A Few Thoughts on Customer Service

I just came back from a wonderful weekend in San Francisco. My family stayed at a five star hotel, so I expected that we would get only the best in customer service.

Interestingly, everyone who worked for the hotel was friendly, and they said all the right things, but follow-through was sorely lacking. Promises were made that were not kept. When I tried to politely follow-up myself to get what we had been promised (everything from access to our room to a surge protector for more electrical outlets) the staff acted like it was the first time they were hearing the requests. They were friendly, said they'd get right on it....but nothing happened.

It was a great reminder for me that follow-through is of critical importance in customer service. The customer really doesn't care what we say, but what we do (or don't do) will not soon be forgotten.