Last night I took my two children, aged 16 and 18, to Chili's restaurant. (I know what you're saying: Dad's a big spender. It was my daughter's turned to pick and Chili's is one of her favorites.)
Upon entering the restaurant, we noticed a shiny black box on each table–a cool new video menu from Ziosk.
Two servers approached our table. The “trainee” introduced himself first, and then introduced his trainer. Both young men were very well spoken and polite. The Ziosk was never mentioned, but upon further inspection, it appeared we could not only order from the box, but also pay for our meals using the box. My daughter commented that we are probably not too far away from the elimination of the server position in many restaurants.
The servers took our orders and our meals were brought as ordered. I'm not a big fan of Chili's food, but my ribs were excellent, as were my son's and daughter's meals. Multiple servers stopped at our table and asked if we needed anything. None of them mentioned the Ziosk machine, and I'm a little grateful. The good service that we experienced reminded me of days gone by, a time when people cared about customer service and teams were built on one theme: service.
As we left, I asked for the manager and complimented her on her amazing team and her great work.
The Ziosk was not a favored option last night, but it might have been welcome at my lunch today. About once a week, I like to dine alone, catching up on trade sites, industry content, and review my task list. I entered a restaurant and was promptly seated. My order was taken in about 15 minutes and my food arrived in another 15 minutes. That's 30 minutes of wait time. All I ordered was soup and salad, but at this restaurant, it seems to take forever. During this dining experience, I would have favored the black box.
Dining experiences are intriguing because they are small case studies on customer service. There is a big spread between service levels today–most are average, a few are terrible, and even fewer provide a memorable experience.
What do you customers receive when they call your company? What do you say when you answer the phone?
Customer service is an art that can be taught. None of us come into this world with amazing customer service skills. “Nature versus nurture” is not something we can relate to in this case. Most of us learn our service skills from our first few managers, then carry that level of service throughout our careers.
Think about the customer service training that you provide your staff. Is it ongoing or a flash in the pan?
At our company, we continually talk about customer service. During our meetings, we exchange positive and negative stories about what happened during the week regarding service.
One of our employees recently hung up on another agency owner. He became frustrated with the owner's attitude and after he called our client an “idiot,” my employee had had enough.
When I retuned to the office, the employee was upset. As we talked though the situation, I reminded him that a person who is emotional is not in control. He agreed, called the agency owner back, apologized, and was able to take care of the situation. It was a great learning experience for the young man and the rest of our staff.
My challenge to you: Gauge your current level of customer service and increase it by one. If you're a 10, take it to 11. If you're a 1, take it to 2. An incremental increase in this one little area of your business can pay amazing benefits down the road–and could keep you from being replaced by a black box.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
