THE CONTACT WITH THE CUSTOMER, WHEN THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS

CONTACT WITH THE CUSTOMER, WHEN THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS

For a hotel company to be successful in the market, it undoubtedly needs consumers to buy its products and/or services it offers. Knowing what needs the product and service can satisfy in each particular customer is essential to motivate the behavior of detection, approach, acquisition and loyalty of the same by customers.

The above supports the need to contact customers to explore what their needs are, however, many customers are not very accessible to contact and as many employees say “they don't even like to be contacted.”

This behavior of rejection of contact by hotel workers (whether telephone or personal) can be due to various factors, such as:

• The inadequacy of either the moment or the time for contact. There are some hotel companies where it is stipulated to make courtesy calls (the name would have to be changed as these calls are never requested by clients) in the early hours of the morning, even when the client may be resting, so let's remember that they are coming on vacation, and in many cases these calls even become triggers for complaints from customers.
• The non-usefulness of the contact for the guest since it does not provide anything significant for their vacation. On many occasions, clients use these calls to share suggestions, concerns and requirements that are not taken into account or are not adequately followed up, resulting in a rejection of future contacts.

What do we suggest so that this moment of contact with the client has quality for both the client and the hotelier:

1. Adjust the schedule and moment. Knowing what each client's plans are during the day helps a lot to establish the ideal time for both telephone and personal contact.

2. Interact with other sectors of the hotel that may have information about clients, for example:

• Contact the Housekeeper to find out if the rooms of the guests you wish to contact by phone have the Do Not Disturb sign outside to avoid disturbing them.

• Contact Room Service to find out if the rooms of the guests you want to contact have requested any room service and therefore be able to call them.

3. Always start contact by asking how they feel and be genuinely committed to the answers they give.

4. Use information about activities they have done the previous day and initiate contact by asking how they felt about them.

5. Use responses to pending requirements as a conversation starter to get the customer's attention.

6. Have the objective of contact with the client well defined and personalize it so that it does not feel like a routine action.

7. Ask questions that relate to the past, present and future at the time of contact, for example:

Mr. Smith:

How do you feel? (the present)

How did you feel yesterday during the romantic dinner? (last)

What plans do you have today to see if we can assist you in anything? (the future)

8. Listen from postural receptivity, actively and empathically.

Hotel clients come to live memorable experiences that they can take with them as indelible memories and when hoteliers are able to show them that thanks to the information they share they can design positive holistic experiences, then they will be accessible and willing to be contacts because THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEDIA.

Osvaldo Torres