Tip #431 - Personal Service Is Great Service
Dear Tip of the Weeker,
Whew! Things are crazy around here today.
Since we've been slammed, I dug into the Tip of the Week archives and pulled out this gem to share with you today... Tip #98 from 2003!
This week’s Tip was inspired by Tip of the Weeker, Joseph Klein. And he really knows about giving great service. Check out the amazing Fairmont Resort at Lake Louise, Canada where Joseph is the manager… fabulous!
Your number one customer service advantage is the personal relationship you build with your customers. And there is no better way to strengthen that relationship than to…
USE YOUR CUSTOMER’S NAME.
Joseph makes sure his front desk clerks always address their guests by name. “Thank you, Mrs. Jones. I have your reservations right here. You’ll be in room 127 this evening.”
Here are a couple of ideas to make using your customer’s name work especially well.
- Be respectful. Using your customer’s last name; Mr. Smith, Ms. Johnson, Mrs. Jones, is probably your best bet until you have developed a close relationship or unless they have introduced themselves by their first name only.
- Introduce yourself first. It’s uncomfortable to have someone know who you are and not know who they are. Give your customer your name as a great way to begin building a relationship.
- Say their name correctly. Not too tough if the name is Smith or Jones, but what if you get “Woltjer” or “Olechnowicz” (real names from our local phone book)? If you’re not sure, ask, don’t guess. Most people are picky about having their names spelled and pronounced correctly. And be careful of shortening a full name to a nickname... "Matthew" may not like to be called Matt, nor "Susan", Sue.
- Be sincere. If you’re just rattling the customer’s name off as part of your canned pitch, or if you only look at the customer’s credit card for their name and never make smiling eye contact, you’re probably eroding the relationship, not building on it.
- Be sensitive. Always be aware of how your customer wants to be treated. If they are casual, chatty, and friendly, using their name will probably be a plus, if they are formal, stiff, or rushed they may feel you are taking liberties by using their name.
Do you have any good ideas or tried and true methods for using customer names? Let us know so we can pass them on!
