One fine evening, I
entered beyond the velvet ropes and was ushered into an elevator that brought
me up to the top of the world (literally). I was invited for my cousin’s marriage
celebration. Decked out in style, I surveyed the much talked about place to be
seen for the wealthy and the “in” crowd.
Befitting to the occasion,
a glass of champagne was served. I took a sip and asked what champagne they
were serving.
“Chardonnay, Sir.” Replied the server.
To
which I politely repeated and this time I was specific,
“I mean what brand of champagne are you serving?”
“It’s Chardonnay, Sir.”
*Awkward
silence*
“Erm, okay! Thanks.”
I was not sure if she saw
my puzzled look but I was obviously taken by surprise at her response. I had at
one point wondered if I was desperately out-dated with my limited knowledge of
champagne. It was when I took a glimpse at their drinks menu that I realised
they were serving Moët.
This incident (and many
others I have encountered if I might add) is a clear indication that not all hospitality
businesses are equipping their staff with the basic product knowledge to serve.
Or do they presume that their staff know it all?
Providing on-the-job training
is very common but pointless when staff do not have an inkling of the kind of
products and services that they are offering. Customers are not merciful when
faced with ignorance of such basic product knowledge. Even more so when they
pay a hefty price tag for the entire service experience.
Here are a few areas that hospitality
establishments should take note of when inculcating product knowledge and
skills:
Quality Not Quantity
Training your staff is not
about feeding them with as much information as possible in a short period of
time and hope they have a big “appetite” to digest them accordingly. The
process of learning would be meaningless and unexciting if the objective of the
training is just to pass on information. You would not want to encourage
memorising of content but to instill the understanding of “5W1H” – who, what,
where, when, why and how.
Add Value
A brief history and
background of the business enables staff to engage customers in the context of
the establishment, especially should your site be one of historical or unique
value. A small but captivating piece of information could work wonders and promote
rapport building with customers.
Build Confidence
With knowledge, comes the
confidence to serve and up-sell. With a confident up-sell, customers are more
open to “buying in” on the idea. I, for one, appreciate recommendations such as
the specials of the day or guests’ popular choices. I recalled on many
occasions that I opted for staff’s recommendations and had thoroughly enjoyed
those choices.
Encourage Empowerment
Product knowledge also
includes company policies and procedures, and most importantly, the empowerment
of these policies and procedures. Armed with this knowledge and the liberty to
explore, staff are able to follow through on customer service at their
discretion without having to seek manager’s approval at every stage. Unless of
course, the nature of the problem calls for it.
Include Assessment
Training is never complete
without an assessment. Assessment acts as an indicator of skills and knowledge
comprehension and aptitude, to render basic customer service. Periodic
assessments should be carried out to encourage staff to keep themselves updated
on latest news and activities of the establishment. It could also be used to
affirm their capabilities and act as a tool for tracking employees’ performance.
That said, I could accept
the odd occasion when service staff might forget pertinent information. In such
instances, encourage your staff to excuse themselves and check (and double and
triple check) for facts instead of pouting a response as silly as what I have
experienced.
On retrospect, I could
only regret not asking her to check with the bar. Maybe she would have learnt
something new that day.
*For more
details on the service experience, kindly send your request to me through email
- beinspired@absolutesenses.com
