Tailieuxanh ch03 1148

CHAPTER 3
Problem Solving for Guest Service

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
• Contrast the expectations of guests and staff.
• Explain and apply the concept of Red Flags.
• Identify and assess the contradictions behind the premise “the
guest is always right.”
• Identify and apply the five steps to resolve guest issues
utilizing the G.U.E.S.T. method.
• Identify the different types of problem guests and outline
strategies for handling these problems.
• Explain the science of anger and apply specific strategies for
dealing with angry guests.
• Provide an overview of psychological theories and relate them
to customer communications.
Copyright © 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
What do People Really Want?
• At the root of it all, people need to be:

– Heard, understood, and appreciated.
– This is applicable to nearly every relationship and interaction.
• People need:
– To be listened to.
– To be made to feel special.
• People expect their host to:
– Have their best interest at heart.
– Be confident and competent.
– Be believable in their statements and promises.
– Give them what they ask for.
– Surprise them, or at least the customers appreciate being
surprised.
Dealing with Customers
• Popular Advice:
– Don’t punish employees with negative feedback from
the customers.
– Eliminate the complaint department because
complaints should be part of everyone’s job.
– Everyone should be able to, and be responsible for,
handling customer complaints.
– There should be a system in place to train employees
on how to deal with customer issues.
Good Service Often Goes
Unremembered
• It is an exceptional experience that is remembered:
– Exceptionally good, or
– Exceptionally bad.
• We forget mediocrity.
• This leaves us with two options:
– Wow the guest.
– Seize the opportunity to fix it and make it right and
allow the customer to leave feeling special.
Service Recovery
G.U.E.S.T
• G.U.E.S.T.
– An acronym used to remember how to handle
customer complaints or issues.
G—Greet
U—Understand; Listen, Repeat
E—Empathize; Apologize
S—Suggest/Solve
T—Track; Record/Document/Write up
Types of Customers
• Each customer is a bit different.

• You will need to adjust to each:
1. Identify the type of customer you are dealing
with. This may be done by recognizing familiar
catchphrases.
2. Understand where the customer is coming from
because you will need to understand the premise
or motivation behind their type.
3. Use your strategy to find a resolution.
Types of Customers (cont’d)
• Level I: Requires Least Work

– The tactics are relatively harmless traits of humanity, but can detract
from the customer service experience.
– Be ready because these softballs can turn into strikes if you aren’t
prepared.
• Level II—Requires Moderate Work
– Their tactics tend to be more coercive, with a goal of achieving more out
of the situation.
– Boundaries are key to dealing with this group. Realize what you can
give and what you cannot.
• Level III—Requires Substantial Work
– Watch for changing of tactics and escalations of anger.
– Separate these customers from others if they begin to cause a scene.
– Stay focused, respond to the tactic, maintaining professionalism, and
successfully complete the transaction at hand.
Handling Angry Customers
• Difficult to immediately diffuse and resolve

– No longer hearing, comprehending, or thinking with
great rationality.
– Anger often has three phases:
1. Building
2. Exploding
3. Cooling
• It will take some time once they explode.
• Don’t take it personally.
• Mentally remove yourself from the situation.
(cont’d)
• What Is the Primary Goal behind the Anger?
– Fun:
• They have power and actually enjoy anger as a hobby.
– Wear you down:
• They achieve success through repetition.
– Bullies:
• They desire power and often get their way by getting
angry.
– Unexplained:
• Something else bad happened in their life.
– Blame:
• They don’t care who’s to blame.
(cont’d)
When Dealing with Angry People:
• Increase continuous eye contact.
• Focus on the options, not the limitations.
• Involve them if appropriate: How can we solve this?
• Don’t take negative customer comments personally.
• Mentally remove yourself from the situation.
• Let them know when you are thinking or looking or
calling. Don’t just leave to “surprise them.” Instead, let
them know that you are working on the situation.
• Pause to think and pause for emphasis.
(cont’d)
• Try to keep your voice low and quiet.
• Deal with the emotions first. Otherwise, logic won’t be
appreciated.
• Get them out of view if possible.
• Realize that they need to vent.
• Use phrases like: What can I do to help you?
• Think of ways to neutralize the situation?
Handling Personal Stress
• Psychological demands of customer service can be

overwhelming.
• There are three categories:
– Pre-stress
– Occurrence
– Post-stress
• By breaking stress into these categories, it can be
evaluated and monitored more effectively.
Dealing with Other Cultures
• Technology and travel are increasing.

• Majority of new customers come internationally.
• Top priorities:
– Safety
– New experience
– Comprehension of all that is occurring
• Then, consider these tips for delivering proper guest service
to foreign travelers:
– Communicate
– Understand their cultures
– Survey your clients
– Get educated
Staff Expectations
• Make staff expectations clear.

• As a manager, it is important to tell workers during:
– Orientation
– At reviews
– Whenever else reinforcement is needed
• Personal care and attitude are also very important
attributes.
Is the Guest Always Right?
• Should your answer always be yes?

