The Christmas holidays are one of our favourite times of the year- it’s a time of giving, celebration and happiness. We love the contagious Christmas spirit, the beautiful decorations and the celebration of gatherings between family and friends. It is truly a remarkable time of year.
However, with Christmas and holiday celebrations comes busy parking lots, more traveling and plans to see friends and family during this magical season. Being part of the hospitality industry we want to ensure that we have our best customer service foot forward, to ensure our loyal and our new guests are highly satisfied during their stay or services during our favourite time of year.
It’s easy to get swept up in the busyness of the holiday rush from the customer service point of view, so we want to ensure you have what it takes to ensure your business is on top of its’ customer service action plan this holiday season, here are our top tips:
Plan ahead
Examine last years’ holiday season peak periods and plan accordingly how you will deal with the holiday rush. Consider staff insight, what was effective? what was not effective? what can be done to improve the guest’s experience. Plan ahead of the season to determine measurable goals for the team, and how they can be accomplished for a better overall experience for everyone involved, staff included.
Set target customer service goals:
Set goals such as “wait times” as a way to notify guests that they are your top priority.
Setting goals to reach a customer as soon as possible is a great way to make them happy because it assures them that support is reachable during the holidays especially, “time” can be a crucial deciding factor if a guest is satisfied with their service or stay. It is a busy time of year, however by notifying guests that they are your priority, will allow guests to see that you are going out of your way to make them happy. guests know that this is an extra busy time of year, and by telling them that they are your top priority ensures them that they are being looked after, not looked over. Implementing this goal will work for measuring guest satisfaction as well as number of guests served.
All on board
Approach the holiday season with an “all hands on deck” approach to ensure that guests needs are met first. This can easily be accomplished by cross-training staff for the holiday season, ensuring that guest inquiries and basic questions can be answered by all staff. This will ensure that customer service representatives are fully available for situations requiring additional attention or unique customer encounters that may need their expertise. Have simple and everyday questions easily be answered by any staff member at your establishment to come across as a super helpful establishment… knocking those straight forward questions out of the way so customer service reps can better attend to situations that really require their attention.
Cross-training all staff on guest support will better equip your entire establishment, ensuring that each guest receives a fast and personal service during this holiday rush. Best of all, each department that is involved will have a different perspective from the point of view that they are most familiar with, leaving all employees with a unique insight.
Results
- ‘Fully loaded’ team able to answer anything and everything that a customer may ask
- New customer insights from multiple service touch points and points of few
- A well put together and united team
Expect the unexpected
This holiday season be flexible, as guests’ needs can change at any given time without knowing the entire situation behind something, it is too easy to be quick to judge or get frustrated with a situation. By being flexible within a situation and adapting as situations evolve, is the best scenario for both your team and your guest. All knowledgable customer service representatives know that adapting to situations as they may evolve is the best thing for everyone involved.
Embrace the holidays
The holidays are a time for celebration, friends and family, and while customer service representatives have the job of facilitating much of this for others to enjoy, it does not mean that we too can’t enjoy. Bring holiday cheer to your establishment and improve employee morale by celebrating amongst your team. Celebrate your year-end, accomplishments thus far, and the holidays (we love to celebrate). There is no better way of involving staff and creating a safe and welcoming environment, where team members want to go above and beyond for the company they work for, than by celebrating their accomplishments. Guests will also notice increase of staff morale, rather than staff itching to go to their own holiday party, embrace the season!
From Braymark to your business, we wish you a truly happy holiday, Merry Christmas and all the best in the new year!
