I was really lucky to be able to get a week away in February and with a desperate need for some sunshine we plumped for The Gambia; which was everything I dreamt of … sandy beaches, friendly people and a genuine desire to help. And as with our trip to Japan last year I’ve taken more lessons on customer service from our travels.
- Nothing beats a warm welcome.
From the moment we arrived the holiday reps made us feel welcome. They weren’t a tired and hung-over person who couldn’t wait to get us into the coach and away. The gentlemen who greeted us from The Gambian Experience had bright smiles, had positioned themselves so you couldn’t miss them and made us feel as if we were the most important people they had dealt with all day.
As we headed to the coach, another member of the team handed out complimentary cold bottles of water and made sure we knew which coach was ours … no dragging our cases back and forth trying to work out where to go.
That first impression set the scene for the rest of the trip, we felt cared for and safe. It was almost like they had considered how we might feel after a 6-hour flight to a new country and prepared accordingly!
- Give enough information but not too much.
We went on several trips while we were there and on all occasions the tour guides gave us information about what was going to happen. One of our trips included a ferry trip, the party splitting into 2 and then we were off on a jeep before another boat. The guides told us what to expect – an overview of the day and then enough detail for us to know what was going on for the next part of our journey. They didn’t tell us anything about the stage after … they gave us that later.
There is often a desire to give your customer all the information that you have or to go into great detail but that usually means they become overwhelmed. Overwhelmed customers tend to ask many more questions, get grumpy and need more care.
- Put yourself in their shoes.
Not everything went swimmingly! At one point we visited a fishing village … a very smelly fishing village. Everywhere you looked were smoking fish, drying fish, stored fish and fresh fish … literally straight out of the sea.
While we were still on the truck the guide told us where we would be going and what to expect … and then promptly put a mask on, saying he couldn’t stand the smell! We tourists hadn’t bought masks with us so had to follow him through the smelly streets with tissues over our noses if needed.
It was the only time that I felt “lesser”. Had the guide put himself in our shoes he might have considered that we would appreciate masks too, or if that wasn’t possible at least apologised for the fact he didn’t have enough for us all!
- Handle the unexpected with grace.
The Gambia is not a rich country. The electricity and water don’t always work; the roads are often no more than a dirt track and plans change. The guides were calm and confident; they smiled and reassured us … always finding a solution to whatever came up.
The way you respond to the unexpected can change a difficult situation into a disaster or something that’s seen as a hiccup. The problem doesn’t change but your customer’s reaction will be based on what they see you do.
If you’d like some help to make your customers feel special then please download our e-book – “The importance of a warm welcome and … seven simple steps to improve yours”, here.
And if you want some sunshine in February, I can highly recommend The Gambia.
