When we hear about wonderful service in our industry, it seems always to be performed by someone who is seated.
Strategies for dealing with clients are almost always chair-based: This is how you answer the phone; this is how you turn a prospect into a sale as the poor innocent sits across from you wondering what you are able to see on your magic travel screen.
But there is, I believe, something simple, elegant and important about meeting a customer face to face and rising to the occasion. We need to stand up for our customers. We need to approach them, to get beyond whatever barriers they may have erected.
I've learned a great deal about customer service from folks who were on their feet. I'd like to share a few recent examples with you.
My wife and I stopped in for dinner at New Orleans' famed Commander's Palace restaurant. As we walked in, the maitre d' acknowledged us, walked around from behind his station, shook our hands and introduced himself.
"Is this your first visit with us?" he inquired.
"Why yes," I responded, somewhat surprised by his move into our space and his interest in a warm and personal introduction.
He seemed to get excited, saying, "I'm going to make sure you have a great table and one of my very best waiters."
When the waiter arrived at our table, we also shook hands. He said he wanted this night to be special for us and explained that he could "have the chefs cook anything you like, however you like it."
We had just come in off the street. We had no reservation. But we did have a memorable dining experience.
As we were leaving, the waiter excused himself from another table, quickly came up to us to say goodbye and then, just as quickly, fished out a business card.
"I really enjoyed taking care of you tonight, and y'all just ring me up the next time you come and I'll have everything set up for your visit."
The maitre d' noticed we were leaving and quickly gave us his card, as well, and thanked us.
How different is this from the manner in which restaurants typically treat their guests?
The take-away, I think, is that a travel agency can differentiate itself by doing any number of little things to elevate the client experience.
Always rise when guests enter your office. Make them feel that they are always dealing with "one of our most experienced ... ." Give them business cards with special access phone numbers, email addresses, even home numbers.
Standing is something the management team at Montage Hotels and Resorts does rather well. I had been so impressed with the service levels at the Montage in Laguna Beach, Calif., that I decided to drop in at the brand's new property in Beverly Hills.
This first new hotel to grace downtown Beverly Hills in 17 years is a 201-room bastion of luxury situated smack dab in the center of the so-called Golden Triangle. I suppose that is some spot on the map where Gucci meets Cartier and they intersect with Tiffany's.
All I noticed on the drive in from the airport were investment adviser showrooms and high-end offices with discreet signs promoting services for therapists and divorce lawyers.
But pull in to the circular drive of the Montage Beverly Hills and magic happens.
I went back down to the lobby after check-in to see if I could observe how it is that this property and its sister get such rave reviews when it comes to making guests feel special.
What are they doing at the Montage that every other deluxe hotel is not doing?
It is subtle. But eventually, after observing, poking around a bit and asking questions, you discover that management here stands more than it sits.
Managers are in the lobby or, most often, right next to the main bank of elevators. That is the hub of the hotel, the portal through which all guests gain entrance. Management interacts with guests, finding out what they might need and assisting them on the spot. It is anticipatory, stand-up service.
At this hotel, management positions itself where the guests are, and where the guests are is not in some back-of-house suite of offices.
Perhaps the most extreme level of unanticipated stand-up service occurred when my family and I boarded Richard Branson's start-up Virgin Australia to fly nonstop from Los Angeles to Sydney.
Check-in was semi-chaotic, but then we boarded the new 777, and some strange things began to happen.
We were just getting buckled into our seats in business class when I noticed someone standing alongside me. It was one of the flight attendants, who introduced himself and shook my hand. He told me a bit about his background and said he was looking forward to tending to the needs of my family.
I watched as he made a similar stop at the seat of every guest seated in business class. He got to know each, and he asked a few questions about their travel preferences.
Six staff members came up to every passenger during the predeparture phase of the flight to make personal introductions. None of it seemed canned.
They were doing something I had never before seen on an aircraft in any class of service: The entire crew, one by one, met every guest and engaged them before the plane ever took off.
One staff member explained how they prepare food to order so I could eat "anytime you want in the next 14 hours."
My daughter was told that the captain would love to have her visit the cockpit, an idea that delighted her.
Every guest was made to feel special. Every guest knew five or six crew members by name before the plane left the tarmac.
The V Australia crew was not afraid of standing up and stepping into our space to establish more than the usual human interaction.
And just how many times do you think I've recommended their services since flying with them?
So, three stories about standing up and greeting people in a truly open and helpful way. No scripts. No recordings that say, "We value your business." No hold time.
This business is still all about relationships, and no one in our industry should think that we can't do better than we're doing at the retail level.
Contributing editor Richard Turen owns Churchill and Turen, a vacation-planning firm that has been named to Conde Nast Traveler's list of the World's Top Travel Specialists since the list began. Contact him at [email protected].