Is it frustrating to make a phone call and to transferred elsewhere, or to email someone and get an "out of office" with a note your email has been forwarded? No - a single transfer is acceptable on the lines of "I'm putting you through to Lisa who can take your room details" or "I've forwarded your email to Christine who will get back to you with catering options". And if Lisa, Christine, Tom, Dick, Harry or the other area expert isn't available to take a transfer, then taking a note of the call's details and question and promising a call back - with a given timescale and the name of the call returner stated - is good practise. The more so if the person has actually researched the answer when they call back.

I sent out a batch of emails yesterday ... and some of them bounced via "vacation" programs. Those that say "your email has been forwarded" need no further action on my part and I can smile. Those that give me alternative contacts that I have to re-email make me grit my teeth and do that extra bit of work. And when I've done that extra work, those that come back from the alternative contact's "vacation" program too have me rolling my eyes to the ceiling and saying 'what a shower'. The reponse that tells me that my new contact is out of the office moving house from 3rd to 5th September and I should get back in touch with the person I contacted in the first place really takes the biscuit!

I don't use a vacation program. Period. I tell people I'll email them back within 48 hours (but often achieve much better), and if I'm away and happen to be unable to check in, alternative arrangements are made to maintain service without troubling the original emailer.

Moving more into the general business line with hotel phone calls, we should be looking to maintain the same standard. Personally, I find phone calls intrusive as they pull me off concentrated effort, but there are time that they're appropriate - emergencies, things that would take an age of back-and-forth emailing, and so on. And I shouldn't let my personal bias effect the standard we offer.

Conscious effort to be made. (1) - phone calls on ANY of our lines to be answered with a clear statement of who we are, who is speaking, and an offer to help. (2) - a target that 80% of hotel queries and 40% of training queries can be answered by the person who picks the call up. (3) - a caller should never be told to call another number. Rather, we collect details and one of us calls back if need be; target time given to customer and (hotel side) "within the hour" sounds good to me.

"Bounce, bounce bounce" I started this piece - and that didn't relate to bouncing happily along. Bouncing contacts from pillar to post rapidly takes the spring out of them. We've been past masters at responding to training queries in "mint on the pillow" mode and we're learning and targetting the same on the hotel.
(written 2007-01-20, updated 2007-01-30)

 G501 - Well House Consultants - Customer Service
  [3378] New product - ensuring that supply matches demand - (2011-08-03)
  [3294] It's not just about the jam in the sandwich - (2011-05-19)
  [3271] The importance of feedback - (2011-04-30)
  [3103] Thank you - and Happy Christmas - (2010-12-24)
  [3073] Customer Service - the boundary - (2010-11-27)
  [2961] Initial handling of phone calls and walk in visitors - (2010-09-19)
  [2880] Getting in touch - Please allow me to see you when you are online - (2010-07-21)
  [2650] Getting a phone line changed ... - (2010-02-25)
  [2530] Taking a knock over Santa - (2009-12-08)
  [2258] Questions I have been asked on answering the phone - (2009-06-26)
  [2236] Alumni - revisiting and supporting the old University - (2009-06-13)
  [2124] Building down expectations - (2009-04-09)
  [2102] What do people think of our Apache httpd / Tomcat course? - (2009-03-24)
  [2049] Why Choose Well House Consultants for your course? - (2009-02-20)
  [2015] Service Excellence Awards - (2009-01-30)
  [1991] Rules for a King - (2009-01-13)
  [1985] Learning to program as a part of your job - (2009-01-10)
  [1835] 23:30 bookings and midnight checkins - (2008-10-12)
  [1637] Providing exceptional service - and carrying on doing so. - (2008-05-09)
  [1606] Sheep Shearers, Marathon Runners and Ocean Sailors - (2008-04-09)
  [1516] Pictures you can use - for free - from our library - (2008-01-23)
  [1446] An answer to a student asking 'Help' - (2007-11-27)
  [1434] Market survey - to learn, to prove a point, or to sell your product? - (2007-11-17)
  [1319] Customer feedback - lifeblood of a business - (2007-08-25)
  [1262] Keep in touch with PHP, Perl, Python and old friends too - (2007-07-09)
  [1007] Friends and family - (2006-12-25)
  [966] CSL, KISS and RTFM - (2006-12-05)
  [961] Products that our customers want more of - (2006-12-03)
  [944] Just ******* Google it - (2006-11-25)
  [852] Eventful evening - a lesson in looking after contacts - (2006-09-02)
  [841] Forum help - a push in the right direction - (2006-08-21)
  [725] Better communication - (2006-05-19)
  [717] A customer service company - (2006-05-11)
  [650] A person of few words - (2006-03-18)
  [628] Active Learning - (2006-02-28)
  [621] And the staff put the icing on the cake - (2006-02-23)
  [609] Been on a course, but still not got it? - (2006-02-16)
  [569] Instructions for bright people - (2006-01-19)
  [566] May all your screw-ups be big ones - (2006-01-16)
  [552] Keeping Customers Informed - (2006-01-02)
  [482] Different ways of selling - (2005-11-01)
  [440] Upgrade! - (2005-09-09)
  [393] Trainer answers phone - (2005-07-28)
  [350] Want to be one better - (2005-06-17)
  [327] How far should our support go - (2005-05-28)
  [265] Business practise, 2005 style - (2005-04-03)
  [233] Giving customers best value - (2005-03-02)
  [195] Customer service - examples to warn us - (2005-01-30)
  [189] Tuesdays and Fridays - (2005-01-25)
  [150] Confession - (2004-12-13)
  [126] Feedback shows the tip of an iceberg - (2004-11-22)
  [91] On line every 24 hours - (2004-10-17)
  [72] On Customer Service - (2004-10-03)

