I witnessed the most impressive form of customer service on Saturday evening.
My wife Andy and I attended the first concert at the new G-Live venue in Guildford; a superb looking modern building.
The London Symphony Orchestra was playing three pieces by Tchaikovsky. After my favourite (Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture) they moved onto his Piano Concerto with a quite brilliant 20 year old Russian pianist.
Into the third movement and the power supply to the venue was cut off. The stage was plunged into darkness before the generated emergency power supply cut in with emergency lighting only.
Guess what happened next?
Did the music stop and the Conductor walk forward to the edge of the stage to tell the audience that the performance would now stop? Did the audience hiss and boo? Did the Administration manager of the venue get up and say for “health and safety reasons” we would all have to leave the building?
No, the Pianist continued (he was working without a score in front of him anyway and most of the time had his eyes shut whilst he was playing!) Those in the orchestra who had some light available to them continued their performance supporting the most wonderful of performances.
The audience sat in rapturous silence recognising that a truly excellent event was unfolding in front of their eyes – well in front of their ears is possibly a more accurate statement.
The Piano Concerto finished and 1,300 members of the audience got to their feet to deliver a thunderous standing ovation which by my watch must have lasted for 10 minutes.
How easy it would have been to simply give up. There was no light on stage and the Conductor could have called a halt and walked the Orchestra and Pianist off stage. “Shame, and sorry for the disappointment, but we don’t have any light so we can’t perform. Goodnight all!”
This event epitomised what I think can only be described as true professionalism. Never disappoint your audience and go the extra mile to deliver great service.
If it ended there it would be a pretty good story. But the management and staff of the venue went out of their way to enhance what we were experiencing.
Clear communication by a number of them as to what was happening. Going the extra mile to ensure that the audience got their interval refreshments. And then as the concert came to an end an invitation for the audience to join them for a drink in the bar courtesy of the venue.
Customer centred service, true professionalism and treating their customers fairly. A shining example of great service.
Well done the staff and management of G-Live Guildford and the artists and staff of the London Symphony Orchestra for a memorable evening.
