3 Traits of Top-Notch Customer Service

On a business trip to Oregon, I became miserably ill before reaching my destination. When I reached the hotel where I would be staying, a friendly gentleman greeted me with a smile.

“Welcome to the Portland Hilton,” he said. “You look like you have been traveling quite a bit today.” I stared at him with ashen eyes and replied, “I will sign anything you want and fill out any form—later. I just need to get to my room to collapse.”

He introduced himself as Frank and asked my name. “Mr. Mathis, that bellman over there will gladly take you and your luggage to the room where you can relax. I will be happy to check you in now for your convenience and comfort.”

A few grueling minutes later I was in my room and in bed. Suddenly there was a knock at my door. I was greeted by a young lady in a Hilton uniform with a room service tray in her hands. “Frank at the front desk told us you are ill, so he requested this meal for you,” she said.

She handed me a get-well card that Frank, the front desk and kitchen staff had signed. She told me to call Frank if I needed anything else and left.

Frank exemplified three characteristics of valuable service. Here’s what to remember so you can lead by example at your agency:

It’s proactive—not driven by policy. Your people should practice actively listening to customers instead of quoting the policy manual. They should be proactive in discovering needs and meeting them and fear poor service more than what their management will do if they don’t abide by company policy.

It’s personal. Most companies ask every customer what they want. That’s okay, but it takes too much time—and you wind up with too many opinions from people who won’t return to your business. Your most influential customers already like you, frequent your business and will be more eager to be your primary advocates. Customer service should meet the needs of your top customers.

It’s “remark-able.” Customer service should motivate people to remark about how wonderful it is. Frank’s efforts and concern were so amazing that the first thing I wanted to do was tell people about it.

Twitter, Yelp and Trip Advisor have thousands of people every day remarking about your company’s service so others will know. What are you doing to generate and encourage positive remarks?

Jim Mathis is chief of Reinvention Nation, an international certified speaking professional and best-selling author of “Reinvention Made Easy: Change Your Strategy, Change Your Results.”