Poor Customer Service is Hurting Your Business. You should Fix It

An outdoor restaurant. Photo by Pelu Awofeso

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the bank to resolve an issue with my current account. It had been blocked. I waited in line, got to the counter, and the customer care rep muffled an inaudible greeting at me. I responded loudly and cheerfully. Why greet in the first place if you will not show enthusiasm?

She asked what the challenge was, I explained; she took my account details, and after a few minutes informed me that my account was blocked because they could not reach my reference when I was opening the account. I asked how this was possible as I had done a few transactions with the account even though it had been dormant for a couple of months. We went back and forth on the matter and I was getting slightly irritated.

Then, without a word, she picked up the office phone and started a call. No excuse me. No let me get my supervisor. It felt like she used it to shut me up. I called her out immediately on the indignant and utterly disrespectful behaviour. Her supervisor arrived, apologised on her behalf, and gave me a clear explanation of why the account was blocked. I do not recall the customer care rep apologising after her supervisor had settled with me.

The Invincible Needle in the Haystack

In addition, this is not an isolated story. It is a pattern I encounter far too often. I do believe that customer care is a core anchor frame in hospitality, one that cuts across every economic and business sector. As long as you provide a service or have a product that requires a target market for you to make profit, customer service is not optional. It is essential.

Photo by Land O'Lakes, Inc. on Unsplash

Unfortunately, in my years as a practitioner I feel the art of customer service keeps depreciating. Hospitality operators are more focused on extracting profit from their guests than sitting down and thinking up strategies that will better serve them. The irony is that better service is exactly what drives the profit they are chasing.

What Horst Schulze Taught Me

I am currently reading Excellence Wins by Horst Schulze, co-founder of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Group. I am not only in awe of his outstanding work ethic, I have also come to understand that the depth of his passion for hospitality comes from a genuine love and respect for the human race. One phrase stopped me in my tracks: every moment of truth that keeps persuading the guest to come back is a far greater goal than simply checking off a to-do list of tasks. The ultimate goal is to make the impression strong enough to leave the most positive imprint in the mind of the guest, so that they keep returning.

Hospitality staffs have mastered stonewalling as a defense mechanism in different situations with their customers. It is an unacceptable attitude to bring to the job. We always underestimate the accelerating power of a sincere apology and a genuine follow-up, because we are not paying attention and neither are we actually listening to our guests. All they want is to feel assured that everything is under control.

Sometimes the food may be bad, but the positive disposition of the wait staff, and perhaps the chef coming out personally to apologise, would set things right. Customer service should be expected of every staff, not just the person at the front desk. Not just the manager on duty. Every single person in that building is either building or eroding the guest’s experience, one moment at a time.

Photo by Vladislav Klapin on Unsplash

The Humble Pie Is Worth It

Surveys show that 2% of customers are never satisfied regardless of what you do. They are constantly grouchy, demanding and are a royal pain in the back. But that should never stop your organisation from providing the best service to everyone else who walks through your doors genuinely hoping for a good experience.

Swallowing a little humble pie where your guests are concerned is always worth the burden. The guest who leaves feeling heard and valued will tell ten people; the one who leaves feeling dismissed will tell a hundred. That, at the end of the day, is the invincible needle in the haystack of hospitality. Customer service is not a department. It is the whole operation.

Olubukola Akanbi is a communications, marketing, and hospitality practitioner with over 15 years of experience. Welcome to My Table is her weekly column on hospitality as a practice of respect, dignity, and thoughtful detail.