“Blow away the customer, exceed expectations, go above and beyond what the customer expects, create the WOW Factor.” These are the phrases used everyday in organizations in a desperate attempt to motivate employees to be proactive – to think outside the box when exploring customer needs, and developing a plan of action to meet those needs. However, in-spite of all of the pep talks and customer service seminars how many of you have ever experienced the WOW Factor or seen it in action?
Well this week I want to share a WOW Factor experience that I believe is worthy of recognition. It is my hope that Bahamians everywhere would have a wakeup call. That we would be inspired to take the customer service experience in this country to the next level remembering if the customer has to ask it’s too late – you’ve missed the opportunity to create The WOW Factor.
When we arrived at your hotel on the night of September 2, 2011 we were exhausted from our long flight (15 hours) and uneasy. Our taxi driver could not speak English and we were lost a long time before we were able to get the directions to the hotel.
When we finally arrived we met the Bellman, Alex Guo and were so happy to discover that he spoke English. While we waited to check in he chatted with us and made us feel so welcomed.
Unfortunately while trying to check in we learned that our reservations were not at your hotel and that you could not accommodate us for our entire visit due to several upcoming conferences. We were horrified! We did not want to get into another taxi. We were afraid of getting lost again - besides we had already fallen in love with the Shangri-La!
This is when we met Eric Fang. He told us not to worry, that he would take care of everything and he did. Not only did Eric make arrangement for a taxi to take us to our correct hotel, but Eric rode with us to act as an interpreter between us and the taxi driver and to help us check in at the other hotel ! This is what we call the WOW FACTOR customer service. Something so wonderful yet totally unexpected but in this case desperately needed because no one at the other hotel spoke any English. Eric assisted us with check-in but before he left he wrote down his telephone contacts and told us to call him if we had any problems. Well can you believe that thirty (30) minutes later we were calling Eric begging him to help us book a room at the Shangri-La! Fortunately you had a room available for the night, so we gave up confirmed reservations, jumped back in a taxi and returned to Shangri-La.
WOW FACTOR # 2
We met Chef Christophe when we went to Shen Café for breakfast. My husband who is vegetarian was enquiring about vegetables dumplings/pot stickers. He was told that all of the dumpling on the menu contained meat. My husband was disappointed and ordered an omelet instead. So imagine our surprise when Chef Christophe came to our table a few minutes later with a plate of vegetable dumplings that he had made especially for my husband! Everyday after that, whenever we dined at Shen Café, without having to put in a special request one of the chefs would make a special order of vegetable dumplings for my husband and bring it to the table. Awesome!
WOW Factor #3
On Saturday morning we needed a taxi to take us to Jilin University. My daughter is a new MBA student there. This is when we met Feel Fang. He wrote the name of the school in the Chinese language and told the taxi driver where to go. I know that doesn’t sound so special, but here is the WOW FACTOR. While driving to the university the taxi driver cellular phone rings. Feel is on the line asking the taxi driver to speak with us. We couldn’t believe it! Feel wanted to know if we needed the taxi to wait for us, or needed him to send a taxi for us. He relayed our instructions to the taxi driver, who spoke no English. He also gave us his mobile phone number to call him if we needed any help while at the university.
WOW Factor # 4
On Sunday morning I had a headache so we went to Wal Mart in search of painkillers. After walking almost every aisle in Wal-Mart we gave up hope of finding the painkillers and went back to the hotel. Here we ran into our new “best friend” Alex Guo. He tried to give us directions to the “medicine shop” but after seeing the confusion on our faces he told us to wait one moment. Alex left us to exchange words with his colleague. The next thing we know, we were being personally escorted from the hotel to the medicine shop, back to Wal Mart for other purchases, then down the street to a mobile store to purchase a SIM card for my daughter’s phone, with Alex acting as our personal interpreter and guide! Alex also gave my daughter his personal cell phone number and invited her to call him if she needed assistance with anything while at school. Wow my daughter has made her first Chinese friend! Awesome!
WOW Factor # 5
On Sunday morning our luck had run out! The Shangri-La was completely booked and could not extend our stay. We had to find another hotel for two (2) nights. This is when White Bai came to the rescue! He called a colleague at the Maxcourt Hotel and secured a room for us. Then to our amazement he loaded our luggage onto a cart, told us to follow him, and proceeded to push the luggage cart up the street to the Maxcourt Hotel! Unbelievable! He then assisted in our check-in, and personally delivered our luggage to the room. Later that evening we went to the Shangri-La for dinner and stopped at the Concierge desk for assistance in booking our return flight to Beijing. White immediately got on the phone with one of his colleague at China Southern Airline and proceeded to book our return flight to Beijing. This is when we ran into a snag – the airline did not accept MasterCard, we needed a VISA. I told White that we did not have a VISA and to my pleasant surprise and disbelief White reached into his wallet pulled out his VISA and used it to purchase our return tickets. We stood there in awe! Service at the Shangri-La Rocks! Thanks for an AWESOME experience.