– Always saying yes does not have to imply total
compromise.
– Your answer should be yes, but in a way in which you
can accommodate the customer’s needs.
• Are there limits to what you can do?
– Of course.
• There are budget and legal restrictions.
• Look for alternative win–wins, where you can say
yes while remaining within your limits.
Moments of Truth
• Moments of Truth
– Approach to think about all the little things that go into
quality guest service.
– Jan Carlzon popularized the phrase from his best-
selling book,
– How the service encounter is made up of many
individual moments of truth.
– Within one encounter, there are many points at which
quality guest service can be made or lost.
Watching for Red Flags
• Red Flags = small problems.

• When just a few pop up, most customers are tolerant
because they are resistant to changing their behavior.
• They don’t want to find another place to do business or
stop the transaction midstream.
• Question to ask when evaluating service:
– “Are they getting what they need and expect?”
– Look for the signs.
– Place yourself in their shoes, or try to see it from their
perspective.
Remembering Names
• Listen intently to the pronunciation.

• Repeat it immediately and then at least a few more times
in the conversation.
• Memorize their appearance—anything unique?
• Relate it to something or someone that you know.
Psychological Theories
• Transactional Analysis
– Psychiatrist Dr. Eric Berne first captured the idea.
– Released a book in 1964 entitled Games People Play.
– Devised levels of the closeness that encounters can
experience: withdrawn, ritual, pastimes, games,
activities, and intimacy.
– Its application to the service industry revolutionized
how we deal with customers.
– As a result, the field of customer service adapted many
derivations of this science.
– Referred to anger as a racket, and may be self-
righteous, adversarial, or even fun.
(cont’d)
Transactional Analysis (cont’d)
• There are three types of ego states:
– Parent: People mimic their parents. Some shout, while
others nurture.
– Adult: People are rational, informed, and free from
overwhelming emotion.
– Child: People think, feel, and behave as they did when they
were children.
• He theorized that people interact three different ways:
– Reciprocal: Parent to Parent, Adult to Adult, Child to Child
– Crossed: Parent to Child, Child to Adult
– Covert: When messages have Parent and Child responses
combined.
(cont’d)
• Temperaments
– Meyers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
• Developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter
Isabel Briggs Meyers
• Based on the theory of psychological types originally
outlined by Dr. Jung.
• Used to:
– Explain personalities and temperaments.
– Explain why we do something or may react in a
certain way.
– Understand and relate to others.
(cont’d)
• Temperaments (cont’d)
– It includes four dimensions, producing 16 personality
types.
• How they view the outer world: Extroversion versus
Introversion
• How they take in information: Sensing versus Intuition
• How they make decisions: Thinking versus Feeling
• How they structure things: Judging versus Perceiving
(cont’d)
Temperaments (cont’d)
– Keirsey Temperament Sorter (TSI)
• Produced by David Keirsey,
• Correlates with the MBTI.
• Four different temperament types are produced.
• Serves as quick labels for understanding, communicating, and
relating to personalities. These are:
– Artisans:
» Observant troubleshooters who want to make an impact.
– Guardians:
» Responsible and dutiful organizers.
– Idealists:
» Seek inner meaning, mediate, and use diplomacy.
– Rationals:
» Use self-control and strategy.
(cont’d)
Temperaments (cont’d)
– Emotional Intelligence (EI)
• Popularized by Daniel Goleman
• Developed in the past 20 years.
• Claims that IQ does not tell the whole picture in relating to
others and being successful.
• Uses four dimensions to assess an emotional quotient (EQ).
– Self-awareness: Knowing your emotions
– Self-management: Controlling your emotions
– Social awareness: Knowing others’ emotions
– Relationship management: The ability to manage
interactions with others
• Goleman claims that none of these skills are independently best.
• Instead, a person should be proficient in all to be successful.
Discussion Questions
1. In every service situation, a customer has certain expectations. List and
briefly describe these expectations.
2. Is the guest always right? Explain your argument and provide support for
your answer.
3. Recall a service encounter in which you became angry. Apply it to the
phases of anger and provide five tips for the service provider in dealing
with the situation.
4. What is a red flag? How does it relate to a moment of truth?
5. How does G.U.E.S.T. help a business to train for customer service?
6. Customers have reasons for acting the way they do. Recall four of the
“types” listed in the chapter that apply to you and your personality.
7. Explain the purpose of an anchor when remembering names.
8. List three reasons why you would have to politely tell a guest, “No.”
9. What should you do after a stressful guest-contact situation? List ways to
effectively handle the situation.
10. Explain why mediocre service often goes unremembered.

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CHAPTER 3

Problem Solving for Guest Service

• At the root of it all, people need to be:

• Each customer is a bit different.

• Level I: Requires Least Work

• Difficult to immediately diffuse and resolve

• Psychological demands of customer service can be

• Technology and travel are increasing.

• Make staff expectations clear.

• Should your answer always be yes?

• Red Flags = small problems.

• Listen intently to the pronunciation.

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