Top Of The World But Something Fell Short

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