Tony Autore, owner of the Cedar Pantry in Cedarville, demonstrates an aspect of customer service covered at the “Beyond Service With a Smile” seminar, hosting a customer appreciation day. His was Friday, May 21. Here, Ken Drenth accepts a bag of chips while Sharon and Ray DeYoung wait their turn. Tourists may by attracted by the natural beauty and relaxed, friendly pace of communities in Mackinac County, said MSU Extension director Michelle Walk, but it could ultimately be the customer service experience in these locales that keeps them coming back for more.

“As a tourist destination, we need to view our community as a product or service,” Ms. Walk said. “Part of what people are looking for when they travel is an authentic experience.”

Tips on how to do this, as well as how to improve basic customer service skills, were offered at a Thursday, May 13, “Beyond Service With a Smile: Hospitality and Customer Service in a Tourist Town” seminar held at the Cedarville Inn. This event featured both a morning and afternoon session and was attended by employees from Cedar Cove, the Cedarville Inn, Cedar Pantry, War Memorial Hospital in Sault Ste. Marie, and local financial institutions, among many other local businesses.

Key themes were to be positive in regard to the workplace and the community, to understand the value of customers, to remain nonconfrontational during complaint resolution, and to practice proper telephone etiquette.

Almost eight in 10 customers who take their business elsewhere, research suggests, do so because they were dissatisfied with the level of service they received.

Being positive about the community can be as simple as ensuring employees do not speak ill of local employers or services and that they act like they want to be at work, which may be communicated through a smile, enthusiasm, and good posture.

“Eye contact helps connect with customers,” Ms. Walk said. “For that moment, they know you're focused on them.”

Knowing what's going on in a community or where to go for that information is also helpful. Employees who've lived in a tourist town their entire lives may become desensitized to what it is that makes their community so special.

Increased customer traffic during the summer and its side effects should always be viewed positively, Ms. Walk said, since tourist traffic helps a community thrive. Increased street traffic means there are more contributions being made to the local economy. When tourists ask questions, that means they are interested in the community.

“Customers are our reason for being and should be the most important person to an organization,” she said. “They are not an interruption of our work, but are the reason for the work.”

Even if a customer has a misunderstanding about a policy or service, it is important to remember that whatever the customers perceive is the reality a customer service representative must work with. Problemsolving involves acknowledging customer problems as they are presented, assessing the situation, and affirming an employee's understanding of the problem. Only after those steps are taken, can the two parties work to find a solution.

Even though no one wants a dissatisfied customer, a company is given a chance to shine in this situation when it demonstrates a willingness to help .

“If you can identify that customers have a problem and can help them to resolve it, they'll often become some of your most loyal customers,” Ms. Walk said.

Not every customer is expecting to be compensated for their difficulty. Some are just seeking to be heard.

“Customer service personnel should listen to their problem without interruption,” Ms. Walk said. “A lot of time people just want to vent; they don't really want much. I would hope, as employees or business managers and owners, that the individual listening would want to know what's wrong.”

When a customer is irate or unreasonable to begin with, listening may be enough to defuse the situation, or it may open another avenue to become increasingly agitated.

“If you have someone who's really giving you problems, look them in the eye and ask, 'What would it take to resolve this for you?'” Ms. Walk said. “Sometimes they didn't think far enough to come up with a solution, but this method brings them back to the problem at hand. This is important because they may go off in many different directions if they are really upset.”

How these situations are handled is critical to a company's reputation, Ms. Walk said.

“Quite often, people remember a negative experience more so than the positive experiences,” she said. “Dissatisfied customers will badmouth the company by telling between eight to 10 other people about their negative experience.”

Additionally, she said it has become even easier for a customer's feedback to reach a larger audience through social networking sites on the Internet .

“Thankfully, for business owners, positive feedback is making its way onto these sites, and not solely negative responses,” she said.

Another key component is that people who interact with the public need to realize a customer's time is just as valuable as their money.

“A customer who walks in while an employee is on the phone should always be acknowledged,” Ms. Walk said. “If he or she has to wait in a long line for someone to become available, he or she should always be thanked for waiting.”

Ms. Walk said people get especially frustrated by long waits on the phone and being passed down the line.

Ways to alleviate these concerns and present a friendlier personality on the phone were discussed, including taking a deep breath before answering the phone, letting the customer know to whom they are being transferred (both name and title), and listening long enough to know who can solve the problem.

Common Customer Complaints

Michelle Walk, MSU Extension director for Mackinac County,

presented a list of common customer complaints, including:

• Promises not delivered • Service that was rude and inefficient • Conflicting messages from employees • Misinformation • Delays or long waits • Defective or inferior products • Feelings of being dismissed or discounted • Questionable business integrity