FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Tom Ellis
November 9, 2005 Ellis Communications, Inc.
Phone: (417) 881-5635
Email: tom@elliscomm.com
PHOENIX, Ariz. – “Puttin’ on the Ritz” is a well-known expression for
high quality and utilities could learn much from this gold standard when it
comes to their customer service.“The Ritz-Carlton knows how
to take care of its employees and customers and the upshot is that it has
amazing customer service,” says David Saxby, president of Phoenix-based
Measure-X, a company that specializes in helping utilities improve their
customer service and sales. “Why should utilities care? In an independent
survey, 99 percent of guests said they were satisfied with their Ritz-Carlton
hotel experience and more than 80 percent were extremely satisfied. How
satisfied are your utility’s customers?”
To help utilities improve their customer service, Saxby
highlights the following aspects of Ritz-Carlton’s approach to employee and
customer relations.
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Ritz-Carlton makes employees feel valued to encourage
them to provide quality service. The company’s training managers and senior
hotel executives give personal two-day demonstrations of “Gold Standards” to
all new employees. Three weeks later, orientation units reconvene for
follow-up sessions, after which employees are considered “Ladies or Gentlemen
at The Ritz-Carlton.”
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The hotel chain teaches employees how to provide
world-class service. First-year managers and employees receive 250 to 310
hours of training.
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To cultivate customer loyalty, Ritz-Carlton has a rule
that any employee who receives a guest complaint owns the complaint. After
training, first-line employees such as housekeeping staff, busboys, etc., have
the authority to spend up to $2,000 to immediately correct a problem.
Managers can spend up to $5,000.
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The hotel chain is detail oriented. Steps for all
quality-improvement and problem-solving procedures are documented. For
example, to meet its goal of total elimination of problems, Ritz-Carlton has
determined there are 970 potential instances for a problem to arise during
interactions with overnight guests and 1,071 such potential instances during
interactions with meeting event planners. Customer service standards have
been established for every instance.
Utility executives who aspire to achieve the customer
service success of Ritz-Carlton don’t need a big budget. The hotel chain
achieved its success over time and any utility can do the same if it commits to
the processes involved, Saxby says. To polish their customer service, utilities
should do the following, according to Saxby.
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Require managers and senior executives to “walk their
talk” about service both in informal presentations and in daily interactions.
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Define your service standards.
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Train every employee to provide the service the company
desires and to uphold the company’s standards.
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Empower staff members to resolve problems and make it
clear how much authority they have.
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Identify specific steps and provide documentation for
improving your service and problem-solving procedures.
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Measure, measure, measure. Collect data and analyze it
to support documentation and problem-solving procedures. Pay attention to the
details.
“Ritz-Carlton officials know their efforts create a
win-win-win situation,” Saxby says. “Employees feel good about themselves,
guests are happy and the company stays in business.”
The hotel chain is a shining example of cultivating loyalty
by building positive relationships one customer at a time, Saxby notes.
“Loyalty-focused companies outperform their competitors two to one,” Saxby
says. “Loyal customers are more pleasant, they purchase more products, they
refer new customers and they are more forgiving when problems occur.”
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Measure-X is a measurement, training and recognition company that specializes
in customer service and sales skills. For more information on Measure-X,
call 888-644-5499 or visit its Web site at www.measure-x.com.
