CUSTOMER SPARK #18 - "AS LONG AS YOU NEED TO"
We routinely have guests who are so involved in their meetings that they overstay their "reserved" time in their meeting room. Most of the time, they'll run over by 15-30 minutes. We're so used to it happening that we often don't even notice. Besides, we always stay at least an hour after our last meeting to clean up and prep for the following day.
At the end of the day, a guest from our last meeting approached Kara, one of our excellent team members, and asked how long they could stay. She cheerfully gave our standard answer: "As long as you need to." The guest said they would be running a little long, but should be out in maybe a half an hour.
Well, they stayed a nearly an hour and a half past their reserved time...on a Friday evening. That was very likely going to cause Kara to stay a little later than she was scheduled. Watching her, you'd never know the guests had overstayed or that she was going to stay later than she expected. On the way out, the guests (very aware they had gone way over their time) asked how late we stay. Kara again cheerfully replied, "As long as we need to." The guests looked relieved, but apologized for staying so late. Kara reassured them that they did not make us stay late, and she expressed that she was glad they had such a good meeting.
Why this is our favorite spark today:
Staying later than expected - especially on a Friday - can be a drag, even for the staff of the most exciting retreat center on the planet. Staying later than expected can screw up personal plans or make you late for something else you had scheduled. In most places, that is too often reflected in the attitude of the employee held captive by the situation. Kara shifted her thinking from how it might affect her to making sure the guests felt comfortable and stress-free for overstaying their time. If it bothered her, she never let it show.
Another thing we do to make sure we never have to run our guests out of a meeting room, is to never reserve meetings back to back. We typically will leave 2-3 hours between reservations knowing that meetings often run longer than expected.
How do YOU shift? Leave us a comment or a story. We'd love to hear what your company does to focus on the customer!
At the end of the day, a guest from our last meeting approached Kara, one of our excellent team members, and asked how long they could stay. She cheerfully gave our standard answer: "As long as you need to." The guest said they would be running a little long, but should be out in maybe a half an hour.
Well, they stayed a nearly an hour and a half past their reserved time...on a Friday evening. That was very likely going to cause Kara to stay a little later than she was scheduled. Watching her, you'd never know the guests had overstayed or that she was going to stay later than she expected. On the way out, the guests (very aware they had gone way over their time) asked how late we stay. Kara again cheerfully replied, "As long as we need to." The guests looked relieved, but apologized for staying so late. Kara reassured them that they did not make us stay late, and she expressed that she was glad they had such a good meeting.
Why this is our favorite spark today:
Staying later than expected - especially on a Friday - can be a drag, even for the staff of the most exciting retreat center on the planet. Staying later than expected can screw up personal plans or make you late for something else you had scheduled. In most places, that is too often reflected in the attitude of the employee held captive by the situation. Kara shifted her thinking from how it might affect her to making sure the guests felt comfortable and stress-free for overstaying their time. If it bothered her, she never let it show.
Another thing we do to make sure we never have to run our guests out of a meeting room, is to never reserve meetings back to back. We typically will leave 2-3 hours between reservations knowing that meetings often run longer than expected.
How do YOU shift? Leave us a comment or a story. We'd love to hear what your company does to focus on the customer!
This is a great spark about putting your customer's needs above your own.
I found myself avoiding my office one day this week, as I was being "stalked" by two students who wanted to have an unscheduled meeting with me. I managed to fend them off by stating that I had another meeting to get to (which I did), but when they moved down the hall to wait for my colleague to return, I realized that the small window of time I had hoped to have to myself could be better spent addressing their questions. It might not have been the most convenient time for me to meet with them (I was a touch late to that next meeting because of it), but they left with a better understanding of what they could do with their organization.
The meeting was not on my calendar, but it was clearly on theirs and that was what mattered most to them. I still got done what I needed to that day, even though, like Kara, that meant working later than planned on a Friday.
Reply to this