In the light of South Africa hosting the 2010 World Cup Soccer tournament we need to take a good look at what customer service is and how it affects the hospitality industry.

Outstanding service is about exceeding customer expectations.

Customer service is about the expectations your customers have of you – and your goal should be to exceed those expectations. If you have a 3-star guesthouse, shouldn’t you be delivering 5-star service? When a customer is unhappy about something it is your duty to rectify the problem in an open, friendly and courteous manner. Customers become more accommodating and even happy when they feel their best interests are being taken into consideration and they are being listened to.

Two important points to remember about good service are:

• Creating a pleasant experience that every customer will remember.
• Giving customers what they expect in such a way that they see you as good to do business with.

Customer service ‘trigger points’ that need to be attended to include:

Telephone answering: This must be done with professionalism.

Enquiries: Know your product and what is on offer in your area. Give potential clients as much information as possible to encourage them to make a booking or one of your competitors will do so.

Information: Tourists are interested in such things as the history of an area, so make sure you have the facts handy for your area. If you don’t know an answer, tell the guest you’ll find out and get back to them.

Accounts/invoices: Check and double check their accuracy. Be prepared for such things have to be settled on checking in and extras on checking out.

Pricing: Make sure you are charging the rates you advertise.

Advertising: Don’t oversell yourself by exaggerating, especially on websites. Guests will be expecting what they saw in the advert and won’t be happy if they don’t get it.

Payment: Make sure to tell your clients at the time they make their reservation how they can pay, i.e. by credit card, cash or debit card. Make paying as easy as possible for them.

Customers who are satisfied with the way you handle all the above will do business with you again and again, as well as refer you to other people.

Here is a useful test of service delivery. Perhaps let your staff take it and then discuss how you could improve on certain matters. Also make it a guest feedback process so that you can tell where you’re lacking.

Ask your staff/guests to score your business by awarding points according to the following system:

• Very Poor – I
• Poor – 2
• Mediocre – 3
• Good – 4
• Excellent – 5

On these areas of your service delivery: H

• Helpfulness
• Friendliness
• Professionalism
• Enthusiasm
• Going the Extra Mile
• Empathy and Understanding
• Keeping Promises
• Honesty
• Ability to Listen
• Warmth, and
• Friendliness

Now total up the points:

10 – 15: This is very poor and you need all the help you can get.

16 – 25: Poor. You need to make a conscious effort to improve.

36 – 45: This is the minimum acceptance level. You need to work harder at the required skills.

46 +: Well done, but strive to be better still (be a leader and not a follower).

Delivering good service isn’t difficult and will leave guests with good memories of you and your business as well as give them a reason to come back.

This article was taken from the July 2009 edition of Country Life.