and over that period I travelled a great deal of miles and was really struggling........... Struggling to find any sort of experience to share with the team I was about to work with in London. I kept looking and felt a little bit like Indiana Jones on a crusade by the end of day two. Nothing was remarkable and there was nothing to remark upon. Lots of people doing enough and sufficient, but nothing more
Then suddenly it happened, there I was standing on Petersfield railway platform along with several hundred other people (I stupidly booked the busiest train that happened to be going to Wimbledon on the day that Andy Murray was in the quarter finals). I was a part of a huge number of tennis fans wanting to board the next train. A coffee was required then I would be prepared to join the challenge of finding a space and if I was lucky a seat!
On the platform there was a chap selling coffee from a portable stall, I now know this to be Java Java coffee stand. This stand was nothing to look at, nothing flashy and I only know its name because it was on my cup. All the customers were referring to the chap on the stall as Rooey, and Rooey
had a moment with each of his customers, every one of them felt special for that one moment, he had a smile and a chat for each of them. He wasn't just making coffee.
Then it was my turn, I ordered and the coffee was made. I clearly had the look of a woman who had dragged several bags of luggage from a hotel some 1/2 mile away and was about to do battle with the entire audience off Centre Court. Rooey had a few words with me, we discussed lack of understanding as to the appeal of tennis. Rooey then told me to wait nearby so he could help me onto the train when it came into the station. I was completely blown away and will remember him and the way he made me feel for a very long time. His story will travel with me.
The flip side of this story was my breakfast experience at the Holiday Inn, London. A very smart 4* hotel. I arrived at breakfast and at the dining room door was a large sign saying" Please wait here you will be seated by the next smile". What a great sign I thought, really clever, I was looking forward to meeting my smile, I had been away from home for a few days, a bit lonely, missing my family, probably like many of the other sad business soles frequenting this type of hotel. My smile did not arrive... they completely over promised and under delivered. Perhaps no one had got discussed this customer service promise with the people supposedly delivering "the smile". This experience will also stay with me.
Are you under delivering and over promising, or are you doing a Rooey?
had a moment with each of his customers, every one of them felt special for that one moment, he had a smile and a chat for each of them. He wasn't just making coffee.Then it was my turn, I ordered and the coffee was made. I clearly had the look of a woman who had dragged several bags of luggage from a hotel some 1/2 mile away and was about to do battle with the entire audience off Centre Court. Rooey had a few words with me, we discussed lack of understanding as to the appeal of tennis. Rooey then told me to wait nearby so he could help me onto the train when it came into the station. I was completely blown away and will remember him and the way he made me feel for a very long time. His story will travel with me.
The flip side of this story was my breakfast experience at the Holiday Inn, London. A very smart 4* hotel. I arrived at breakfast and at the dining room door was a large sign saying" Please wait here you will be seated by the next smile". What a great sign I thought, really clever, I was looking forward to meeting my smile, I had been away from home for a few days, a bit lonely, missing my family, probably like many of the other sad business soles frequenting this type of hotel. My smile did not arrive... they completely over promised and under delivered. Perhaps no one had got discussed this customer service promise with the people supposedly delivering "the smile". This experience will also stay with me.
Are you under delivering and over promising, or are you doing a Rooey?
No comments:
Post a Comment