You’re a proactive leader.
Your staff matters to you, and so do your customers.
Not only do you want to be the best leader, but it’s also in your blood to provide everyone that walks onto your property the best experience possible.
You attend all the must-go-to conferences in your industry.
Customer safety and service is what you work so hard to manage day in and day out.
But, while your number one goal is to enhance the customers’ experience, we’ve got a question for you.
Are you doing everything it takes to exceed your customers’ expectations?
We know you don’t want to be complacent or rest on your laurels.
That’s certainly not in your nature.
But, what about the small details that reactive operations miss?
Are you catching those?
We’re talking about the actual small things: a customer’s Galaxy Z Fold 2 or iPhone 11, a purse or wallet or even someone’s umbrella.
It’s said big things come in small packages.
Well, these small “packages” of customer possessions have a significant impact on and meaning to their life.
These are the items they cannot and do not want to live without.
So, what happens if they lose one of their most prized possessions on your property? Do you have lost & found software ready to exceed their expectations?
What’s Important to Your Customers? You Might Be Missing It!
We’ll start here with a critical question.
Why does your property need lost and found software to exceed your customers’ expectations?
Let’s consider how your operation is operating currently.
You’re probably operating in one of these two likely scenarios:
- You don’t have any way to manage lost & found items at all. Things are just collecting in a box in Kirk’s office.
- You’re using software, but it’s cumbersome and requires too much time, and effort to Data entry takes forever! Your employees must wait a few seconds for your slow tool to capture and store the item name before you can input the customer’s name.
Both scenarios result in the disorganization of items and nothing getting returned to customers.
You’ve got a lost and found storage closet of sorts, but it’s a mess.
Your team might’ve even invested a great deal of time to establish a process – but it still takes forever for reporting, managing, and returning to occur.
It’s an attempt at efficiency.
But, it’s a failed one.
Do you know why?
You’re not using a system designed for your operation and with the customer in mind.
What does that mean?
If you’re using a platform, there is a good chance industry experts have not participated in the development of it.
That’s what matters to your customers. It starts with them.
When you’ve worked in the industry for as long as we have, you learn that your customers’ needs start and end the process.
You need software in place that has evolved from the input of your peers – the ones that understand your property’s operations – and most importantly – the customer.
Let’s let that sink in for a moment.
Are you ready to change this?
The Only Lost & Found Software You Need
At the end of the day, the customer is most important.
We all understand this.
Their presence on your property determines everything.
Satisfaction ratings, revenue, and your career are all affected by your customers’ perspective.
So, keep them happy.
No matter how hard you must work to achieve this, you need to make it happen. Make it look effortless to your customer too.
That’s the difference between a proactive rather than reactive operation.
Get lost possessions back to customers as fast as possible – and with a smile.
No one likes to lose their stuff, so put software in place that covers these three points of lost & found:
- Reporting That Helps You Mitigate Customer Frustration
- Managing Capabilities That Are Magical
- Returning Equals Rewarding
1. Reporting That Helps You Mitigate Customer Frustration
We’ve never met anyone that likes losing their cell phone, wallet, glasses, or umbrella.
The feeling is even worse when you get home and realize you lost something.
The frustration and anger are overwhelming. You feel helpless.
Would this put you in a bad mood?
The best software lets your customers get over the bad mood in a productive way.
They can report the lost item through your website from the comfort of their home.
They provide you with the details of the item and all their contact information.
It saves directly to your software.
Your staff doesn’t need to do anything until the item is identified as a match (we’ll get to this soon!) on your platform.
Then, they call the lost item’s owner.
Your staff spends significantly less time on the phone dealing with customers who’ve lost their possessions.
Your customers spend less time clogging up your phone lines.
Crisis averted. Now, everyone is happy.
2. Managing Capabilities That Are Magical
We said it before.
You’ve got to make it look seamless to your customers – no matter how hard you work.
But, the good news is that the best software reduces the work and increases the customer satisfaction.
A lot of that occurs from using software that helps you manage your lost and found items effectively and efficiently.
There are three aspects of managing your lost and found department we want to highlight that might resonate quickly for you.
- Capture Valuable Data
- Track Lost and Found Items
- Match Items Quickly
Capture Valuable Data
Managing your lost and found is a big part of every phase of the process. But, to keep things organized, we’ll discuss it here.
What do you capture when a customer reports a lost item? What happens when you return the item?
Does customer service end?
It shouldn’t.
Reports and analytics let you know how often you’re receiving new items, what those items are, and how long these items have been in your possession.
This information gives you the insight to make important decisions on what to do with your unclaimed items.
Do you throw them out or donate the items to charity?
There is also a high chance that this number will decrease with the right software in place.
Track Lost and Found Items
Struggling to find items is something all operations are up against without software in place.
That’s until they introduce lost and found software to their team.
Your employees no longer need to spend useless moments searching through your lost and found storage bins.
Your customer receives a receipt once they report their lost item.
Your employees print an associated storage tag to organize and track a found item.
Tracking, locating, and then communicating details is now accomplished in an efficient manner.
Match Items Quickly
Knowing when an item that is found matches a lost item is the first struggle of storing possessions on your property.
Software removes this problem from your process.
Do you have a found item with specific characteristics?
- Green iPhone 11
- Background picture of their cat, Fred
- Lost in restroom 135-B
The software automatically recognizes the details of the found item and matches it with a lost item reported by your customer.
Grab the details from your software and locate the item in seconds.
3. Returning Equals Rewarding
We bet you’re trying to figure out what we’re going to discuss here.
Well, the beauty of using the right software is, not much.
Why?
You’ve put top-notch software in place on your property to flip the most challenging aspect of lost and found into the most fun part.
Now, returning lost items back to customers is easily the best part of the whole process.
Do you agree?
It’s rewarding because you’ll be doing it so often now. Great job!
Over to You
Most properties strictly focus on handling their day-to-day operations. Issues, incidents, and maintenance activities take up their time, and they often forget the importance of their customers’ needs.
Your customers hate the feeling of losing their phone, wallet, or any other valuable possession. That’s why you’ve got to do everything you can to get it back to them, or all the hard work you’ve done everywhere else won’t matter.
It’s a good thing lost & found software can help. Whew.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in August 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness and freshness.
