How To Use your 5 Senses for an Effective Customer Service!

How To Use your 5 Senses for an Effective Customer Service!

Did you know that you can apply all of the 5 Senses for an effective Customer Service? The answer is a big YES!

This is an actual experience of mine as hotelier way back 2004. As a manager, it is my duty to deliver the annual training during low season (from April to September) to uplift the motivation of my team.

At first, I was struggling to find the suitable content. I wanted to teach them something cool and not boring. Something that they can digest easily and apply it to our daily operation. In this way, they can all help me and I will not be a fool to carry all of the work load!

One day, while staring at my checklist and looking endlessly at the numbers, schedules, to do tasks etc., the answer to my question appeared before me. A 3-Days Training about Customer Service, and the Five Senses, to improve my Team's service approach and produce an everlasting impression to our customer!

I was searching for the same video I used on YouTube for my training (OMG! That was 10 years ago!), unfortunately, I cannot find it. It'll be awesome if I can paste it in here but this replacement will do. (It's similar to this)

Day One: (Boring Part)

It started by huddling them and briefly explained the purpose of our training; How we can improve our Customer Service Delivery to all of our customers.

Of course, I cannot deny the importance of Proper Communication, Correct Administration, Setting Daily and Weekly Priorities. As a team, we also break down our weaknesses on each work-shift and address it altogether by coming up with an agreeable solution as a group decision. With this approach, even the youngest member of the team can speak and share. It's a bit democratic, but it works! They all like it!

Day Two: (The Power of Visual Aid)

I told the guys to hide all of their notebooks and told them not to write anything. To this date, I can still see the curiosity on their faces. In fact, one of my shift leader, who is now a director of a famous OTA (Online Travel Agency) asked me, "Bong (big brother, sir in Khmer Language), no writing today?  And my answer, "today, you don't need one and all I need from all of you are your 5 senses". He just look at me and frowned.

I took my laptop, plugged the speakers and played the video. One said, "wow! Cartoon Network" while another says, "I hope it's karaoke". Well, they're both correct! I pressed the play button and all of them laughed! It just took only a few minutes, then I switch it off!

After the music video/cartoon/karaoke is over, I told all of them that this is the very heart of our training. I want them to use their 5 senses in order to improve our customer service delivery.

Here's what I shared with them, without all the speeches I made :-)  

1.     Use of Your Eyes

- If you see customer at the gate, open the door and welcome them.
- If you see it's dark, even though not 6:00 pm, switch on the lights.
- If you see it's dirty, call the House-Keeper to help you.

2.     Use of Your Nose

- If you smell any foul odor, trace for the source.
- If you smell something is burning, locate it as soon as possible.
- If you smell any unpleasant odor from the public toilet, call House-Keeper asap!

3.     Use of Your Ears
- If you hear customer arriving, prepare to greet them.
- If you hear any unpleasant noise, trace for the source.
- If you hear any of your colleagues talk loud at work, remind them.

4.     Use of Your Mouth
- If you taste any spoiled fruit or food, alert the waitress immediately.
- If you taste the water, and it's not nice, alert immediately the engineering team.
- If you taste the canteen food and it’s not tasty, share it to the HR manager.

5.     Use of Your Touch
- If you touch any surface and you feel dusty, wipe it with a cloth
- If you shook a hand of our customer, do it firmly

On Day Three: (The Last Day of Training)

I huddle them and asked to share what they've learned from our 2 days of training. I am not surprised to hear that they've enjoyed the topic about the Five Senses, but I am astonished to find out from them that it's connected to our Day 1 Training.

There you go! I was a happy bunny! They (majority), understood the value of it.

We are dealing with Humans and People needs constant interaction. By understanding the value of the 5 Senses and how to connect it with your Customer Service SOP, it can deliver a captivating service mind-set and produce an everlasting impression from the customer!