THE CUSTOMER SERVICE BENCHMARK
Is there something about Mumbai, or is it just India in general that makes great customer service happen? In SalesPulse Issue 106 (seehttps://www.korusales.com/about/blog/ and scroll down to June 2014 blog) Estelle Clark wrote about her fantastic experiences at the Orchid Hotel in Mumbai and in this edition I am going to describe the incredible service ethos of the people who work at the Mumbai Taj Mahal Palace hotel. Regrettably I cannot describe it from personal experience, though I have had the chance to have a look round, rather I have to depend on the BBC2 documentary, Hotel India. I am sure many of our readers watched it and will agree the hotel really is the best example of customer service.
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Taj hotels’ branding is based upon the following 3 statements: MeticulousChoreography Painstaking Practice Passion and Precision |
There is no doubt that the Taj Mahal Palace embraces these themes one hundred per cent. So what are the drivers behind the incredible service their people provide? A reasonable way to describe them is to give some quotes from the management and their staff and some observations of my own.
Quotes
“The guest is god”. Head of Food and Beverages and Executive Chef
“I’m looking for perfection. We need to look out for the smallest of faults”. Head of Housekeeping
“The guest arrives happy and must leave happy, there should be no complaints”. Chamber Boy
“You must be proud of the product you are serving”. Executive Chef
“Let us not compromise on quality”. Florist
“We have no problem putting in more hours”. Sous Chef
“She will not rest until it meets perfection”. Deputy General Manager talking about the Florist
“Frankly we do not say no”. General Manager
“Taj is an aspirational place to stay and an aspirational place to work”. Deputy General Manager
Observations
Here is an organisation that is totally customer centric; the customers’ needs are never compromised; the voice of the customer informs their training and role model behaviour; they are obsessive about attention to detail (Meticulous Choreography); they are committed to continuous improvement in their search for perfection (Painstaking Practice); their people love working there, exact in the execution of their jobs and will always go the extra mile for the customer (Passion and Precision). As you may be aware the hotel was the subject of a terrorist raid in 2008 where a number of guests and hotel staff died. The ultimate test of customer commitment was demonstrated by the staff doing all they could, including forming a human chain to protect their guests from the terrorists. Why? – because they had, according to the Executive Chef a moral obligation to so do.
Outcomes
There is no doubt that they have an extremely well engaged workforce and their customer centric, perfection driven strategy works. They have an extremely loyal customer base that will and does pay a premium for staying, or holding events at their hotel, which I know is something that every company wants.