EMPOWERED TO TAKE ACTION A Team-Focused Approach to Rebuilding Customer Confidence
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uring a time of heavy uncertainty and ever-changing health regulations within the hospitality industry, it has become all the more important to ensure your team feels confident and empowered to take the proper actions to provide the best service to your customers as possible. Beyond carrying out required COVID-19 protocols and regulations, it’s crucial that management is able to maintain and rejuvenate their employees so they’re offering hospitality to your guests, beyond just customer service. Focus on Safety Measures for the Team and Customers Keeping health and safety at the forefront of the customer experience is crucial, but what does this look like exactly for your team? This means ensuring your team has the necessary tools to make sure they feel as safe as possible. Whether it’s masks, face shields, personal hand sanitizers, make it known to your team that you are placing their safety just as high as the customers’ safety. When your team feels safe, the more time they will get to spend focusing on customer safety and satisfaction rather than being preoccupied with the fear of their own well-being. The additional aspect to this is ensuring that your team is knowledgeable about and comfortable with executing safety measures for customers. Are these tasks occurring consistently? Do they know to direct
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Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association | SPRING 2021
customers to complimentary masks or how to properly sanitize tables? With whatever safety measures you’ve adopted, the calmer and more confident your team is with these, the more comfortable this will make your customers. Role Play Customer Scenarios If a customer isn’t wearing a mask in your establishment, will your team know how to handle this situation with grace and authority? This scenario has been one that’s become more popular and even more difficult to handle. A great way to help your team feel more confident with dealing with any tricky circumstances that may arise such as this one, is role play. Take some time with your entire team to practice how you’d like them to handle difficult or unsafe circumstances, so they never feel completely unprepared. Switch roles between team member and customer so that everyone gets to experience and understand both sides of the situation. If and when a situation arises such as those role-played, guests will take notice of how your team handled the challenge. They will certainly appreciate that you and your team were confident and had a plan in place to handle the situation with the utmost care and compassion. Teach Clear Communication of the Plan Owners and managers aren’t the only ones who respond to customer
