Opportunity cost

I sat in the reception of a company…. waiting for 45 minutes. I had an appointment to meet an admin manager for a company.

It was a service recovery call. For a banquet which had not gone well for the company. On any given day we have an opportunity to impress hundreds of people with what we do. This was the one that got away.

Not yesterday.. but 3 years ago. During an era long forgotten in hotels day to day activities.

But the client remembered in exact detail what all went wrong that day. He has not used the hotel since that day.

What did the client do? Silently shifted loyalty to another hotel.

What did we get? 3 years of lost business.

He spoke with me finally after 3 years. It started with tea service that was delayed, which lead to delayed start of the program, that lead to a cold lunch eaten hurriedly, followed by a missed flight because the session did not finish on time.

For want of a nail, the battle was lost. He lost his opportunity to impress his CEO who was visiting from the US.

The simple thing, attention to detail.

The problem could have been averted by someone willing to care enough to communicate the importance of the function with the team.

How can you build a well oiled machine that can cater to your customers?

• Care more than the competition
• Train your team to deliver the best
• Find what does the customer want to achieve during the time they spend in your hotel