Delivering Service With Understanding

Examples of extremely memorable customer service abounds, whether it be for it's next level above and beyond "magic" or its epic failures. Last week, our co-founder experienced some outstanding and...less than stellar customer service in recent memory. When debriefing the experience with the team, it galvanized our commitments on how to show up for our customers and service providers everyday.?

So let's get into it...what happened?

What made the service bad? The context was the messaging around how to enter a workshop. A large group of of attendees were waitlisted by the event organizer for the (congratulations!) sold out event. No messages were sent to the waitlist members on how to navigate the list. The staff gave mixed messages on the timing, the place of entry, when information would be sent, some people received an email, others didn’t. The staff was friendly, but their information was? not clear and the result was confusion, aggravation and impatience.???

What turned it around and made the customer service great? Enter Reilly with his big blue eyes and cherub-like face. Reilly, wasn’t the “boss” he was a junior staff member of this organization and he proved that customer service and customer care is EVERYONE’S responsibility. He stood up on a table above the swarming crowd and gently commanded everyone’s attention and said: “I don’t know the answer yet, but I want to help you. This is a bit complicated what we are trying to figure out and we are working to solve the problem. For me to help you best, I need you to please back away from my desk so I can focus on helping you. Please know I’m doing my best and I want to help you all. As soon as I have an update I will get back to you.” Reilly had been working since 4 AM to receive guests and his leadership in the moment turned the whole situation around for everyone.?

What did he do well? He offered: CLARITY, KINDNESS, and a clear INTENTION and COMMITMENT to communicate and how and when he would assist us. Even though he and the team were still figuring it out what to do and we still had to wait AND instantly, a calm settled over the crowd and we gave him the space. The result? Everyone was taken care of and the issues were resolved swiftly - and we had a great experience at the workshop.

WOW.?

The Magic of memorable customer service moments like this can be crystalized as the result of bringing together empowered staff who understand an organization's personality, values and mission and are encouraged to act, in the moment...improvize...to trouble shoot with understanding of what the customer needs. It's ok to say when things are hard and that you are trying your best and to ask for forgiveness if there are mistakes along the way. We always learn from mistakes - that's how we get better, that's how we innovate, that's how we improve service.

We are now 10 days away from launch and we are knee deep in our final customer service and service provider training sessions this week. We are infused with enthusiasm for how we will be delivering our service and service support. WE means every member of staff and every partnering organization. Delivering service with understanding means that we are willing to modify how our organization operates to accommodate for how ourOlders wish to be treated, spoken with or catered to. It's not about training how to address limitations, it's about slowing it down to observe, listen and learn how ourOlders wish to be treated. Lastly, we commit to celebrating ourOlders with the reverence and respect they deserve after passing through so many life levels.?

We know that there could be some wobbles in the first weeks of our operations so, on behalf of all of us at VivaValet - if and when we stumble, we will act with kindness to deliver swift and clear actions in service of ourOlders.