The Capital Chapter’s January program, entitled “Legendary Customer Service Secrets from The Ritz-Carlton,” was a fresh and innovative look at client service from an alternate service industry’s perspective. Diana Oreck, Vice President of the Leadership Center at The Ritz-Carlton, spoke to a large group on a very chilly afternoon in DC at The Ritz-Carlton West End and was both charismatic and incredibly knowledgeable. The Ritz-Carlton founded the Leadership Center in 1999 as a brand extension of the hotel chain in order to provide classes, keynote speakers and on-site workshops, and advisory services to other companies wishing to improve their customer service approaches. Diana shared what she referred to as “golden nuggets” of wisdom about what makes The Ritz-Carlton’s approach so successful.
“The values, mission and vision of your organization must be known, owned and energized every day by all employees,” Diana touts, pointing out that driving service excellence starts with having the right leadership in place. The managing partner of your firm must “not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk” and cannot allocate their responsibility in driving the firm’s culture to anyone else. The best leaders want to inspire their employees to bring their passion to work every day, and illustrate for them the difference between their function and their purpose. Diana gives the example of a housekeeper in a hotel; the housekeeper’s function is to clean bathrooms and change bed linens, but the real purpose of a housekeeper is to “create a home for their guests during their stay at The Ritz-Carlton.”
Leadership must explain how each and every employee’s purpose is part of the bigger picture. This is especially important in law firm culture where many of the staff members are non-attorneys, but are intrinsically valuable parts of the team. The Ritz-Carlton does not refer to any of its employees by their designated job description, but instead greets every as their “ladies and gentlemen” regardless of status in the company. This allows everyone to feel that their opinion and input matter. Also, Diana pointed out that many times receptionists or secretaries are the first point of contact with a client, and they must realize how important and valuable their interactions with clients are. “Customers judge the quality of your institution buy the responsiveness of the first person they come into contact with to discuss their problem.”
It is no surprise that most companies have the desire to give great service to their clients. However, functional service values (for example: in a hotel, cleanliness) only matter when they are not present. The simplest of routine client service details may fall by the wayside if they are not constantly monitored and reinvented to ensure the best service is being delivered. Diana explains that we are no longer in a transactional economy, where a deposit or withdrawal would be all that mattered in a bank, or a procedure in a hospital. The modern day client wants better service than what is simply expected of the service provider. She points out, “It is the companies that are creating unique, memorable experiences that are creating market share. Human relationships trump financial benefit any day.” Our clients are no longer looking for just a solution to a problem; they want a trusted advisor whom they can continue to go to in both proactive and reactionary situations, and forming that relationship is very valuable.
The Ritz-Carlton staff uses a quality preference sheet that is part of their daily uniform, which helps their employees to pick up preferences about each guest as your stay elapses and note them in the computer system. This is similar to noting details about clients within your firm’s CRM to provide better service as you cross-sell internally and provide multiple practice areas’ services to the same clients. Diana even divulged that the hotel chain is beginning to instruct their housekeeping staff to investigate what food and beverage waste is left in each room, and note it for your next stay. If you throw away a wrapper from a specific candy, you may find your room stocked with that candy on your next trip.
While The Ritz-Carlton strives to present impeccable service 100% of the time, this standard is clearly unachievable. Because of this, the hotel grants a theoretical stipend to each employee each day in order to help them rectify any situations which have rendered a guest unhappy. By alleviating the issue of cost incurred by the employee to find the most efficient way to satisfy the customer’s need, the hotel has found that employees are more likely to find a remedy than to pass the buck on to another employee. It is important for the first person notified of a less than satisfactory experience to do the best they can to remedy the situation, rather than assuming it is someone else’s job to do so. Easily translatable to the topic of client-interviews in law firms, Diana says, “I truly believe that feedback is a gift; there is no room for defensiveness in business. Even an angry client is still a client, and that presents the opportunity to make it right.”
The January program was a thought-provoking, engaging look at client service that was easily relatable from one industry to another. Our February program, to be held at the Grand Hyatt, will be entitled “Top Chef: Innovation in Websites” and will feature Burkey Belser, President, Greenfield/Belser Ltd. We hope to see you there on February 20th!
By: Jenna O’Connor, Director of Marketing, Rosenberg Martin Greenberg, LLP (Baltimore, MD) for the January/February 2013 Issue of the Capital Ideas Newsletter