{"id":215,"date":"2024-04-09T02:50:07","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T02:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mastertheevent.com\/?p=215"},"modified":"2024-04-09T02:50:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T02:50:07","slug":"are-event-planners-accepting-lower-customer-service-standards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mastertheevent.com\/are-event-planners-accepting-lower-customer-service-standards\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Event Planners Accepting Lower Customer Service Standards?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_65 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-662c854190f0d\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-662c854190f0d\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/mastertheevent.com\/are-event-planners-accepting-lower-customer-service-standards\/#Customer_Service_Standards_Are_Playing_Second_Fiddle_to_Technology\" title=\"Customer Service Standards Are Playing Second Fiddle to Technology\">Customer Service Standards Are Playing Second Fiddle to Technology<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/mastertheevent.com\/are-event-planners-accepting-lower-customer-service-standards\/#See_also_Are_Event_Planning_Standards_Slipping\" title=\"See also:&nbsp;Are Event Planning Standards Slipping?\">See also:&nbsp;Are Event Planning Standards Slipping?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/mastertheevent.com\/are-event-planners-accepting-lower-customer-service-standards\/#The_Disney_Corporation_Is_an_Example_of_an_Organization_With_Excellent_Customer_Service_Standards\" title=\"The Disney Corporation Is an Example of an Organization With Excellent Customer Service Standards\">The Disney Corporation Is an Example of an Organization With Excellent Customer Service Standards<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/mastertheevent.com\/are-event-planners-accepting-lower-customer-service-standards\/#Event_planners_can_be_a_tough_bunch_After_all_their_very_business_depends_on_their_own_customers_being_happy_with_their_experience_As_we_will_begin_to_explore_here_its_vital_that_event_planners_and_the_hospitality_industry_as_a_whole_get_back_to_basics_regarding_establishing_excellent_customer_service_standards\" title=\"Event planners can be a tough bunch. After all, their very business depends on their own customers being happy with their experience. As we will begin to explore here, it\u2019s vital that event planners, and the hospitality industry as a whole, get back to basics regarding establishing excellent customer service standards.\">Event planners can be a tough bunch. After all, their very business depends on their own customers being happy with their experience. As we will begin to explore here, it\u2019s vital that event planners, and the hospitality industry as a whole, get back to basics regarding establishing excellent customer service standards.<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<p>With technology, event planners have become quite efficient at planning and executing events. But, are we starting to overlook customer service standards? This is a discussion that I plan to continue having with event planners over the several weeks\/months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Customer_Service_Standards_Are_Playing_Second_Fiddle_to_Technology\"><\/span>Customer Service Standards Are Playing Second Fiddle to Technology<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When I started out in the hospitality industry, I was fortunate enough to have worked with a ma\u00eetre d\u2019 that put good customer service above everything else. It was the days where \u201cthe customer is always right\u201d was front and center. Of course there were also established service standards that played a vital role in the overall operation as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I can\u2019t help notice whenever I\u2019m at a networking event, or a food and beverage function, there seems to be a lack of service standards. It\u2019s not that the service staff aren\u2019t friendly enough. It\u2019s a combination of several little things that add up. How many times have you seen the service staff put their fingers inside of the glasses to remove them from your table? Or, while being served, you\u2019re not sure whether the server is coming from your right or your left and therefore you end up looking like you\u201dre in a game of dodge-ball. Yes there are standards that establish from which side you should be served for both food and beverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now a lot of people that I relay this conversation too will say \u201cwell, that\u201ds just the type of venue that you\u2019re frequenting\u201d. I wish that were true. However, some of these places have been the four and five star venues that are the talk of the town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m finding that venues, restaurants, etc. are spending a considerable amount of time on the decor, the food, and really good-looking service staff. And I completely understand why that\u201ds very important. But I also feel that some of these well-established venues are overlooking the very basic customer service standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it\u2019s not just the event planning industry. I think this is going to be and all around crisis very soon. The other day I was standing in line at a grocery store. I just happen to be paying attention to the cashier and the customer that was in front of me. What struck me funny (not in the funny ha ha way) was that the cashier never spoke one single word to the customer. When I approached the cashier I couldn\u2019t help but comment. I said to the woman; \u201cdo you realize that you just did a complete transaction without speaking one word to that customer\u201d. Well of course the cashier blushed and was completely embarrassed. Which was not the point I was trying to make. I was just simply astonished that this is what is accepted as customer service standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"See_also_Are_Event_Planning_Standards_Slipping\"><\/span>See also:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20201130084121\/http:\/\/mastertheevent.com\/are-event-planning-standards-slipping\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Are Event Planning Standards Slipping?<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Disney_Corporation_Is_an_Example_of_an_Organization_With_Excellent_Customer_Service_Standards\"><\/span>The Disney Corporation Is an Example of an Organization With Excellent Customer Service Standards<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I was fortunate enough to have been sent on a Disney management training course early on in my career. There were several takeaways that I learned during that course. One of the things that has stuck with me was how they operated their human resources department. We actually went through the selection and hiring process so we could get a good understanding of a potential employee\u2019s experience with Disney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Disney\u2019s philosophy towards customer service standards was that you can teach people technology, but you cannot teach people personality. In other words, they would hire front-line employees that didn\u2019t necessarily have the greatest technological skills for operating various equipment. But what they looked for in those front-line employees was whether or not their personality was a match for the image of what Walt Disney represents. And you see it in all of their employees. They do not wait for you to approach them to say hello.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve made a point to employ that philosophy throughout my career whenever I was in a position of hiring front-line employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Event_planners_can_be_a_tough_bunch_After_all_their_very_business_depends_on_their_own_customers_being_happy_with_their_experience_As_we_will_begin_to_explore_here_its_vital_that_event_planners_and_the_hospitality_industry_as_a_whole_get_back_to_basics_regarding_establishing_excellent_customer_service_standards\"><\/span>Event planners can be a tough bunch. After all, their very business depends on their own customers being happy with their experience. As we will begin to explore here, it\u2019s vital that event planners, and the hospitality industry as a whole, get back to basics regarding establishing excellent customer service standards.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With technology, event planners have become quite efficient at planning and executing events. But, are we starting to overlook customer service standards? This is a discussion that I plan to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mastertheevent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mastertheevent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mastertheevent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mastertheevent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mastertheevent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mastertheevent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":216,"href":"https:\/\/mastertheevent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions\/216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mastertheevent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mastertheevent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mastertheevent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}