At its heart, customer experience is the acknowledgement that everyone is an individual, and in response tailoring our behaviour to provide memorable moments.
We have been successful when the whole experience from start to finish becomes a positive memory; one that is revisited and comes up in conversation.
In property management this means there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to providing exceptional customer service. We aim to create a unique identity for each asset, making it a real destination that people want to visit. In order to do this we focus on all the small touch points from car parking on arrival, to recommending local restaurants and businesses on departure. The aim is to ensure all these small moments add up to create a long lasting positive impression.
Organising events such as yoga classes or hosting a cheese and wine night can be powerful tools that helps different occupiers of the same building bond. We are extremely conscious and considerate of the impact we have on our communities, both inside and outside of the property.
For those who are interacting with our properties and staff we hope to leave them with the feeling that someone has taken the effort to understand their needs, having created solutions to help ease pain points. These pain points are often something that we ‘deal with’ in almost an unconscious way, but a small action such as a receptionist taking the time to check in a bag and coat can make a massive difference to someone’s experience whilst visiting a building.
Going beyond expectations
Making sure our people feel liberated and empowered within their roles allows them to look beyond their day job and encourages them to go the extra mile to help others at every opportunity. This allows our people to attend to the needs of our customer without any limitations on the things they can and cannot do.
One example that I feel really demonstrates exceptional customer experience that I have come across was when a front of house staff member helped an occupier of the building they managed book their holiday as they’d mentioned they were short on time. After taking a quick brief on location and timeframes, they emailed over four options of suitable holidays and ended up booking one! What I love about this is that it truly demonstrates that the nature of customer experience is beyond the four walls of an asset.
At this moment in time, creating a sense of belonging is more important than ever and will be crucial in helping people return to the office in a way they feel safe and comfortable. Those who are charged with creating exceptional customer experience have a crucial role to play as we all work out the new normal and just what is needed from the modern-day office.
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About the author:
Zohaib Razvi is a hospitality management professional with more than 15 years’ of experience working with some of the world’s most renowned luxury hotels including The Royal Horseguards Hotel, The Grosvenor Hotel and The Tower Hotel in London. He has designed and launched Colliers customer experience service line Beyond.
To contact Zohaib, email Zohaib.Razvi@colliers.com