by The View of the Osprey
25 July 2010 14:01
In how many of the 5 P’s does this hotel excel?
It was 1030 in the evening and my taxi had delivered me from the Gare du Nord to my hotel.
I was immediately impressed by the peeling paint just inside the door but reassured as quickly, by the polythene covered carpet, that a refurbishment was imminent as was my doing a very passable impression of the final moments of an ice dancer’s finishing flourish on discovering that the protective flooring was not anti-slip.
The check in was fairly straightforward and conducted with Gallic brevity apart from the administrative necessity to provide ten times the personal data required by any other country.
The elevator was a unique boutique design made for one person but not for one person and their luggage however the application of some contortionism skills that would have impressed Norman Wisdom in his hey day helped me make it to my room where the next use of the same skills helped me and my luggage make it through the snugly fitting airlock doors, clearly an inspiration for space shuttle design, into the room.
Continue Reading...
by The View of the Osprey
05 April 2010 06:37
This is the third of a regular series of blogs written to shine some light into some of the dark corners where both poor and good service is hindering or helping the customer and thereby damaging or improving the performance of the organisation. Much will be founded on the basis of personal experience and it would be good to uncover whether these observations are widely shared. So if they strike a chord with you please let us know.
In developing a list of things for which Nepal is famous, world class service excellence would probably not make it on to the list of many compilers. The Himalayas, Ghurkhas and Buddhism are likely subjects and while the Nepalese are known for being a welcoming, friendly and hospitable people (unless you happen to be the adversary of a Ghurkha!) the idea of finding, in an economically poor country, service that is not only outstanding but leading edge is a surprise.
Continue Reading...
by The View of the Osprey
16 February 2010 11:01
There was a time when not very long ago when it was usual to be greeted in a retail outlet with words like
Good morning sir/madam how can I help you today?
This clearly implied that the greeter recognised the importance of the occasion, had reasonable manners and was willing to put themselves and their expertise at the disposal of the potential customer in helping them to arrive at satisfactory conclusion of their needs, and is above all an open ended question likely to create a response which engages the customer and the retailer.
Continue Reading...
by Robert Keay
01 February 2010 10:14
Human resources are one of the most important assets of a firm which act as its long term competitive advantage. It is the employees’ knowledge which puts the firm in a competitive position. In order to keep employees engaged at the work place and to ensure employees apply their knowledge in innovative and progressive ways for the organisation, a system for reward and recognition is usually put in place.
Continue Reading...
by The View of the Osprey
06 January 2010 14:13
This is the first of a regular series of blogs written to shine some light into some of the dark corners where both poor and good service is hindering or helping the customer and thereby damaging or improving the performance of the organisation. Much will be founded on the basis of personal experience and it would be good to uncover whether these observations are widely shared. So if they strike a chord with you please let us know.
Buttons, Messages and Music - It isn’t working!
It seems impossible to call any organisation on the telephone without being first of all told via a recorded, usually female, voice that
“Your call may be monitored for quality and service training purposes”
or words to that effect.
A decade or so ago those of us aware of the importance of service quality and interested in its continual improvement were heartened initially by the emergence of this activity, for here was a genuine source for researching the customer’s experience at their interface with the organisation to provide a deeper understanding of the needs of the customer and the competence of the staff in fulfilling such needs.
So after 10 years of listening to these messages the message back to them is…
IT ISN’T WORKING!
Continue Reading...
