ON BUSINESS || The First Thing to Look for in a Good Customer Relations Person

My visit to Vietnam opened my eyes to what great hospitality could be.

The interactions with the salespeople there at retail stores and with my hotel concierge and service team at my accommodations set a new standard for what we should all aspire to. It made me reflect on and examine how my marketing company serves our clients. It’s all in the details.

The essential characteristic of someone who could be great at customer relations is that they think of other people before themselves. When they are doing anything, they don’t try to do it in a way convenient for themselves; they make it convenient and easy for others. These people are rare gems who consider how their actions would impact other people.

Here’s an example. I was travelling solo to Hanoi, Vietnam. I asked the front desk team if there were any cafes nearby they would recommend; the usual service would have prompted them to pull out the paper map they distribute to all guests, circle a few spots, and off I go. However, the team went on their phones, pulled up their own saved locations, did some more research for cafes, and sent me the walking instructions and Google reviews page to my phone. It’s convenient for me, not for them. 

Another example is an unfortunate personal incident. I was working at an airport lounge an hour before boarding my flight in Hong Kong, and it remains a mystery to me how fleas could get inside an airport lounge, but I sustained flea bites all over both my legs right before my flight to Hanoi. After suffering for two days without proper medication, I decided to see if my hotel concierge could help me. Instead of simply pointing out the location of the nearest pharmacy, the receptionist walked several blocks with me to the pharmacy and conversed with the staff there in Vietnamese to get the proper medication for me. Do you see how this works? 

This second example is more related to the workplace. We work with clients who speak different languages and often include screenshots of Chinese apps in our reports or marketing documents. These clients do not speak nor read Chinese, yet I’ve seen reports prepared without back translations or explanations of how the visuals are relevant to our analysis. If we go even smaller, edited documents that don’t show track changes make it hard for a client to review. What did you change? Do you expect me to read the entire document to figure out what you changed? That’s convenient for us but inconvenient for the client. 

It seems like it’s such small things, but it’s all in the details when it comes to maintaining customer relations and providing outstanding hospitality. At the end of the day, if you are in the services sector, you need to demonstrate excellent hospitality skills. 

I will be singing the praises of my hotel in Hanoi for a long time because they made such a great impression by doing well at such small things. 

Do you know of or have someone who possesses this rare trait on your team? Treasure and cherish them, as they are few and far between.