Service Excellence Action Plan

EHL ACTION PLAN
How to Achieve
Service Excellence?
A 7 Step
Action Plan
THE CHALLENGE
A large percentage of business

success stems from how a customer
is made to feel, not just how happy
they are with their purchase or
service.
In today’s experience economy,

customers not only value but expect
exceptional service – and they will
reward or punish for the quality of
how they are served with their
spending choices.
Any company unable to respond to

their needs, expectations or
compensate for unfavorable
experiences, might as well wave
goodbye to any hopes of customer
loyalty and re-engagement.
We’ve had the privilege of advising

leaders from over 500 major
organizations around the world. As
a result, we’ve recognized a number
of concrete actions that go a long
way in identifying the right priorities,
projects and people to drive
valuable results in customer
experience.
1- Dig into Your Customer Behavior
Knowing your customer is the first step towards

achieving Service Excellence.
At Marriott, to stay in touch with customers, Chairman of the Board and
President Bill Marriott personally reads some 10 percent of the 8,000 letters
and 2 percent of the 750,000 guest comment cards submitted by customers
each year. Once you know what the customer is actually saying about the
service delivery of the brand, it becomes easier to bridge the gap between
where you are and where you want to be.
What is your customer saying about the service delivery

of your brand?
Today’s businesses are fortunate enough to have enough customer data at
their fingertips, so they can deeply understand their audience – to both
improve their performance and become more customer-centric.
By leveraging data analytics, or ‘big data’ as some call it, companies can build
a 360° view of their customers, allowing them to foresee their clients’ needs
and desires and delight them with products or services that solve their needs –
before they’ve even asked. That’s the key to maintaining a competitive edge.
Data can also help companies develop a tailored Marketing strategy. It’s time
to face the music: mass-Marketing or one-size-fits-all strategies have become
irrelevant, as customers increasingly respond to tailored messaging, delivered
on the right platform, at the right place, and at the right time. Personalization
– whether it be for B2B or B2C markets – has defined new-age Marketing as
we know it, and data is the key to unlocking that strategy.
Article:
The path towards
customer-centricity
in hospitality
2- Make Customer Focus Part of Your Culture
Developing a company Service Culture is an imperative.
What a company really needs is a SERVICE CULTURE, which will be oriented

towards the end customer in everything it does and at any level…ALWAYS! All
employees – including the management and the board – defend small daily
gestures, words, attitudes, interactions, which make-up a service driven
company.
Because service is often intangible and cannot be

measured, excuses are found not to fight for it.
Only a service culture can act against these odds and make sure that a solid
web is created in the minds of the people in order to make the right move, use
the right words and expressions, and act in the right way, whatever happens.
Any small action can have extremely important consequences for the
employee, the team, and ultimately the company.
A customer-focus should be engrained in your company’s DNA – from your

philosophy and values to your company culture and the characteristics of the
people that you hire. Make sure that you clearly define your company culture
and values – and communicate them throughout your organization.
These values should focus employees on how to operate with customers on a

day-to-day basis, as well as how to build them into their decision-making
processes. It should encourage all employees to understand that when the
customer wins, the company wins – from your Marketing teams and customer-
service agents to your operational staff.
Article:
The Customer is King, and
Customer Service Culture
is his Queen
3- Hire with Service Excellence in Mind
Delivering Service excellence requires specific skills
Once you have defined the framework for your culture of service
excellence, you will need to ensure your staff are able to deliver on
your promises. This starts as early as the selection process.
As a customer-focused business, your employees

must live and breathe your company values.
Hire employees that are committed to helping your customers solve

problems, and are willing to go above and beyond to serve their
needs.
This involves finding employees who are flexible, open-minded and

innate problem-solvers. They should excel at communication skills,
and have a natural ability to turn complex problems into simple
solutions, while satisfying both the needs of the customer and the
business.
Depending on the type of service provided, companies should hire

people that resemble their customers, sharing their expertise and
interests – which will help them build a closer rapport with their
customers and better anticipate their needs. For example, if your
company operates in a highly technical field, make sure that your
team shares the same technical skills and know-how so that they can
serve your customers effectively.
Article:
Delivering Service
Excellence: 5 Lessons
from Ritz-Carlton
4- Set-up Customer-focus Governance
Effective customer-experience efforts need to be uniquely

cross-functional.
From marketing efforts to operations, defining a strong customer focus (not only
customer service tools) is an essential of customer-centricity. This calls for smart
governance: Clearly defined leadership, behaviors, and metrics.
Adequately addressing the challenge of putting in place such governance requires

a dedicated effort on three levels.
A customer-centric leadership structure must ultimately report to the chief

executive and should be designed to stimulate cross-silo activity and
collaboration.
Leaders must commit to demonstrating behaviors and serving as role models

