Friday, November 28, 2008

Caring is not a Soft Skill 1

When teaching customer service skills, I've taken to arguing that only two things matter:
  1. Caring, and
  2. Transparency.

Nail these and you're good to go.

My other proposition is that Caring is NOT a 'Soft Skill'.
Caring is the manifestation of tangible, measuable acts or behaviors.
These are the events that cause us to say (or at least think), "They don't care about my business" or "They care."


These photos are a record of tangible acts of caring that occur each day at the Hilton Cabo San Lucas Resort. In the afternoons, we return to our rooms to find a hand-folded towel animal animal (or two) on our bed.

It's a little gesture, with a big impact.
  • The animals create surprise and delight.
  • They inspire curiosity - "How do they do that?", "How many towels does it take?", "How many different animals do you think they can make?".
  • They result in us looking forward to returning to our room. This is no small matter, when the weather and scenery is so beautiful.
  • Finally, they suggest that Hilton cares enough to take this extra step.

Now, little did I know that "Towel Origami Animals" were so popular.
Watch one made here.

So, what are you doing to show your customers you care?


1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here is a better video on how to make a towel animal. It's so fun. http://www.foldingmagic.com/puppyvideo.html

Thanks for posting the photos!

J