The hospitality industry is known for providing stellar customer service. It’s how the industry thrives. The industry is not only selling a room at a hotel, an entrée at a restaurant or a drink at the bar, but an experience. That selling point is one car wash owners and operators can learn from and apply to their own business in order to differentiate from the car wash across town.

If you’re unsure of where to start, Matthew A. Woodruff, senior vice president of guest and brand excellence for Hospitality Ventures Management Group, said first it’s important to look at and understand the difference between customer service and hospitality.

“When you think of customer service in the car wash industry, it’s getting the car washed, the ability to vacuum,” Woodruff said. “If I owned a car wash, I would separate myself by doing those things really well. I would also ask myself, ‘Is my car wash clean, freshly painted, easy to use, are employees in uniform?’”

But the hospitality part of the equation goes further. It’s about getting to the customer’s heart and thinking about what can be done to differentiate from the rest.

“Create an emotional connection,” Woodruff said. “Do something that gets to your customers’ hearts.”

Another small gesture that can go a long way would be to leave a note card thanking the customer for choosing your car wash after detailing or vacuuming inside the car. It doesn’t cost much, and it helps form a connection with the customer.

“Really understand that when the customer pulls into your car wash, they truly do have a choice,” Woodruff said. “They could either pick another car wash near you or they could have stayed at home and washed their car, but they chose you. By them choosing you, that’s what’s enabling you to run your business to earn a living.”

Don’t ignore complaints

No matter how much hospitality and customer service you provide, customer complaints are inevitable. But that doesn’t mean you have to lose a customer. According to Woodruff, a complaining customer can turn into a loyal customer. Which can be a boon to business, since loyal customers are worth up to 10 times as much as their first purchase, on average, according to the White House Office of Consumer Affairs.

Woodruff said customers might not always be right, but they are always customers. “No matter what, have that mindset. Take care of the customer and make it right.”

He said that even if you truly believe the customer isn’t right but you offer something to appease him or her, such as a free car wash, odds are years from now you won’t dwell on the fact that someone got a freebie, but you will have potentially recovered a customer’s experience and avoided negative word of mouth.

“The first thing is, you have to truly in your heart want to wow the customer,” he said. “A complaint is an opportunity to recognize that something is wrong with your service, and now that you know, you have an opportunity to fix it.”

He said to resist the urge to feel defensive when there’s a complaint. Approach the situation in a different way, because your goal is to wow the customer. Even though a customer might be unhappy now, that doesn’t mean he or she can’t walk away happy and feeling as if excellent customer service was provided.

Online reviews matter in service

The digital world has given customers the ability to quickly share information. That includes both positive and negative feedback about your business. It’s important to manage your online reputation because a customer’s service experience can start when reading reviews online.

“Digital provides a vehicle and channel where future guests can take a peek under the hood,” said Justin Harkey, director of food and beverage for First Hospitality Group. “You can put these things onto the great beyond that is the internet and it lives there forever. If someone has a poor experience and shares that, it’s a huge billboard for all to see.”

Sixty-eight percent of people say online reviews make them trust a local business more, according to data from Vendasta, a Canadian computer software company. Forty percent of customers form an opinion by reading one to three reviews, while 88 percent form an opinion by reading up to 10 reviews, according to the data. What’s more: 88 percent of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

But it’s not enough to just have an online review presence.

“Engagement is key no matter what,” Harkey said. While it’s important to respond to online reviews, he cautions not to become “overzealous.” For example, if a customer leaves a short, positive review that is only one sentence, there’s no need to respond with a four-paragraph response. Match the response length to the review length. In cases like this, a simple, ‘Thank you for your review; we can’t wait to see you again’ will suffice.”

Not yet aware of what your business’ online feedback presence looks like? Woodruff encourages owners to take control of that online presence. He said the first step is to search for your business online and see what type of feedback you’re receiving and on which review sites.

“Read them, be aware of them and check them frequently,” Woodruff said.

When responding, make sure to thank the customer for taking the time to write the review. He urges to never get defensive when responding to negative reviews. Instead, ask yourself why is it you are first learning about the dissatisfaction online instead of hearing about it and having the opportunity to make it right before it gets to print.

“It goes back to training and engagement,” he said. “If you’re interacting with the customer, you would learn about [dissatisfaction] quickly, and it wouldn’t even get to the online review.”

If a problem is mentioned in an online review and you want to offer a customer something such as a complimentary car wash, Woodruff says to take that communication offline. During that offline communication, you can offer the customer a comp or special promotion to make up for the complaint. It’s better not to advertise that a complaint online will equal a free car wash because you may find some people will complain just because they know a freebie follows, Woodruff said.

Woodruff said potential customers also use online reviews to find something new or different from the run-of-the-mill experience. They look to online reviews for clues that their experience at your business will be better than an experience elsewhere.

“It’s important to help the customer through the clutter and find an experience that might be different or even an experience they want to avoid,”
he said.

Show customers your heart

When it comes to providing great hospitality to your guests and responding to customer complaints, Matthew A. Woodruff, senior vice president of guest and brand excellence for Hospitality Ventures Management Group, said it pays to show HEART.

Hear your customer. Are you really listening to your customer? Stop, listen and hear what your customer is saying.

Empathize. By hearing your customer, you are better equipped to be empathetic to your customer’s experience.

Apologize. Hearing your customer and having empathy will allow for a sincere apology. Whether you agree or not, your customer hasn’t been wowed with your service. Apologize for that.

React. This is where you can make it all up to your customer and hopefully turn him or her into a loyal one moving forward. Don’t get defensive. Use the complaint as a learning opportunity to serve better in the future. Come to a solution with your customer to recover the service.

Thank your customer. Be sincere, and realize the customer has brought to your attention something that can help you deliver better service to other guests.