How companies make their customers smile

Meet three Dubai firms who have broken new ground in customer friendly service


A company's balance sheet would usually have on the assets side property, equipment, cash. But times are changing. Companies have begun to realise that a firm's real assets are productive employees and happy customers. Marketing gurus vouch that it costs less to retain an existing customer than to look for a new one. No wonder then, companies go that extra mile not only to simply satisfy but also delight customers.

Quality care

Welcare Hospital, recipient of the Dubai Quality Appreciation award and an ISO accredited hospital, believes quality care comes through satisfying internal customers (employees) as well as external customers (patients).

With a Quality Assurance Department, it is involved in developing, evaluating and implementing effective quality management systems and quality improvement initiatives in the hospital.

A 'Commitment to Care' programme has been introduced for all employees to reinforce the importance of care and the qualities of courtesy, consistency, compassion and communication.

"We recognise and reward staff through our Employee Motivation Scheme, a monthly scheme to acknowledge and reward staff with awards as Employee of the Month, Care Award, Blue Ribbon Awards for Nurses, Team Building Event Award and Best Suggestion Award," says Clancey Po, marketing manager, Welcare Hospital.

The hospital's frontline staff — patient relations representatives, medical assistants and managers — listen carefully to patients' concerns and comments and try to resolve them. Written and oral complaints are addressed formally within a set time frame.

"How patients feel following their visit to the hospital is of utmost importance to us at Welcare Hospital. Patient satisfaction questionnaires provide us with information as to how patients rate our services and help us in continuously improving the way we serve our patients. Follow up calls are made to a sample of new patients a few days following their visit to ensure that the objective of total satisfaction has been met," Po adds.

Distinctive service

Shangri-La Hotel Dubai, within a few months of its opening, won the Dubai Hotel Concierge of the Year Award for the "most customer-focussed concierge".

The hotel wants to be the preferred choice for customers, employees and business partners. It believes in providing quality and value through distinctive service and innovative products.

Shangri-La chain of hotels follows three customer care modules. The first was launched in 1996: Hospitality from Caring people. The module addresses how to make guests feel special and important by focussing on the five core values of Shangri-La: respect, humility, courtesy, helpfulness and sincerity.

The second module — Delighting Customers — was launched in 1998. It focusses on the importance of guest loyalty and how it can be achieved by delighting guests not just the first time but every time. Employees must do more for guests by "going the extra mile".

The third module launched in 2003 was Recover to gain Loyalty. It highlights the importance of recovery when a mistake is made. When recovery is done well, it gives an opportunity to gain further commitment and loyalty but if there is poor or no recovery, the lifetime value of the guest is lost, besides at least 25 others who may hear of the incident through word of mouth. The module teaches the five steps to recovery — listen, apologise, fix the problem, delight and follow up.

Capture and resolve

DHL UAE is the winner of the Dubai Quality Award, Gold Category, and the Abu Dhabi-based Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award in the services sector. "These awards are a tribute to our employees and customers, whose evolving needs and our commitment to excellence has significantly improved the quality of our products and services," says Lynda Fernandes, customer service manager.

DHL has a customer care division with a toll free number.

"Our customer care division has been created to effectively capture and resolve any service issues with our main objective being customer satisfaction. Complimenting our 24-hour call centre we also offer a 24-hour duty manager programme," Lynda adds.

Couriers and customer service agents handle any urgent requests that customers may have during the day.

For important or time sensitive shipments, a pick-up and delivery service is available on request for Fridays and public holidays as well.