There are very few times in my life when I have complained about customer service to the establishment.  I think part of the reason, is that even though I can be very in-your-face assertive, my innate nature is that of the shy, geeky introvert who shies away from confrontation–especially in public settings with people I don’t know. For example, when I encounter poor service at restaurants or bad food, my “retaliation” is only a 12% tip (unless it is really bad in which case I might do something else). I know I could do a lot more and that complaining can garner lots of good things (discounts, free food, re-dos), but it just isn’t my style.

What is my style though?  Leaving compliments.

When I was younger I had several different retail jobs and worked as a bank teller for a number of years.  Both jobs meant interfacing with customers directly for my entire 8 hour shift.  And since customer service was a big part of my responsibility, any bonuses and rewards were tied to compliments left by customers on a job well done.

Now that the tables are turned and I am more frequently the customer, one of my favorite things to do is calling after the fact and leaving compliments with the manager (I tend to call afterward because I think it gives more credibility as in person I tend to look more like a college student than a “prized” customer).  Every time I do this I get such a warm fuzzy feeling and it makes me feel like I did something nice (and that is such an awesome feeling compared to complaining to manager, which the few times I have done it, always makes me feel awkward and uncomfortable).

Tonight I went to Safeway (a grocery store by our home) and had such awesome customer service from this little lady who went way out of her way to make up all these deli items for me almost 2 hours after the deli closed–and she did it in a way that didn’t make me feel like I inconvenienced her at all (in the past the employees have complained or wouldn’t help me).  I called and talked to the supervisor on my way home from the store–and I really hope that they do something nice for her in return like a bonus, or even just a gold star!

If you haven’t ever done this I encourage you to try it the next time you get great customer service.  Leaving compliments can make a real difference for people serving you, and I bet you will come away with a really great feeling afterward.  I know that I am going to try to do it a lot more in 2010.

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So recently I came across this blog post on customer service that said:

I started reading through the comments about all “these things” people learned about customer service from the Rtiz Carlton and that got me thinking about what these things were (since customers are crucial to the success of any company).

Here are some of the tips I found:

• Creating an emotional bond with customers through the frequent use of their names
• Treat colleagues and coworkers with the same respect and courtesy you would extend to a hotel guest
• Empower employees to step out of their roles to do what it takes to “wow” guests.  This includes a large budget (I read as much as $2,000) given to each employee to be applied at their discretion (mentioned above).
• Each day/shift starts with a line-up where employees discuss and tell annecdotal stories that demonstrate one of the tenets of the hotel (these are called gold standard and you can find them here).  This improves communication among the staff and reinforces their philosophies and values.
• Give feedback.  Employees are encouraged and rewarded for speaking up and giving their opinions on process.  And supervisors are trained to listen and follow up.
• Publicly praise, privately criticize.  And when delivering criticism sandwich it between praise so the employee still feels motivated and will want to improve.
• Share “wow” stories.  By sharing their successes with their peers it reinforces this type of behavior and rewards the individual that has the achievement.
• There is never a second chance to make a first impression.  Employees don’t exhibit body piercings or crazy hair, and each looks pulled together and representative of the hotel’s brand.

And the Ritz Carlton has such amazing training for their employees, for a fee they will allow non-employees to participate in their leadership training–you can register here.

Overall it is pretty neat how they have created an organizational culture of great customer service though consistently reinforcing the traits and behavior that created it.  It is a good lesson in great customer service and I am sure most organizations can pick up a tip or two from the above list.

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