Our Three Steps of Service

Amidst the mad dash of balancing careers, social lives jammed with virtual and in-person events, children’s camp schedules and the everything in between – there is something so simple that can stop us in our tracks when we are checking out at the grocery store or even just passing a neighbor during our afternoon walk: hearing our name.

When people choose to incorporate our name into even the most mundane of conversations, it transforms these intersections into something rather unexpected, and perhaps most notably, it creates a moment that is memorable – something we strive for at every opportunity across our brand.

It is for this exact reason that we incorporate name usage into what we call our “Three Steps of Service” at The Ritz-Carlton. These three, simple steps are core to our legendary brand’s best practices. We practice The Three Steps of Service not only with our guests and clients, but with each other. We use these steps with our colleagues because we show our colleagues the same respect that we show to our guests and clients. They are easily relatable to any enterprise, small or big, and have the power to transform your day to day interactions – both internally and externally.

The Three Steps of Service consist of three very prescriptive and simple steps with a specific beginning, middle and an end – and naturally, the use of one’s name bookends these fundamentals:

• A warm and sincere greeting. Use the guest’s name. This is our legendary warm welcome which is comprised of smiling, eye contact, a friendly tone of voice and the initial usage of one’s name. This initial welcome is essential for setting the tone as genuine and authentic.
• Anticipation and fulfillment of each guest’s needs. Anticipation is about being helpful, accommodating and proactive in determining customer needs before they even express them. At The Ritz-Carlton, this is how we craft unique, memorable and personal experiences that stay with guests for life.
• Fond farewell. Give a warm goodbye and use the guest’s name. In extending a farewell to our guests, we model the essentials of smiling, eye contact once again, and of course, use of the guest’s name. Polite and pleasant are not enough – we need to make sure that each guest leaves feeling that he or she is the most important guest we have!

To learn more about the best practices of our brand, explore one of our Upcoming Courses where you can learn firsthand about the foundations of our brand in either an onsite or virtual experience.