A few days ago I was fortunate enough to experience varied and very good tourist services, due to a few days of vacation we took with my family.
However, a service that may seem very good in normal situations demonstrates its true quality when special, unforeseen situations arise. That is the concept that I want to discuss in this article.
We have been in a very beautiful inn, in the middle of nature. An atmosphere of tranquility that invites you to relax and recover before returning to the routine of the work year. Everything seems designed to achieve that goal, and they do it very well.
However, an unexpected situation puts the service to the test. A couple locks their room when they go to sleep, and find that they cannot open the door from the inside. They are locked. But it turns out that there is no internal phone to communicate with the reception. Fortunately they have a computer and a cell phone. They search the internet for the inn's phone and call. They get no response. As we are in a group, they communicate with us, that we are in another room, and we are going to look for help.
This unexpected situation highlights two weaknesses of the establishment:
- There is no direct communication from the rooms. There is no staff at reception during the night, to solve any unforeseen situation.
Of course, outside of this unforeseen event, we could say that the service was perfect. But the quality of a service is tested precisely in unforeseen situations.
In "The Service Compass", Schefer and Lanati say: "Ultimately, the situational factor reveals, in many cases, the culture and values of the organization, through which, in the event of a failure, the way in which it is resolved allows me to recognize his orientation and true vocation of service ”.
But how can we be prepared for these situations, if they are just unexpected?
I propose two lines of action that should be complementary:
- Develop a service culture in all members of the organization, especially those who have direct contact with the client. That is, to give them the criteria to act in a way that satisfies the client, even when there is no procedure foreseen for such a situation, and even when, in order to satisfy it in a special situation, it is necessary to transgress, with the necessary precautions, the rules that govern the service in normal situations. Learn from situations experienced and take action in the future. You may not be properly prepared for a certain unforeseen situation, but once it happens, it is a mistake not to take preventive action to prepare when it happens again in the future. This is simply learning from your own mistakes. It is as simple and logical as it is unusual in many organizations,who make the same mistake over and over again.
