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See the review of the 2nd edition of The Guest.

Do members of your retail service staff treat customers like houseguests? Through this simple metaphor, The Guest teaches frontline service staff five simple points to provide excellent customer service:

• Welcome customers.
• Call them by name.
• Take care of their needs.
• Thank them for their business.
• Invite them back.

This short (14-minute) video will capture and hold your staff's attention. It teaches customer service skills through a series of vignettes contrasting disastrous and successful customer service techniques. We see everyday examples of bad service such as the self-service gas station attendant who belittles a customer for forgetting his pump number juxtaposed with poor treatment of houseguests--imagine a host belittling a party guest because he can't eat the lasagna.

The presentation is effective, and the key message of the video is clear: treat customers like they are guests in your home. The Guest is a professional quality video with strong acting and well-balanced content; the vignettes entertain because they are humorous and sometimes shocking but have learning impact because they are realistic.

The vignettes illustrate customer service scenarios at a restaurant, a clothing store, a gas station, and a bank. Although the video does not include a call center scenario, employees involved in complex service delivery will benefit and improve their service by watching this video. The lessons are universal and a number of common and important customer service issues are covered: solving problems, taking customers for granted, nonresponsiveness, arguing with customers, and service to internal customers.

The Guest teaches a simple yet important lesson in a high-quality production. As a result, it is one of the bestselling customer service videos of the last 10 years.

Recommendation
The Guest is an excellent choice for teaching frontline service staff specific customer service skills. With well-planned facilitation, retail managers can use the video to train groups of 30 or more in sessions lasting from 30 to 45 minutes, a good fit for quick pre-opening or post-close customer service seminars. Strong facilitation, of course, is necessary to get full value.

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