Can The Ritz-Carlton Help My Customers?

I had a meeting today with two business associates over lunch. We were talking specifically about their business and how to make a good business better.

Over the course of the meal we discussed several aspects of their business including their sales, various product roll-outs, and their marketing. Early on however, it became pretty apparent that what was really on their minds was how they were feeling about the business, and particular, the fact that they each felt a little overwhelmed.

I gave them several tools and techniques to help them change their mindset so that they could better see and appreciate their daily successes and minimize the negative effect of some of their mistakes or miscues. Because, let’s face it, as business leaders, entrepreneurs, and CEO’s, we all make mistakes and have miscues!

One of their major sources of stress was what they referred to as “customer service issues”. Specifically, dealing with customer requests at odd hours.

A little background… This is a business that sells in many countries around the world, and in some cases there is an 8 or 9 hour time difference between their home office and their customers location.

I shared with them my philosophy on customer service and offered them some advice on how to feel less stressed about “customer demands” and still feel like they are offering outstanding customer service.

I base my customer service philosophy on what I call the Ritz Carlton service method. At all Ritz Carlton Hotels (a 5 star hotel chain) all employees are empowered to make decisions. This is from top to bottom – everyone.

And, perhaps surprisingly, at the Ritz Carlton Hotels, the customer is not always right, but the customer is always heard and respected.

By empowering your people to make decisions and educating them on how to listen to and respect every customer, you can put in place a customer service better designs system that literally runs itself.

The most important part of this method is proactively managing the customer’s expectations. With this system your customers will expect to be treated fairly, to be listened to, treated with respect, and given an answer not the runaround.

Begin to implement this in your business and stop stressing about “customer service issues”!