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Extra Features and Video Online FloristsReview.com R E A D O N L I N E 55 theme parks, hotels and resorts; and e Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, which is, perhaps, the most frequently cited exemplar of customer service in today's business world. en put the customer service experience you want into one short sentence. To get you started thinking, here is some information about e Ritz- Carlton's customer service that should pique your interest: ree tenets of e Ritz-Carlton's customer service are 1) a warm and sincere greeting, using the guest's name; 2) anticipation and fulfillment of each guest's needs; and 3) a fond and sincere farewell. Additionally, the use of certain "signature" phrases—including "My pleasure," "Right away" and "Certainly"—unifies e Ritz-Carlton employees around a shared identity and contributes to the distinctive "Ritz style." (A short list of words and phrases to be avoided—at all costs— includes "No problem," "OK," "hey," "folks" and "you guys.") And if that's not enough, digest this: e Ritz- Carlton's famous "$2,000 Rule" gives each employee a stipend of $2,000 to immediately remediate any customer service issue without having to ask a manager. is policy is most definitely one you should borrow and adapt for your business. Hyken says that the vision for his business is encapsulated in three words: "Always be amazing." Why? "We want to be amazing not only to our clients but also to the people who work here," he explains. "And we teach our clients to be amazing to their customers, guests or members." 2. Communicate your customer service vision constantly and continuously. Keep it front and center. 3. Train everyone to your vision, whether they're customer facing or not. Even if your employees are in the backroom making arrangements and never see or speak to customers, their work still impacts your customer service. Everyone behind the scenes supports the customer- facing people, so they're just as important to the process. 4. Be a role model. If you're the owner or manager, lead by example. Act the way you want the rest of your employees to act. Stephen Covey wrote, "Integrity is, fundamentally, the value we place on ourselves. It's our ability to make and keep commitments to ourselves (and to others)—to 'walk our talk.'" When Walt Disney walked through his theme parks, he would stoop and pick up litter and throw it away. "Mr. Disney called that 'stooping to excellence,'" Hyken shares. "As a leader, if Mr. Disney walked past a piece of paper, he gave permission for every employee to walk past litter and not throw it away." In the best companies, the leaders and managers don't just tell the employees what to do; they set examples for their employees. is doesn't mean you have to set yourself up as some paragon of virtue, but if you expect certain things from your employees, you must also do those things yourself. 5. Defend your vision if somebody falls out of alignment. Hyken explains, "Say I had an employee who showed up late every day, walked in like a tornado, hurried to sit down at his or her desk and disrupted everyone else doing their work. After a few days, I bring him or her in and say, 'We've talked about this. What's our motto and mantra here? You know it is "Always be amazing." Do you think that showing up late every day is 'amazing'? No, it's not." It's important to guide an employee back into alignment; otherwise, you will likely deteriorate your customers' experience and damage the morale of your employees. 6. Celebrate it when it works. Let your employees know when they're doing a great job. After all, they are the ones keeping you in business, so reward them with perks, prizes, bonuses and even raises when they do good work. When you talk to your employees, ask them for examples of when they created a positive experience for a customer. en, ask them to share their examples at team meetings, and talk to everybody about them. "I refer to that as creating service awareness," Hyken says. "We are making people aware of the moments. And when they share it with others, it means they really recognize 'Oh, this is what I'm supposed to be doing,' and you get to congratulate them." Creating "Five-star" Processes That Work Many customer service authorities agree that there are key tenets of good customer service; here are eight that are widely accepted as essential: Respect, Patience, Empathy, Competency, Personalization, Convenience, Responsiveness and Proactivity (remember e Ritz- Carlton's "anticipation … of each guest's needs"?). Say you suddenly find yourself out of baby's-breath. Or maybe your sale ad shows featured arrangements in red

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