In the event industry, much like other customer service jobs, it's all about the little things you do for your clients. We are always trying to please clients and go above and beyond to make their event the best possible.
Because some of my friends and previous colleagues are just starting their summer, training new staff with Study Tours at Rider this week, I feel the need to reminisce about one of the craziest things I had my staff do for our clients.
It was summer 2009. I had just graduated from college and I was shipped out to the West Coast for the summer. I had never worked on the West Coast and was beyond excited about the launch of a brand new location for Study Tours. We had 10 staff members with little experience working with Study Tours, 4 full sessions of students, and all new contacts to work with. I had also never managed a group of employees in my life and was excited to try it out.
We learned a lot through the first two sessions with about 80 students in the first two weeks, which was cake. The next two weeks brought about 280 students - a little more challenging. But nothing prepared us for the 350 students we had during the 3rd session. It wasn't the size of the group that made it difficult, but the number of requests we received, interests we had to cater to, and toilets we had to stop from overflowing. That's right - in the middle of our largest session of the summer we had overflowing toilets in one of the dorms.
I was wrapping up a staff meeting where I was angry with the staff members' attitudes... mainly my brother, the ring leader, but that's for another blog post, when a group leader walked in and said Danielle I need to speak with you it's urgent. I didn't really bat an eye because after two years of doing this job already, there wasn't much that was actually urgent. Group leaders tended to over exaggerate the problem. There was often panic when they locked their key inside the room, which was nothing to panic about, we had master keys, so this level of panic rarely phased me at this point.
I asked what the problem was and she said the toilets are overflowing into the hallways in the building they were staying. I looked at my staff and said, "Ok, grab your mops and let's go see what the problem is," and off we went.
In fact, the group leader was not exaggerating. There was 2 inches of standing water from a few over flowing toilets. It was 10 p.m. We called campus maintenance and they came over to check out the problem.
So what did we do for our clients on this occasion? As my brother Scott puts it, "Nothing beats wading through a dorm flooded by toilet water with plastic trash bins on my feet to fetch luggage students left behind." That's right. We put on makeshift waders (aka plastic trash bins) and walked through the rooms to fetch luggage. We then moved all the students' luggage to rooms upstairs. This already run down building had completely failed us. It's important to note that about 3 or 4 years later Holden Hall was torn down. #RIPHoldenHall.
It wasn't even a question that we needed to help these poor students that had soaked clothing and unlivable rooms. As angry as I was at the staff prior to that moment, they really showed me that they respected me that day and were willing to do anything for me and the clients they were working with. Those group of staff members will always hold a special place in my heart, not only were they the first staff I ever managed, but they were some of the most fun too!
Although so many of us have moved on, I have no doubt that if I called a 10 year reunion of that staff, they would all show up in a heartbeat. I'll be counting the days until 2019 to do that. I've put you all on notice! ;-)
Do you have other moments where you went above and beyond to please clients? I want to hear about it.
Because some of my friends and previous colleagues are just starting their summer, training new staff with Study Tours at Rider this week, I feel the need to reminisce about one of the craziest things I had my staff do for our clients.
It was summer 2009. I had just graduated from college and I was shipped out to the West Coast for the summer. I had never worked on the West Coast and was beyond excited about the launch of a brand new location for Study Tours. We had 10 staff members with little experience working with Study Tours, 4 full sessions of students, and all new contacts to work with. I had also never managed a group of employees in my life and was excited to try it out.
We learned a lot through the first two sessions with about 80 students in the first two weeks, which was cake. The next two weeks brought about 280 students - a little more challenging. But nothing prepared us for the 350 students we had during the 3rd session. It wasn't the size of the group that made it difficult, but the number of requests we received, interests we had to cater to, and toilets we had to stop from overflowing. That's right - in the middle of our largest session of the summer we had overflowing toilets in one of the dorms.
I was wrapping up a staff meeting where I was angry with the staff members' attitudes... mainly my brother, the ring leader, but that's for another blog post, when a group leader walked in and said Danielle I need to speak with you it's urgent. I didn't really bat an eye because after two years of doing this job already, there wasn't much that was actually urgent. Group leaders tended to over exaggerate the problem. There was often panic when they locked their key inside the room, which was nothing to panic about, we had master keys, so this level of panic rarely phased me at this point.
I asked what the problem was and she said the toilets are overflowing into the hallways in the building they were staying. I looked at my staff and said, "Ok, grab your mops and let's go see what the problem is," and off we went.
In fact, the group leader was not exaggerating. There was 2 inches of standing water from a few over flowing toilets. It was 10 p.m. We called campus maintenance and they came over to check out the problem.
So what did we do for our clients on this occasion? As my brother Scott puts it, "Nothing beats wading through a dorm flooded by toilet water with plastic trash bins on my feet to fetch luggage students left behind." That's right. We put on makeshift waders (aka plastic trash bins) and walked through the rooms to fetch luggage. We then moved all the students' luggage to rooms upstairs. This already run down building had completely failed us. It's important to note that about 3 or 4 years later Holden Hall was torn down. #RIPHoldenHall.
It wasn't even a question that we needed to help these poor students that had soaked clothing and unlivable rooms. As angry as I was at the staff prior to that moment, they really showed me that they respected me that day and were willing to do anything for me and the clients they were working with. Those group of staff members will always hold a special place in my heart, not only were they the first staff I ever managed, but they were some of the most fun too!
Although so many of us have moved on, I have no doubt that if I called a 10 year reunion of that staff, they would all show up in a heartbeat. I'll be counting the days until 2019 to do that. I've put you all on notice! ;-)
Do you have other moments where you went above and beyond to please clients? I want to hear about it.