Mike Hart, front of a house manager at Imago Venues’ flagship venue – Burleigh Court Conference Centre and Hotel – explains how he turned its NET Promoter score in to 100% for January 2019

Imago Venues is driven by our customer service strategy and excellent customer service is at the heart of everything we do. We like to refer to it as “the Imago way”.

This is reflected in the rise of our net promoter score of 100% for January, which is a 13% rise on the previous year. Our target is 85% but we are always striving for better.

So how did we reach 100%?

We attribute this score to the relationship we build and nurture with our customers and our staff, who are consistently providing the best possible level of customer care. We listen to our customers, understand their needs and try to solve their problems, often before they have seen a problem for themselves. We are continually evolving to meet their changing expectations.

Plan ahead and review

It’s important for us to plan, review, and communicate effectively with each other.

We have various meetings with staff, at all levels, to talk about all areas of the business and ways we can improve it. This includes daily, weekly, and monthly meetings.

We look ahead and contact our guests to solve any potential issues before they arrive. By understanding their objectives and learning what they like, we can often pre-empt problems or make suggestions that might better achieve their aims.

We also review customer feedback to see where we can improve. It’s important to be honest and accepting of feedback. We might disagree with someone’s interpretation but, if that is their perception of a situation, then it is perfectly valid. In that sense, the customer is indeed always right!

We listen

It’s important for us to listen to what our customers are telling us. We don’t always get it right and, when we make mistakes, we learn the experience and fix it.

On top of this, we actively encourage our staff to come up with new ideas of how we can improve the customer experience. They are often the best placed people to make small changes that have a big impact on the customer experience.

Ideas can be as simple as buying a bagel slicer to make it easier for the customers to cut the bagels more evenly. The small things really do matter and our customers deserve that attential to detail.

Measure

A positive culture of continuous improvement is embedded throughout the organisation, along with a sense of urgency and a drive to adapt to change. We have a customer feedback tracker that is shared with everyone so they know if we are on track. We have monthly customer service update reports and we reward and recognise our staff.

Create a ‘no blame’ culture

We train all of our staff so they feel empowered to take ownership of situations and deal with any problems straight away. They will often be the only member of staff in possesion of the full picture and, armed with the company values, may be best placed to make a judgement.

This means our guests know they will be looked after immediately and feel like their concerns have been acted on quickly and not passed on to someone else.

Imago promotes a ‘no blame’ culture whereby our staff are encouraged to try new ideas to move the organisation forward.

Recruitment and training

We provide excellent customer service by continuously investing in the recruitment and training of our staff to ensure they are well trained, friendly and welcoming. That’s why we are about to launch our very own and pioneering Imago Training Academy which will be unparalleled in our industry. We want our staff to develop themselves and to feel valued, and it’s important for us to ensure there is a low level of staff turn-over.

We now have a designated conference and events manager who meets and looks after our conference organisers and guests. This has made a huge difference to our scores and is key to our success.

Job swaps

We encourage job swaps to create a greater understanding and respect for other people’s roles and to create an opportunity for promotion or sideways moves.

It important that all of our staff are encouraged to look beyond their individual job role and broaden their horizons, so they grow as individuals.

We know what our guests want

It’s crucial that every team member understands what our guests want and this works very well for us.

We talk to customers on site and we continually keep in contact with our conference and business guests throughout their stay, to make sure they have everything they need.

Open and honest

We encourage an open and honest relationship with our guests. This means they tell us more and we are able to resolve any issues, or are able to make their stay more enjoyable.