Everything I know about Customer Service, I learned working at this hotel
I spent four years of school breaks and summers working as a function server at a hotel outside of Boston.
Fast forward a few years, and I’m sitting in a job interview for a client-facing role at Deloitte. A few years after that, I’m interviewing for a role servicing customers at HubSpot, and most recently I’m chatting with David Cancel about leading Customer Success at Drift.
In each scenario, I was asked to reflect on my experience servicing customers.
I’ve now spent 10+ years working on the other side of hotel function rooms. I’ve sat in a lot of meetings, built a lot of Salesforce reports, managed a lot of spreadsheets, and my mind still goes back to what I learned in the grind of that hotel: servicing the company off-sites, retirement parties, weddings, bereavements and christenings of all all faiths, social events, formals and dances of all kinds (I have some stories).
What I know about providing service in SaaS, I learned while serving guests at this hotel.
Here are 5 key lessons I’m still following today:
1) No one cares about your job title.
I worked for an incredible Food and Beverage Operations Director (who in a life prior to the hotel industry was a Missile Combat Crew Commander in the U.S. Air Force).
In addition to managing the out-of-this-world expectations of a busy hotel function business, you could often find him setting up tables, rolling silverware, helping expedite food, and asking a guest how they liked their coffee.
No job was above him or his title. Without ever directly telling his team to work this way, he taught us by showing us.
As a result, we showed up to each function expecting the unexpected, and expecting to do whatever needed to get done. Our responsibilities varied from working behind the bar, to clearing tables, and if it was really crazy, we would help out the main hotel and run room service. Your job function for the day was dictated by the needs of the people being serviced, and our leader set the tone.
2) Watch, listen, and take action.
I worked alongside a woman in her late 70s who had served in the hotel industry for most of her life. The first wedding I served at, she brought me to the bridal suite and told me to stand against the wall and wait.
“Stand here and watch for a few minutes,” she said. “You’ll figure out who is calling the shots, and who your primary customer is. Figure this out early and things will go well.”
She was right.
I perfected the ability to be a “non-creepy lurker.” I’d hang in the corner, watching the dynamic of the room, observing who made decisions, who needed what, and what the overall “temperature” of the group was.
You’d figure out personalities, tensions, and quickly decipher how to proactively navigate needs. The goal was to anticipate what guests wanted and to make things happen before they even asked.
The same philosophy applied behind the bar and while serving food. You’d watch the room, see what orders were coming, how quickly drinks and food were going down, and have the next round ready or the next tray of food out the door before being asked to bring it.
3) The little things matter as much as the big things.
Years before having my own kids, I would see how the addition of little ones changed the tone, and often added more stress to any event. So I’d keep crayons and cookies in my service apron, and make sure we had covers and straws for the drinks for kids at events.
(I also learned the hard way that you should never serve orange soda to anyone under the age of 10 near a bride).
I learned from the servers who had been at it much longer than me to take care of people you didn’t see leaving their seats (this could be the grandparents at a wedding, or someone not able to dance at a busy retirement party). Bring them coffee, ask them what they need, and give them attention.
These are the guests that your guests running the event are usually the most concerned about. Figure that out and deliver great service before you are asked to.
4) Just do it.
In an environment as busy as a hotel function operation, asking permission takes too much time. If you think there’s an opportunity to improve something quickly or do something better, just do it. You get to learn to trust your gut, and to operate on the fly.
This would often happen in escalation scenarios. You’ve run out of food, someone is unhappy, or you have a situation that you have to tackle immediately.
When the 2004 Democratic National Convention was in Boston, the security planning meeting was held at our hotel. The large group of guests of elected officials, police, security, and supporting staff wanted the event to be prompt and for lunch service to move quickly. So we brought out food at an intense pace, and mid-service I was tapped on the shoulder by one of the organizers who told me they wanted to have a member of their team sing the national anthem — right now.
We didn’t have a microphone, and the room was total chaos.
“On it,” I told her. “Stay here.”
I made the decision to start shutting all the doors (no time to tell anyone why) and started asking my colleagues to stop serving food for 2 ½ minutes and to start loudly helping me say, “Shhhhhhhh!”
It was like watching the wave start at Fenway. Within about a minute, you could hear a pin drop, and we heard a beautiful pre-lunch rendition of the anthem. Then we quickly got back to work.
5) Own it
I interviewed someone not long ago and asked them to tell me the most challenging Customer Service experience they’ve had to navigate. She replied, “Wow. I have a great one, but I worry it’s not a professional example.” And then she shared that it was a guest encounter she experienced when she was a waitress at a busy restaurant.
It’s unfortunate we often discount or are hesitant to share this type of experience from the front lines of hospitality only because it took place somewhere other than an office.
Own your story and your experience.
The grit, the grind, and the demand to be 100% people-focused is the core of success in this industry, and you are 100% better for it.
I lean into what I learned taking care of people at this hotel every day at Drift — Anticipating needs, working quickly to find a solution, and going above and beyond are all elements of extraordinary service that apply to any role, whether it’s behind a bar or behind a desk.
Know the needs of the people you are serving, and regardless of where you land in your Customer Success career, you are never above rolling the silverware.
