Teri Yanovitch: Everything Speaks!

This week’s guest post is from Teri Yanovitch, author of Unleashing Excellence – The Complete Guide to Ultimate Customer Service. You can learn more about Teri and her book at the end of her post.

I am a big fan of Marriott International. With the recent acquisition of Starwood, Marriott is the world’s largest hotel company with over 5700 properties worldwide. If you ask loyal customers and me to describe Marriott in one word, we would respond with “Consistency.” I am convinced that the enviable growth of Marriott is based the focus of its associates to consistently deliver an experience that meets the high expectations of its customers. And that focus was set by founder JW Marriott with this business mantra, “Only close attention to the fine details of any operation makes the operation first class.”  Even more succinctly, Teri puts forth in her post that, in any business,”Everything Speaks!” 

Imagine visiting a fine dining restaurant for a special occasion.  You’ve been looking forward to the meal and you’ve heard good things about the restaurant.  Then imagine noticing something crusty on your fork and lipstick marks on your water glass.  Wouldn’t you begin wondering about the cleanliness and quality of everything else in the restaurant?   Everything Speaks!  It’s important to pay attention to the details of the work environment because everything is communicating  a message to your customers.  Every detail of your physical environment says something about you and your business.  Everything the customer sees, hears, smells and touches creates an impression.  

Now picture a technician pulling up into a customer’s driveway.  The service vehicle is dirty, dusty, missing sign letters and disorganized in appearance.  The customer opens the door to greet the technician who smells, shoes are muddy, shirt askew and hands are dirty or greasy.  During the application of the service, the technician receives a personal phone call, then stands around and has a cigarette before continuing the job.  All this detracts from your business’s image.  It both consciously or subconsciously raises the customer’s antennae and makes them question, “Do I really want to spend my money with this company?”

One of the keys to Walt Disney World’s success is meticulous attention to detail.  Using the entertainment analogy of “onstage” and “offstage”, cast members are constantly reminded the importance of recognizing they are “onstage” every time they step into a guest area.  Just about everything  is carefully planned, managed and orchestrated to ensure a positive guest experience.  Cast members are responsible for their appearance with the appropriate, clean costume, name tag and fresh-faced look.  “Onstage” behaviors do not include smoking, drinking, eating, or cursing.  All cast members are responsible to keep up the work area appearance by picking up trash or noting when things need maintenance.  

Great memorable service people are the ones who understand the concept of Everything Speaks.  I’m talking about…

The pest control technician who took off his shoes and put on cloth slippers before coming into my home.

The insulation rep who worked in my attic in 90 degrees heat, went out to his service van and changed his shirt before coming back in with the bill so he wouldn’t look or smell bad.

The plumber who showed up in his shiny, well-organized truck, clean-shaven and wearing a monogrammed polo shirt and nice trousers.  After he finished installing a new garbage disposal on the kitchen sink, he cleaned up the kitchen floor.  When I shared my appreciation for his thoughtfulness, he said “I always try to leave a customer’s home looking better than what it was when I came”.

Teri Yanovitch is a speaker, author, facilitator, and consultant.  Her passion is helping organizations create a culture of service excellence.

Previously as a keynote speaker with the Disney Institute, she shared exemplary practices of customer service with organizations world-wide.  For more than a decade, she facilitated cultural change as an executive with the company that revolutionized total quality management, Philip Crosby Associates.  And for the first five years of her career, she trained hundreds of leaders and frontline staff of the Hertz Corporation in the value of the customer experience.

In 1991, she began her own firm, T.A.Yanovitch, Inc. Over the years, Teri has helped many diverse organizations  such as;  AAA, Marriott, Ernst & Young, Subway, America’s Blood Centers, Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, First Citizens Banks, Ocwen Financial, and many college and universities to share her combined experience and knowledge of how to offer a customer experience that delights and differentiates one from the competition.

Her highly acclaimed book Unleashing Excellence – The Complete Guide to Ultimate Customer Service is the culmination of years of experience in the field and serves as a guidebook to leaders of organizations that are looking to create a culture of service excellence and quality.
You can reach Teri directly via email: ty@retainloyalcustomers.com and learn more about her and her company at her website: www.retainloyalcustomers.com