It's All in the Detail

An experience I had over the weekend made me decide to write about the importance to people about the details in customer service.

I was celebrating a friends big birthday this weekend. I had booked a specific table and explained about the occasion.

We turned up to the table I had requested with flowers, sparkling table ornaments and a banner celebrating the big birthday - none of which I had asked for! Instantly we felt welcome and special.

The birthday girl and all of us to be fair were given attentive service and a chocolate treat at the end of the evening which was a fantastic end to the celebrations.... who can resist a chocolate treat.

This came on the back of an event I had organised where we work so hard to ensure every detail is covered and look at the customer journey to ensure a smooth experience from start to finish with little bits of added value throughout the day.

I had another experience recently where as soon as I arrived and introduced myself to take up my booking, the venue staff used my name, smiled, said hello and thank you and good bye and made every effort to ensure my experience was excellent even helping with booking a taxi.

Another experience was the help of staff - that I have written about in an earlier blog - with a weekend treat away with my mother. Again staff paying attention to detail and checking we were ok, changing bookings at the last minute and even ensuring my car keys were secure after they had parked my car and i had forgotten about getting the keys back for 24 hours.... I need not have worried as the keys were in a secure individual lock box!

So many of these details cost nothing in actual pennies. If companies are concerned about the cost of things and yet these things cost nothing, why are not more companies employing the power of customer service and detail which costs nothing into their marketing strategies and customer journey's?

The issue for many is the cost of time. I remember in the past single customers taking 8-9 hours of my time, but I felt this was worth it to ensure a great experience. Time is one of the most precious gifts we can bestow on another so why don't we consider some time for others as well as some time to focus on ways to ensure a better customer service that don't cost more?

But then whey don't we are internal stakeholders consider the details we can employ from day one without a company policy or team leader suggesting them such as smiling, saying 'hello', 'thank you' and 'goodbye'? Why do we not ensure we are not talking about issues in front of the customer - why do they need to know that a toilet is not working for instance?

How about internally? For instance with other teams, ensuring they feel included with praise and support for an event whoever they are and being inclusive with that praise. I always feel that 'Thank you' is the most underused two words in the English language. The day after an event, I always say and write my thank you's. This stems from my childhood when the day after my birthday and on boxing day, the first thing I had to do after breakfast was write my thank you cards for the presents I had received. This was the law in our house! No getting out of it. What a valuable lesson that has been!

This detail is just as important as added details. Get the basics right first! Your customers will thank you and return to you time and time again to feel valued and for that smooth experience.