to deliver customer-experience goals to frontline workers and refine and
reinforce those goals over the long term.
It is necessary to put in place the correct metrics and incentives that are critical
for aligning typically siloed units into effective cross-functional teams.
Customer Service shouldn’t be a department, it should be

the entire company.
Tony Hseih, the CEO of Zappos
Article:
Is Service Excellence the
New Marketing
Excellence Definition?
5- Set Customer Service Goals
Service excellence goals set the stage for your long-term

strategy, helping you maintain an excellent relationship with
your existing customers, and foster meaningful relationships
with new ones.
To implement effective customer service practices, business leaders must define

two sets of service excellence goals: one for the entire company and another for
individual representatives to better serve their clientele.
Well-planned, achievable goals provide business direction and a sense of

accomplishment when attained. Goals focus attention on desired outcomes and
provide motivation. Employees know exactly what they are expected to achieve
and should be encouraged to determine the best way to deliver what’s required.
In the same way that a Sales team have their own set of targets that support the
overall business objectives, similarly, the Customer Service team needs realistic
goals which support defined business objectives.
But goals only succeed if they’re realistic, aligned with your

business objectives and include a clear strategy on how to
achieve them.
Article:
Setting customer service
goals: 4 steps
to excellence
6- Equip Your Employees to Deliver on Excellence
The customer will have multiple opportunities to form an impression about your
organization. Listing down of those opportunities as a part of the Customer
Service cycle and what needs to be done during those
interactions/opportunities is essential if you want your frontline staff to deliver
excellence on them.
In some cases hard-coding the experience works, whereas in some cases

setting up a broad framework and guideline within which your employees can
operate works better. The decision should be solely based on what would work
better for the end customer.
Documenting the standards is not enough.
You need to equip your employees with the right knowledge and skills required
to deliver service excellence on the defined standards. Effective training
workshops and interventions are very helpful in facilitating the knowledge and
skill transfer to your employees. Additionally, setting up processes and
guidelines which allow for quick decision-making and remove bureaucracy
have a great benefit.
The Ritz Carlton allows, better yet encourages employees to spend up to

$2000 to solve guest issues. More than the money, it’s about giving control to
the employees to use their time, effort and when needed – the company’s
money to enhance the experience of any guest. Till the time your employee
does not own the interaction and feel like they are in control to make
decisions, you are not equipping them to deliver on excellence (both from a
process and mindset perspective).
7- Measure Your Performance
How do you know if your customer service is living up to

customer expectations?
The answer is in KPIs (key performance indicators). There are plenty of different
KPIs used to measure customer service and the success of a business’s customer
service strategy. Research the ones that best suit your type of organization.
Managing what you can measure via scores and data is essential to understanding
where you stand on the principles of good service.
At the end of the day, numbers don’t lie.
If you want to stay ahead of your competitors and keep your customers satisfied,
it’s important to closely monitor how your customers are experiencing your brand.
Track how your team is doing, both in the short and long-term, and set goals for
what you want to accomplish. But don’t forget to stay flexible, reactive and
solutions-oriented - and fix what needs mending.
Article:
How to measure service
excellence? 6 KPIs
EXPERIENCE
IS EVERYTHING
Customer Experience
Service Excellence
Defined and shaped by Swiss
education know-how, we educate
and train your teams to deliver a
customer experience that inspires
people, surpasses their expectations
and brings them back to your
business time and again.
ehladvisory.com
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EHL ACTION PLAN

A large percentage of business

In today’s experience economy,

Any company unable to respond to

We’ve had the privilege of advising

Knowing your customer is the first step towards

What is your customer saying about the service delivery

Developing a company Service Culture is an imperative.

What a company really needs is a SERVICE CULTURE, which will be oriented

Because service is often intangible and cannot be

A customer-focus should be engrained in your company’s DNA – from your

These values should focus employees on how to operate with customers on a

Delivering Service excellence requires specific skills

As a customer-focused business, your employees

Hire employees that are committed to helping your customers solve

This involves finding employees who are flexible, open-minded and

Depending on the type of service provided, companies should hire

Effective customer-experience efforts need to be uniquely

Adequately addressing the challenge of putting in place such governance requires

A customer-centric leadership structure must ultimately report to the chief

Leaders must commit to demonstrating behaviors and serving as role models

Customer Service shouldn’t be a department, it should be

Tony Hseih, the CEO of Zappos

Service excellence goals set the stage for your long-term

To implement effective customer service practices, business leaders must define

Well-planned, achievable goals provide business direction and a sense of

But goals only succeed if they’re realistic, aligned with your

In some cases hard-coding the experience works, whereas in some cases

Documenting the standards is not enough.

The Ritz Carlton allows, better yet encourages employees to spend up to

How do you know if your customer service is living up to

At the end of the day, numbers don’t lie.

Scan me to find out more

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