I am proud to say that Chicago is my hometown and it has given so much to American industry over the centuries. Among these amazing contributions are those of the legendary department store innovator Marshall Field, who once famously declared: “Give the lady what she wants.” This service-first motto has always been inspirational to me as an operations expert. So simple. And still so revolutionary.
Today, Mr. Field and his beautiful store are long gone; his charming mantra lost to the ages. And with every passing decade, it feels like we get farther away from good service being the norm.
And it’s not the fault of the concierge or the desk clerks or the sales team.
It’s the leadership.
There’s a startling trend that I’ve been noticing over the past few years. Leadership is leaning into data alone to guide all aspects of better service. And, yes, data is great! It helps us anticipate guest preferences, measure outcomes, and predict staffing needs. But truly good service will always be rooted in an instinctual sense of hospitality and a heartfelt desire to be helpful. Can data enhance hospitality? Absolutely! But it can never replace it.
When my operational team and I begin to train and reorganize a department of current service-givers, we understand that the quickest path to improving service is to start by serving them. We ask them what their experience is like? What makes their job harder than it has to be? What would they fix if they were in charge? How can we help?
And we listen to every word they say.
The quickest path to improving a service culture is leading by example from the top down. By doing this, we are able to deliver on our promises. We honor staff requests when we can and let them know why, when we can’t. We provide resources. We give our teams a chain of support personnel within the organization so there’s always someone to talk to when challenges arise.
Try it. Revisit the internal service experience that you provide to your team. Add to your data, a sense of hospitality that’s so strong that they can see and feel it. Your staff will be inspired and galvanized to provide the same quality of next-level service to your customers, in return. With clarity and consistency, you can turn around any service culture for the better — with the bottom line to prove it.
Need more help? My team at The Experience Group are here to work with you, anytime.
