How to score 10/10 in Customer Satisfaction?
On a weekend, I was with my family in a famous restaurant. This restaurant was meant for its variety of delicacies and excellent customer service.
When we asked for the dishes on the menu which can be served early, the waiter shared a few readily available dishes. My kids were feeling hungry and cranky and we wanted to order a dish which can be served instantly.
while we were waiting for the dishes to be served, we overheard an agitated customer conversation with a Senior Waiter two tables away. The reason was the customer came with his two kids and ordered three dishes and the waiter served the order which can be served on an immediate basis. The first dish came for Dad and then for the elder kid and the younger was the last to get the dish served. This made the Dad furious and questioned the logic behind serving in the order which is irrational and not having personal touch at all. The senior waiter was arguing for a while, that certain dishes were readily available and it was served in that order. The argument went on for a while until the Restaurant manager stepped in and accepted the mistake and promised to take the feedback and try to implement the same in future.
Below are the things I can list what went wrong with Restaurant’s waiter:
- Services executed from a Service provider perspective
- Lack of Customer Empathy
- The service provider assumed the customer would order the dishes for kids which can be served instantly.
- Listen first when the customer is in an agitated state. Don't argue and explain your constraints, the customer is least bothered about your constraints. They pay for your service and become promoters, only if he/she is satisfied with your product and service.
- Lack of Action — Acting on feedback is a critical aspect. Go back to the drawing room and do the changes in your process to accommodate the inputs which came from this encounter. If this is not done, then there is no learning and no subsequent effect on your services to customers.
Most of the time the Customer Services Organisation and its executives wear the Service Provider cap while providing their products & services to their customers. Most of their innovations were pointed in this direction, having the least or no impact on customer lives.
Maybe certain executives or organisations excel in thinking from a customer perspective, as they equate their experience as customers for services they consume on a day-to-day basis.
Role reversal is a critical factor when it comes to implementing a “Customer Empathy” or “Customer-first” culture in any organisation.
A similar case, I encountered while ordering iPhone online in the Apple store. Since Apple had implemented of a new policy that a power adapter needs to be bought separately, I had ordered both iPhone and its adapter by adding them to the ‘bag’. As expected the iPhone delivery timeline was 5–6 weeks, but the shocking thing is the adapter was delivered in 2 days. What is the point of having an adapter when the iPhone is going to be delivered in 5–6 weeks? This is a clear case of lacking customer perspective. Even world-class product makers like Apple lose sight of these details when it comes to their service delivery.
Without these factors, it's hard to create a “wow” factor in customer experience.
With Luv,
VJ
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