When excellence runs through the spine

Every person..and all of the time… any situation- Listen here

I recently stayed in a small hotel in the walled City of Dubrovnik.  Whenever you book anywhere, there can be a leap of faith. You read the marketing, you read the reviews. Is the price right for both your personal budget and what has been advertised? But…It’s about far more than that.

It’s about that initial gut feel that you get on arrival -the first welcome, the service that you personally experience…Does it “Wow!” you? It’s about doing the basics so well that they add up to so much more than the sum of the parts!

Back to Dubrovnik…We arrived late at around 10.00pm and were met by a charming lady who insisted on helping with our light luggage. With vehicles not allowed inside the City walls, we were met some 600 yards away from the Hotel. We chatted away and immediately felt a connection. On arrival at our small “Boutique” Hotel, the greet was as warm as could be. Everything was explained and nothing left to chance.

We stayed four nights, everything was perfect. No matter which member of the Hotel Team that we met with, we had the exact same service…Effortlessly courteous, warm and friendly, nothing too much trouble and always polite.

OK…A small hotel perhaps. Maybe the ability to get everything just right from a service perspective is easier. Everyone with shared “Values & Vision”. Selecting the right people with a shared ethos. It comes from within. Real and tangible…Not manufactured…And so the big question…How can you scale it upwards in a larger organisation?

It starts at the top and the whole of the Senior Team must live by the values. A very clear message must be cascaded and shown in all situations. People must be recruited for their values- Skills can be taught. Empower people who want to delight customers. Be brilliant absolutely all of the time! Challenge everyone to be better than the day before!

Create a culture where smiling is part of the job! Create a culture where people want to come to work and where delighting customers is in their DNA.

Don’t talk about it…Experience it yourself and make it happen. You may even start to enjoy the culture yourself!

Making a culture of outstanding service and delighting each of your customers all the time will prove to be the best investment that you can ever make!

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence”.
Vince Lombardi

Our Director Nick Bishop who creates the “Weekly Focus” and podcast, has been a judge at the Global WOW! Awards for the last four years and was also a Judge at the UK Customer Service Training Awards in between 2012 & 2016.