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Okay, so we learned about how to identify and clarify problems over the phone.
Let's listen to someone talk about real life customer service.
>> My particular market segment is the smaller corporate meetings.
And I feel my favorite part about that is that I'm always busy.
I'm working every day with multiple people trying to plan events that are quick
turnaround.
Sometimes I'll get a call on Monday for a meeting on Wednesday, it'll just happen.
Sometimes I've got groups that are looking for October.
It's completely different.
I like that it keeps me on my toes, I'm always busy.
And I'm always striving towards sort of the next level of customer service.
How else can I help someone book an event here and
stay happy and want to come here in the future for events?
We build relationships with local companies all the time.
We work with pretty much all the big local things we've got here in Seattle.
They've had events here at the Edgewater and I enjoy that.
I love being a part of something that is unique to Seattle and
unique to the Pacific Northwest.
The biggest challenges that we tend to run into is knowing
how much information a client needs to have to book an event.
I have quite a wide range of clients.
It's either going to be people who need a date and a room.
And if it's available, that's all they want to know.
And then I have people who've never heard of the Edgewater.
They've never been to Seattle, they want to know what makes us special.
So I'm always having to find the right balance between selling the event space,
selling the Edgewater, selling Seattle.
But also getting the exact info that they need in a timely manner that makes it
easy for them to make a decision to come have an event here.
That's what I've discovered in the last couple of months that I've been here,
is that sometimes they don't want me to say, this is how
much square footage we have, this is what you get if you open the window.
They want to know, March 30th, are you available?
And it's tough, so that's one of my biggest challenges,
figuring out what the client needs from me, specifically.
And also figuring out what room is the best for them.
We have nine different rooms.
This is our smallest, one of our smallest rooms and it holds up to 16 people, but
it can hold 2.
And then we've got rooms that can hold up to 300 people for a reception style,
so lots of different space options.
And finding the right balance for the client, finding exactly the setup they
need, the atmosphere they're looking for, that can be a challenge as well.
I would say that one of my favorite experiences that I've had here
was actually just a couple of weeks ago.
We had a group from Starbucks coming in.
They actually came in last week.
But they came in for
a site tour to check out the space because they'd never been to the Edgewater.
And Starbucks people think, people hear Starbucks, they think of Seattle.
So this was something I was really hoping that we could book, so
that we could build a really good customer relationship with Starbucks.
They came in and the woman I worked with, her name was Stephanie.
She was just a joy from start to finish, she just had questions.
Almost all the events space was open at the time of the day that she came in,
so I should her almost every room.
And it gave me the chance to talk about the Edgewater,
talk about the things that we offer.
She was so sweet, everything was really easy.
And I felt very, I mean, I felt a connection.
It seemed like they really wanted to be here the same as much as we wanted them to
be here.
And then she called me back within minutes practically and said,
we want to book the space.
We want to come in.
And it was extremely positive and
she was just a joy to work with from start to finish.
And then they were here for
4 days last week and their event went incredibly smoothly.
So it was really pleasant.
It was one of my first experiences planning, from start to finish,
an entire event.
And I just felt like it was really good.
It's not exciting but it's positive, so that just jumped into mind, yeah.
[LAUGH]
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Richard MooreExtension Lecturer, International & English Language Programs
Wendy AsplinExtension Lecturer, International & English Language Programs
