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Isn't
that a great customer service philosophy?
My
friend Bill McBain with Benjamin West sent me an email following the last
newsletter about his meeting with his staff and their philosophy of,
"wrapping yourself around the customer." (Its nice to know that
someone is reading it - feel free to contact
me with your comments. )
The concept of wrapping ourselves and our
company around our customers is a concept that bears some elaboration. For the
sales staff it means keeping clients close and happy, following up in a timely
basis and executing contracts quickly and efficiently. There is an old saying
that one should feel close enough to their contacts at key accounts that they
would feel comfortable going to their house for dinner and vice versa. You don't
actually have to do that but the level of familiarity should be such that your
clients will communicate with you when there is a problem at your property or
when they have been approached by a competitor at a lower rate.
The entire operation wraps themselves around
their customers by providing consistently good customer service, dealing with
customer plaints in a prompt and satisfactory manner and responding to
special requests on a timely basis. Every member of the staff should be familiar
with who the top accounts are and the name of the key contacts -- the people who
really sign their paychecks. This is key when a client has a problem outside of
the manager's hours. I worked with a hotel once that took pictures of their
best and most regular customers and posted them on a board in the front office
so that every member of the staff knew who they were and what they looked like.
The key is to wrap yourselves around your
customers so that you retain them and keep their business as a base while you
solicit new customers to wrap yourself around and increase market share and
yield.
Bill McBain and his staff have done it exactly
right and that could be one reason why his business is flourishing at a time
when many hospitality related businesses are floundering.
Bill McBain's contact information:
Bill McBain
Partner
Benjamin West, LLP
HVS pass Design
6420 Gunpark Drive
Boulder, CO 80301
(303) 530-3885 X112
email: bmcbain@benjaminwest. |
