When a customer issue does crop up, DeBellevue tells distributors to use a dose of compassion and to focus on providing a high level of service. This helps cultivate happy customers while also highlighting areas where your company can use some improvement.
And remember, says Sollars, that you can do a lot of other things to engender goodwill with customers beyond just cow-towing to their every whim. Don't miss a thing! Get the latest industry news delivered straight to your inbox, every Tuesday through Friday. Glad to read this! Thank God for Bridget who had written this!!! And I will be committed to promoting her thought on the subject matter. This affirmation was originally conceived in the beginning of the 20th century by Harry Gordon Selfridge - the founder of Selfridge's department store in London - who understood early on that the success of his business would depend on the happiness of his customers.
This is what we consider crossing the line. As situations of this kind unfortunately do occur sometime in our world, I am sure many of you will agree with me and know exactly what I am talking about, so there is really no need for detailed explanations or examples. We all know what I am referring to. What I want to discuss is what we can do as a united front to handle these scenarios in the most appropriate way for guests and for staff. When guests abuse their power and cross the line displaying disrespectful and insulting conducts, what is absolutely crucial is that we give support to our staff, lead the conversation with the guest in a polite and compassionate way getting our point across, the point being that this type of behavior is unacceptable in our environment.
In my career I have seen managers make this approach one of the pillars of their leadership, and these are in my experience healthy and considerate work environments. However I have also seen managers bending to the will of the guest no matter what, perhaps due to lack of experience and inability to handle conflict, but in some cases due to fear of the guest.
I have seen guests being verbally abusive, acting aggressively, threatening the staff, manipulating management, in ways that we should really not allow in our workplace. The truth is many of us are afraid of guests these days, because we are worried they might damage our reputation if we don't give them what they want, and because tools such as social media and online reviews platforms have given them a dangerous power.
But what's the price if we simply surrender? If we are afraid of what the guest might do, our lack of authority will send the wrong message to both parties: the guest will walk away with the awareness that this is the way to obtain what they want, and the staff will walk away feeling vulnerable, defeated and unprotected.
When we allow guests to act this way and we reward this type of behavior, what kind of example are we giving to the people who look up to us? I am always willing to listen to guests and try to understand them, defend them, and do what I can to make them happy, but I personally refuse to bend to unreasonable conducts. I am completely aware that some battles are not worth the fight and sometimes we just need to let go, but when the exchange is no longer cordial, I always make it my priority to defend my people.
After all, we teach people to be courteous with and considerate of one another in the work environment and in our personal lives, so why would we allow disgraceful attitudes when it comes to guests? With that in mind, I want to move on to talk about what is happening in the service industry right now, during the pandemic.
After being closed for several months, hotels, restaurants and activities have finally reopened, and the sad reality I read and hear everywhere is that what we thought would be finally a good moment, is in fact being a bit of a nightmare. I am not working at the moment, and therefore I cannot speak for myself, but I often talk to - or read comments of - colleagues who are back to work. I must say on one end I am sensitive to what they are going through and I feel for them, but on the other end I am once again overwhelmed with a feeling of negativity.
It seems that the post-lockdown world of hospitality is filled with guests who are being extremely demanding and abusive, who are inconsiderate of the rules, and who are - with the words of the workers - taking advantage of the situation. In his store he follows the Field rule and assumes that the customer is always right. Whether the phrase was coined by Field or Selfridge it is fair to call it American. What we can't do is credit them with the idea behind it.
That's not the phrase that people now remember, but it can hardly be said to be any different in meaning to 'the customer is always right'. See other phrases that were coined in the USA.
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