Indispensable: How to Become the Company That Your Customers Can't Live Without

Chapter 11. Big Picture Outcome

What makes Ritz Carlton such a master of customer service and satisfaction? They understand big picture outcome in even the smallest ways. At the Key Biscayne Ritz-Carlton yesterday, I needed to find the ballroom where I'd be giving a speech. At the front desk, when I asked where my client's meeting was located, a Ritz Carlton employee named Andrea said that she'd be happy to show me to the room.

Andrea and the Walk to the Ballroom

On our walk through the hotel, Andrea and I struck up a conversation in which I told her that my room was fine, and that I was particularly impressed with something that room service had done to accommodate a special request I had made. I also told her that I was a consultant on competitive position, a writer of business books, and a fan of Ritz-Carlton Hotel's customer service consistency.

Andrea asked me if I knew the story behind their policy of escorting a guest to a destination in the hotel rather than just giving directions and pointing the way. I told her that other than the obvious courtesy of it, no, I didn't. Andrea told me that if they take the time to actually walk with the guest, it gives them the opportunity to have a conversation. In that conversation, the hotel employee can begin, as Andrea had done with me, to attain feedback about the guest's experience including what was particularly pleasing as well as anything that might have gone wrong or not been up to expectations.

"When we get that kind of information," ...