Instructional Communications Systems

University of Wisconsin-Extension
The Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street
Madison, WI 53706-1487
Phone: 608-262-4342
Email: info@ics.uwex.edu
Web: www.uwex.edu/ics

Top 10 Principles of Hospitality and Customer Service

10. People go where they’re invited and stay where they’re welcome. 1
This is true whether we’re inviting people in person, in print, on the telephone, on a web site, or
via email. They’ll stay just a little bit longer2 if they feel welcome and comfortable. It’s important
to invite people—through our words, our technologies, our access, our facilities, our actions—and
make them feel welcome.

9. Do you fish with the bait you like or the bait the fish likes?3
What we think is important is secondary. It’s what our customers believe is important that
matters. We need to provide them with the things they like, want, and need.

8. “Nice” and “hospitable” aren’t always synonyms.

People aren’t born with customer service skills. While being nice is obviously important, without
some education and awareness, very nice people can be unintentionally in hospitable. It’s
possible to have a building full of nice folks, but still deliver terrible customer service. How?
Technologies can be unfriendly. Buildings, grounds, and architecture can be unfriendly. Access
can be an inhospitable barrier. Customer service is about people, but it’s not just about people.

7. Three very simple, but effective, customer service techniques are:

a. Be customer-centered, not “we/I”-centered.

Anticipate a problem or walk through a situation or technology or building in
your guest’s shoes.
b. Solve the problem.
That’s all most of us want. We’d love not to have a problem in the first place, but
if we do, please just solve it for us.
c. Be enthusiastic.
Behave as if you want to help, as if you realize you’re in the customer service
business, as if you’re eager to assist, as if you’re getting paid to help people.

6. People reward good service and punish bad service. But customer rewards and
punishments aren’t dealt out evenly.
If customers have experienced exemplary service, they will tell many others. They want to share
their good experience with colleagues, friends, and family. If customers have a bad experience,
though, research shows they will tell many more people about the bad than the good experience.
The specific numbers may change, but this research is universal across all fields.

5. “Work is theater and every business (or conference center) a stage.”4

When we’re interacting with customers, we’re on-stage. Our performance needs to be as flawless
as possible. What will the review be? Five stars? Two thumbs up? Standing ovation? Cautions:
• Avoid out-and-out comedy. (Some gentle humor is fine.)
• Avoid lots of drama. (Drama in customer service is generally a bad thing.)

UW-Extension provides equal opportunities In employment and programming including Title IX and ADA.
4. If something goes wrong, IMMEDIATE service recovery is the key. 5
Research shows that on-the-spot, spectacular service recovery can mean spectacular customer
loyalty. But you can’t send out a survey and then leisurely solve the problem months from now.
Research—and common sense—is clear about that, too.

3. Customer service is important to us as well as our customers.

Like courtesy and etiquette, anticipating and delivering extraordinary customer service makes our
lives and jobs easier. Problems are avoided. Time and money are saved. People are happy. We
ignore customer service at our peril. Why would we want to make our own lives, as well as our
customers’, more difficult?

2. People compare the service they’re receiving now with the best service they’ve ever
received.6

Customer service experiences don’t stay in narrow psychological niches. Ordinarily, people don’t
compare the service they’re receiving on the phone or in person with service received merely
from another conference center. Instead, they compare the current service they’re receiving with
the best they’ve ever experienced—from any place at any time in any way.

1. Customer service goes beyond a smile and helpful information. It’s:

• An attitude about work and people
• Systems
• A philosophy
• Techniques and strategies
• Education and training

1. Jack Gray
2. Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs
3. Jack Gray
4. Pine and Gilmore
5. Chip Bell
6. Chip Bell