Lim Rui Qi Jessica
Temasek Polytechnic
Leisure & Resort Management
0703222J
T13
Business Etiquette & Service Excellence BHT2008

Mr. Fernando Arroyo Fassio

Customers' Perception

The Customers’ Perception workshop is all about the arts of service, the basic criteria of
creating a good customers’ satisfaction. The elements that create perception are divided
into two groups; within company’s control and beyond company’s control. In addition,
there is long-term and short-term expectation creator that differentiates the former.
It is important that a company pays extra attention to these elements as it will determine
the probability of a having a satisfied customer or even a repeat purchase.

In a business setting, it is not only providing what the customer needs but also important
to note what is the things to avoid. Therefore in the second part of this workshop we
learnt about the 7 deadly statements. I think the June Term Break assignment was a very
meaningful one. Through my own experience, it allows me to have a deeper understanding
of the workshop . I get to understand how those elements create an impression in
customers, and how this impression will be affected by the actual experience.

Customers is the last person on earth that we can offend,
one must always keep in mind to put in as much effort as possible to satisfy them.
Even with the best equipments and staffs,
no company can ever be successful without customers.

“The Art of Corporate Entertainment”, the name of this topic itself has appeared to be so unique as compared to the others like “Customers’ Perception” and “Corporate Politics in Perspective”. It tells me that all in all, the process of meeting your corporate associate is an art. True enough, this is not something that you can learn from book easily.

I like the different mode of teaching that the lecturers have came up with. Example, the video specially produced for this topic, showing the ‘should do’ and ‘should not do’ in a dining setting had made a really deep impression in me. The comical actions of the lecturers were still clear in my mind, i.e. the napkin tucked in his belt. During the class workshop, Mr. Fernando had brought a set of dining utensils to let us observe their position and the different uses.

The self-directed learning assignment given to us was a great learning experience. In the process of enjoying the meal, we learnt a lot and took down notes of the dining etiquette that my group mates have made. Their mistake was a valuable lesson to us (e.g. MUST stand when our guest stands up) and we have also learnt from their correct dining etiquette (e.g. do not talk when mouth is full).

Ask yourself, how many times do you actually practice the correct social etiquette? Many times when the atmosphere becomes informal (especially with your friends around) we tend to forget about our etiquette. One may not even realise that they have neglected the importance of presenting themselves well. There may be only you and your close friends, thus you think that there is no need to have extra attention on your behaviour. But never forget that you are still in a public setting. Who knows, the person sitting next to your table when you comb your hair at the table may be your superior or business associate!

After this workshop, I learnt to be more sensitive of my dining etiquette. E.g. Placing my fork and spoon parallel to each other at 4 o’clock position. I share knowledge with my outside friends and we had fun reading through my notes and studying the table settings. We even tried to exercise those practices and learnt while we enjoy each other companion; it was really a very interesting learning process. Since then, I have become more particular of my dining etiquette!