When we want to turn something around, generate changes, twist the course, in general it happens that we do not know where to start. And this happens if you want to improve the service you provide.
What to target first?
If I start with something that doesn't work, will it frustrate me to continue?
I have few resources and I would like to make good use of them, where to allocate them to obtain the best benefit?
Surely there will be many aspects to improve, but we would like to know which ones are most important to the customer.
I am going to show you then a simple technique to make your first list of points to improve in the service. It arises from a method called Critical Incidents, whose author is Bob Hayes. It is used in different disciplines, and I invite you to apply it to achieve a quality service. This author has shown that due to the type of questions asked of the respondents, a small sample is needed to be representative, which means that with few resources you already have accurate data to start your ramp towards a substantial quality improvement.
In other words, if you follow this method as I am going to indicate, in a maximum of a week you will have valuable information from your clients, to know what they want you to improve on. Nothing is more accurate than knowing their point of view.
What does it consist of? It is a series of interviews in which you must ask about 20 clients to indicate between five and ten elements of the service that have generated satisfaction and dissatisfaction. According to Hayes' theory, their criteria will coincide in the main benefits and deficiencies of the service.
Then you are going to ask each client to remember aspects of your service that they found satisfactory and others that they disliked. They must record at least five of each. These are the critical incidents.
For example, if you have a hotel, a client tells you that the mattress in his room is very hard, that the shirt he left in the laundry was not ironed well, that the breakfast coffee was cold, that there is not enough variety of fruits and during nap time the people who use the pool make a lot of noise. On the other hand, he really likes the vegetation in the garden, the staff is very cordial in their treatment, etc.
With the information that 20 of your clients provide you, you will make the initial diagnosis to begin the improvement.
Attention: There is a very important aspect to highlight, and you must explain it to the clients you interview. Incidents must be very specific.
That is, they must describe a behavior or indicate specific adjectives of a service.
To be more graphic, it would not be specific to say “the rooms are not comfortable”, since this opinion could be interpreted in many different ways. It is specific, however, to say "the mattress is very hard."
You must make the interviewees clearly understand this requirement for their answers.
How then to make this diagnosis in a week?
1. Pick three regular customers on the first day. Ask them, one at a time, to write down on a sheet what they liked the most about your service and, on the back, what they disliked the most (at least 5 positive and 5 negative aspects).
Remember to explain (and make sure they understood) to be very specific when describing their experiences. This will take about 20 minutes for each client.
2. After a week you will have collected the opinions of 21 clients. Make a list with all the opinions (the positive ones on the one hand and the negative ones on the other). You will have about 100 opinions of each type. Eliminate recurring aspects.
3. Group the similar aspects. For example: “the maids are very polite”, “the staff is friendly”, “they have paid attention to my problem”. All these aspects can be included in the category "Courtesy in attention".
With these three steps, dedicating one hour a day to the interviews and one more day to process the information, you will have a map of the strengths and weaknesses of your service, nothing less than from the point of view of your clients. A list of priorities to improve your service with a great impact.
Do not wait any longer, it is within your reach to know this treasure. Your clients will surely be happy to give you their point of view so that you can provide them with a higher quality service. Do not miss the opportunity!
