Small Details Make a Customer Service Difference

It was just a small thing that most people wouldn’t notice, but it was a detail worth noting in the quest for outstanding service. I’ll try and paint you a verbal picture of the situation. I just came back from staying at one of the Disney hotels in Orlando. There was a line at the check in counter. (I guess they were getting us ready for the lines at the theme park. Ha!)

There were at least eight people checking in guests, so we were moving at a good speed. When it was my turn to check in, the open spot was at the other end of the front desk. Rather than the front desk person leaning over the counter and yelling, “Next,” she walked over from behind the desk to where the line was, smiled at me, greeted me, and asked me to come over to her area to check in. All of the front desk personnel did the same thing when their area opened up for the next guest.

Contrast that with the very expensive hotel I just stayed at in New York City. It was my turn to check in and the guy at the front desk yelled, “Next.” When I walked up to him he didn’t welcome me. He just said, “Name.”

This was just a little thing that Disney did, and by itself is nothing significant. But if enough of these little things are good, they add up and eventually get noticed. Conversely, so do the bad ones.

I'll probably write a more extensive article for The Shepard Letter, which is my free on-line newsletter. You can subscribe to it by going to the website below. Thanks for reading my Blog!

Shep Hyken, CSP is a professional speaker and author who works with companies who want to develop loyal relationships with their customers and employees. For more information on Shep's speaking programs, books, tapes and learning programs please contact (314) 692-2200. Email: shep@hyken.com – Web: www.hyken.com – Click here for information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs.