In The News

TravelCenters of America receives customer service award

CLEVELAND — The DiJulius Group consulting firm has presented the 2010 Secret Service System Award was to TravelCenters of America. The Secret Service System Award is presented annually to the company client that embodies the most comprehensive customer service standard systems.

TravelCenters earned this distinction because it created numerous operational tools to dramatically change the way their employees serve their customers, according to the customer service consultancy.

TA created a training video called “Life in the day of a Truck Driver”, that helps their employees walk in the shoes of their primary customer. They launched a new service vision to their entire workforce, “Our customers trust us to keep their trucks rolling safely and on time”. They instituted many mechanism that recognize employees for going above & beyond for their customers and each other. This new awareness has influenced more stories of distinctive service every day.

In addition, the company measures customer feedback and has instituted a service dashboard for all managers to be held accountable and demonstrate that providing superior service is a permanent performance expectation. The result of these service efforts have resulted in increased sales, higher levels of customer praise, and a decrease of service complaints.

Not only has TravelCenters utilized the principles of comprehensive customer service standards through its truck service program, but also in their table service restaurants. The entire organization including its headquarters staff has embraced this concept.

“I have worked with numerous companies, from The Ritz-Carlton’s Hotel to Starbucks, and have helped them implement some pretty impressive Secret Service Systems. TravelCenters ranks up there with them with very impressive systems — well thought out and thoroughly executed,” says John DiJulius, President of The DiJulius Group. “What TravelCenters successfully implemented are numerous systems and nonnegotiable standards not just impressive for a company in the trucking industry, but they have created a model that any company, B2B, in the hospitality industry, or any industry, could benefit from. It is obvious why TA has demonstrated sales growth during one of the worst economic periods in history. TravelCenters has proven once again, being a World Class Client Experience organization can make a company recession proof and price irrelevant.”

The Secret Service System Award is awarded annually to one organization that meets the following criteria;

It creates a unique Secret Service concept that allows their entire organization to be able to collect customer intelligence (information about the customer) and then retrieve that intelligence to personalize their experience, leaving the customer to say, “how did they know that, how did they do that”. There is a system created that enables employees to execute this There is training that teaches the awareness to the team members, its critical impact is has on the customer, the impact it will have on the organization as far as differentiation, the proper execution, & non negotiable nature of this system. There is an accountability & measurement put to the system ensuring it is being executed and team members are being held accountable It is low or no cost It is simple to execute It has zero negative impact on productivity; and It has an immediate impact on the customer.
TravelCenters of America, headquartered in Westlake, Ohio is a travel center business in 41 states and Canada operating under the TravelCenters of America and Petro brands.

Kevin Jones of The Trucker staff can be reached for comment at [email protected] .

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