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

Mr. Fernando Arroyo Fassio

Delighting Your Customers

In this workshop, I learnt about the chain of excellence to get to the end product- repeat business. Nothing can be done in the service industry alone; customers, employees
and leaders are all linked together.

It needs a good leader with excellent communicate skills to inform his/her employees the
corporate culture, values and vision clearly. This corporate culture will actually provide the
employees a clear and definite objective to work towards. By creating a common goal for
the whole company, it will help to strengthen the bond between them and encourage
teamwork. Trainings and skill upgrading courses will also help to improve employees’
confidence and expertise in providing better and more quality service. It is important that
staffs are given recognition and empowerment in their work, or by giving them the
opportunity to participate in simple decision-making for minor matters will actually create a
sense of belongingness in them. Thus, a happy employee providing excellent service will
create a happy customer- considering the customers’ needs and wants are met.

To achieve guest satisfaction is not about providing what they need, it is to create a
memorable experience or offer an extra benefits that they did not even thought that they
will need- I call this the special point. Why is it so important to have this special point?

Because, every customers will remember this special thought that you have put in for them.
This special act does not need a huge sum of money or a long period of your time, it is
empathy. This is what I personally think that many companies are lack of which result to
the loss of their customer loyalty.

Customer loyalty is achieved
when they value the relationship between you and them.

“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!