White Glove Service for Every Business

White glove service… You may have heard it when the customer’s overall experience is being assessed and prioritized or as an expected result of excellent process execution. But, what is White Glove Service? What are its implications and how can we identify it? We intend to answer these questions for you and will make it our mission to provide you with the knowledge and tools you need to apply it to your service experience by the end of this reading.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, White Glove means “providing a very high level of service or involving a lot of care in small details” [1]. Our service professionals would think these are inherent characteristics of service quality standards but it may not be that simple. 

This standardized procedure of developing service started as a seal of approval for high quality —and considered expensive and luxurious— type of service, mainly differentiated by the use of white gloves as part of the uniform inside a hotel, a restaurant, or even valet, to emphasize the pristine, sophistication and attention to detail you will be given when you enter the establishment [2], even being used nowadays by high luxurious brands and providers. This practice became a symbol of a service “suitable for a king”, and everyone is aware of it.

Now, putting aside the idea of using white gloves all day long, we can also project this well-renowned mindset of high-quality service on every customer service experience, by implementing its elements into our processes, busting our brand awareness along the way, and standing out as a superior service provider. 

We have broken down the White Glove Service philosophy into the following standards: 

Customer Service Mindset

Integration of a service-centered culture model that is embedded into every role within the company. You can transform your company's culture by reviewing your current values, mission, vision, and internal policies to then make the necessary changes, ensuring everything highlights the importance of the role the customer p lays in the existence of your company and its future success. This will also help you attract talent with natural service traits, people who will identify with your company and will contribute to reinforcing this purpose over time.

Communication

Teamwork is better done when your employees are in constant communication, providing them with safe spaces and opportunities so they get to know each other's roles, especially for teams that are constantly working together, this is why sharing information between teams is key. Prompt them to agree on a common goal and let them know they can rely on each other, this way when a customer asks for help, there won’t be cases where people feel like “it is someone else's problem to solve”, and instead work together to come up with solutions. Remember that every time the customer needs to repeat themselves with the same problem, you’re losing points in your customer experience!

Anticipation

Identifying and solving issues before the customer encounters them. Anticipating the customer’s needs, tracking recurring complaints, and solving the causes to prevent undesired situations from repeating. To achieve this you will need to rely on your experience and previous data given by customers that is easily ready to use. 

A superior service provider does not ignore the customer’s feedback –positive or negative– but sees it as an opportunity to identify and eliminate the root cause of the problem. When you implement solutions, you can make the customer come back after a negative experience. 

Always make sure your feedback tools are available, visible, and simple enough for the customer to use, without the need to communicate directly to your employees. You can prevent the customer from being victimized for sharing feedback and you will have more time to assess and think of solutions to improve the overall customer experience.

Customization & Fidelization

Personalization, create and store customer profiles to tailor services and products. Customization is the pillar of White Glove Service, an experience unique to the customer that will help you stand out from competitors and convert one-time customers into loyal ones. You can invest in a CRM system to help you keep track of every customer, and it is advised, but it is not indispensable to use top-notch technology to be able to checkmark this standard. A simple guest logbook would do for starters!

Added Value

Differentiate your service from others. What is it from your service experience that makes you stand out and be remembered by your customers? From the many restaurants in the area, why would people enter through your door?

A personalized letter saying “Welcome back!” A simple token of appreciation on the nightstand can make the day for a tired businessman after a long trip, or a greeting by name on your usual table reservation can make a good impact on your guests. These are the little things people recognize as tailored service, meaning they would likely come back and stay away from other businesses' doors.

Strategy

The competitiveness and sustainability of your business standards should be in line with the vision and main goals of the company. Keep in mind that the end goal should be the full implementation of your standards and being able to adapt to your customer needs. 

After breaking down White Glove Service, we can say that this is a high-quality expectation of service that was originally set for luxury products and services only, that we can now translate into every type of business by focusing on developing and enhancing our: Customer Service Mindset, Communication, Anticipation, Customization and Fidelization, Added Value, and Strategy; which should be all part of all business standards. You will be able to achieve, and even exceed, the expectations of your customers if you take on the initiative to evolve your customer service experience by merging these standards into your processes and adapting them to your own product or service experience. This will make a significant difference in the long run.

If you’d like to see White Glove Service in action through testimonies that verify any business can implement them, you can see the case of Peapack-Gladstone Bank, a US banking business, implementing hospitality and service-centered standards through this ROI - NJ article.

Let us know in the comments and our socials what you think about White Glove Service and how you can implement it in your business. We can’t wait to read them!