No business is perfect or can ever prevent their customers experiencing a mistake, mishaps, equipment breakdowns, or even product failures 100% of the time. Things happen! The question I have for you is are you ready or prepared when these issues go wrong?
I travel a lot due to my busy speaking and training schedule and many times I have witnessed elevator breakdowns. It is more common than you think. Many have to be down for routine repairs and maintenance or for mechanical failure. One thing for certain is there at one point there will be some down time. What should a business do when the elevator is down? How do they inform their customers? How to do they keep people from entering an elevator when it is being repaired?
In this example, the elevator door just remained opened and was not operating. More often than not, I typically see a “wet floor sign” placed in front of the elevator or a hand written note taped to the wall or door. I understand this company’s intent, but don’t they have a better sign than that? How many times in the past has an elevator been down and all they have is a “Wet Floor Sign”, not even an attractive or clean “Wet Floor Sign” at that?
Why not invest and create an attractive sign that you can reuse, and won’t take a- way from the professional quality look of your business? You know that an elevator or any other equipment you have may at some point break down or need maintenance. Be prepared and place a professional looking sign to inform your customers. It is all part of having an “On Stage” presence, even when things go wrong.
While I managed hotels and resort properties at Disney World during my career, we always had appropriate, professional looking and even funny signs that we placed in areas that were being maintained or repaired. We used them for elevators, pool maintenance, painting, automatic door repairs and so forth. It showed our guests that we were prepared, had a plan and would not take away from their customer experience, even when something goes wrong. You can do the same.
Here are a few Tips:
1. Get it professionally done. No hand written signs unless you have someone who is artistic.
2. Place the sign on an easel rather than tape it to a door or wall.
3. Make it part of the experience and add some fun to the sign. Your customers will talk about it in a positive way.
You only get one chance to make a lasting impression on the customer experience, even when things go wrong. Show your customers that you are prepared and ready for the unexpected. It might surprise them and help make the customer experience MAGICAL!