Customer Service Excellence

The biggest single reason why businesses lose customers is through the indifference of one employee.Customer service is one of the most important issues that organizations face, especially in the hospitality industry. With so many dining and events to choose from, a negative review can damagae the reputation of your business. Every customer interaction is an opportunity to make a positive impression and by empowering your customer facing team with the best skills makes a great customer experience & bottom line results.

Customer Service Excellence is a 2-day program that focuses on the skills needed to make every customer touchpoint a positive interaction. Delegates learn the communication and interaction skills to engage with their customers as well as exploring how to handle difficult situations effectively through effective communication and by building rapport. Customer expectations are examined and ideas for exceeding those expectations are developed. Delegates leave with a list of actions they can take to improve their communication skills and impact the customer experience and build customer loyalty.

Course Objective

• Understand the importance of customer service in hospitality
• Identify the touch points to make positive impressions
• Understand that YOU are the key
• Demonstrate how to connect and focus on the customer
• Practice building rapport techniques
• Define what effective communication is and explain why it is important
• Identify key communication skills for dealing with customers and creating customer engagement
• Improve questioning and summarizing techniques to effectively determine customer needs
• Practice customer interaction skills
• Learn how to use sensory language when providing menu recommendations
• Apply skills in difficult situations and with challenging customers
• Identify actions that can lead to more satisfied customers, customer enthusiasm and loyalty

Who Should Attend?

• Reservations
• Front Desk
• Waiters/Waitresses
• Hostess
• Team Leaders and Supervisors

What Will You Gain

• Enhance your customers experience
• Identify the touchpoints and opportunities to positively interact with your customers
• Build rapport with your customers quickly and easily
• Use body language to demonstrate your confidence and competence
• Adjust your voice tonality to soothe customers frustrations
• Master your questioning and listening skills to understand customers needs and wants
• Be able to turn a crisis into an opportunity
• Boost your confidence in handling difficult situations effectively
• Understand how to handle and manage impatient and frustrated customers
• Be able to effectively deal with a complaint
• Learn how to provide information and clarify expectations
• Deliver excellent service and provide a great customer experience

Customer Service Excellence

• 2-day program (9am – 4pm)
• Optimum group size 20 participants, maximum group size 25 participants.

Day 1: Basic Customer Interactions

• Welcome, Objectives, Agenda
• Defining Customer Service
• Quiz, Discussion
• Excellence in Hospitality
• Activity: Best / Worst Customer Experiences Why do negative experiences get shared
• You make the difference
• Your state, your choice. Discussion Be the difference. Mindset

1. Focusing on the Customer

Brainstorming activity. Video. Discussion

2. Providing Efficient Service

Activity: Map of Customer Touch Points Opportunities to connect & engage

3. Enhancing Customer Self Esteem

Self reflection activity Feel good factors

4. Building Rapport

Top Tips, Body language “tells” Role Play: Telephone interactions, Welcoming the Customer, acknowledge the Customer

5. Effective Communication

Video. Discussion Exercise: voice tonality. How you say what you say. Listening to understand: Excercise – listening levels.

6. Determining Customer Needs

Communication: Clarifying questions & summarizing Role Play Consolidation Telephone Reservations,Welcome, Table Service

Day 2: Customer Engagement

• Review Day 1
• Team Quiz
• Engagement Opportunities:
• Product Knowledge: venue, concept, vibe & menu Suggestive Selling, Sensory Language Activity: sensory descriptions
• Providing Information & Clarifications
• Setting expectations.Providing recommendations. How to explain a policy/standard without saying it is a policy/standard
• Building Customer Enthusiasm
• Turning a negative into a positive Identifying customer frustrations – brainstorm scenarios. Discussion: Crisis vs Opportunity. Mindset matters.

Handling situations:

Work groups:

• Handling multiple Customers Case study
• Handling delays Top Tips
• Impatient Customers Present back in a role play
• Demanding Customers
• Handling Complaint

Program review & next steps

Key learnings & take-aways Team and individual action plans Measuring success