M400 - Well House Manor - The Hospitality Business
  [3309] Tipping Policy - Well House Manor - (2011-05-29)
  [3164] Brown - or Mrs Sally Brown, accountant from Whitstable? - (2011-02-10)
  [3147] Hotel star ratings - towards a better system of review - (2011-01-25)
  [2936] The service that customers should receive - (2010-08-27)
  [2879] Night Porter and reception - 24 hours a day? - (2010-07-20)
  [2724] Escapee Grandparents welcome - Henfield and Melksham - (2010-04-15)
  [2593] Food and drink launch - (2010-01-21)
  [2303] Turning potential customers away - (2009-07-24)
  [2283] Everyone is in the customer relations business - (2009-07-12)
  [2007] Launch of Melksham Food and Drink Festival - (2009-01-24)
  [1877] Guests doing a bunk? - (2008-11-09)
  [1792] All the pieces fall into place - hotel and courses - (2008-09-10)
  [1622] An extra step - victory from defeat - (2008-04-25)
  [1548] Hotelympia - show report - the lighter side - (2008-02-21)
  [1445] Looking after you Christmas Customer Crowds - (2007-11-26)
  [1422] Wiltshire - speaker / after dinner talker offer - (2007-11-05)
  [1421] Castle Lodge Hotel, Ely, Cambridgeshire - (2007-11-04)
  [1284] An update on the West Wilts show ... - (2007-07-30)
  [1248] How NOT to oversell a hotel - (2007-06-27)
  [1180] Conjugation - (2007-05-08)
  [1161] A contrast in room rates and facilities - (2007-04-25)
  [1122] Hotel - online feedback forms compared - (2007-03-30)
  [1108] Express service - (2007-03-14)
  [1084] Writing terms and conditions for conferences and other events - (2007-02-17)
  [1048] Getting rid of people - hotel techniques - (2007-01-21)
  [1002] Meet the neighbours - (2006-12-20)
  [988] You should think you're first in a hotel room - (2006-12-15)
  [922] Staying at your own hotel - (2006-11-12)
  [884] Drive time - (2006-10-02)
  [774] Bed and Breakfast, or Hotel? - (2006-06-22)

Back to Bang! Train campaign hits home

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The HTML++ Metalanguage
Java 6, Apache Tomcat 6.
Maintainable code - some positive advice
Bounce, bounce, bounce
Bang! Train campaign hits home
Call for appropriate train services - Swindon, Bristol, Bath, West Wilts, Severn Beach etc
Sending an email from Python
Nested exceptions in Python
Learnt in London - Ruby, Martini, Coral and the Core