The Dip

I read Seth's latest book(let), The Dip, last week. My quick takeaway...if you're not obsessed with what you are doing, you might seriously consider quitting, and move on to something else, something that really sets your hair on fire.

It's an easy read. And while it doesn't offer any instructions or specific decision making tools about whether to quit or not, it doesn't need to...it's simply meant to get you thinking. It's worth an hour or two of your time. 

indieHotelier Show #32 with Glenn Hasek

This week's show will be live tomorrow, Thursday, 5/24, at 3 PM EDT.

Glen Hasek, publisher and editor of Green Lodging News, will lead us in a discussion about trends in our industry with regard to the green movement, i.e., new building techniques, products and technologies. He will also share his insights into where and how we need to act to achieve sustainability in our industry.

The show airs live on Talkshoe tomorrow at 3 PM EDT. Please join us for an interesting conversation. There will be a Q&A session toward the end of the program. There are three ways to listen:

  1. Call-in via phone or VOIP- Requires a Talkshoe pin (easy to get and free). But, for the effort, you get to join the actual call.
  2. Listen to the live show streaming...again, go to Talkshoe at 3 PM and click on the listen button.
  3. Listen to the show once I rebroadcast it, usually the following Monday. Go to the indieHotelier website (or, go to our page on Talkshoe) to download past shows.

Getting Personal

The first step to providing engaging hospitality is seeing people as individuals...not as customers. Customers are no name bodies who shop, stand in line and fill out surveys. Individuals ask for coffee 135 degrees, like getting to know the manager and take the time to make personal videos and post them on Tripadvisor. Customers, in aggregate, don't connect with you, individual people do. Just like it's easy for an industry or business to discount the validity of customer opinion polls, it's easy for a person to forget an average experience...because there's no emotional connection, it's not personal.  Taking the time to get to know someone forces you to treat them better, like a friend or neighbor. It forces you to have conversations...instead of transactions. It forces you to care...like it really matters what they think of you.

Individuals form opinions about your business based on how you treat them, not what your customer service policy is or mission statement dictates. And, the more choices they have, the more this personal part matters. Companies that excel in engagement, that take the time to demonstrate caring, will win.

Your job is to make every part of your business more personal and engaging...your website, the call center, the signage, the front counter, the menu...everything. Lead people along a path of meaningful delivery, from beginning to end.

Engagement and Leaving Room

Southwest

According to ACSI, Southwest is again the leader in customer satisfaction among airlines, turning in a score of 76 (out of100) which is up 2.7% over last year. The airlines combined are quite marginal (no surprise if you've been on a commercial plane lately) with a score of 63, down 3.1% from a year ago. United takes the honor of being last with a score of 56...uggh.

There are two underlying reasons why companies like Southwest Airlines shine when others, faced with the same constraints, fail...engagement and leaving room.

Engagement

Southwest doesn't serve customers, they engage with them. There's a big difference. Customer service is imparting your standards, scripts and ways of doing things on your customer...and hoping they like it. Customer engagement (the key to hospitality) is centered on listening, adapting and improvising...and breaking the rules, especially when things go wrong. Practicing engagement means you're more interested in the conversation and what you can learn from it...than where it might lead.

Leave Room

Southwest doesn't spend as much time bloviating about how great they are, what their on-time record is, or how wonderful their services is. In fact, they paint a rather average picture of "no frills", no assigned seats travel....with the lowest fares. So, most travelers (especially newbies) come to the counter with a pretty low expectation of the experience. Of course, this is helped along a bit by the reputation of airline travel in general...which is precisely why there's a such a grand opportunity to win at this part of the game. And, Southwest does. They leave room to exceed the preconceived notion that air travel stinks. They leave room to create a positive emotional connection with everyone they touch. They leave room to show you they care.

The one question that beckons is why a company like this doesn't achieve even higher scores? A couple of reasons...one, their reputation. It's their own worst enemy. Over time, they've done such a good job training us...and Loving us, that they've created a path leading to an even higher expectation. While this is definitely a good problem to have, it has it's drawbacks. It means you're forced to reinvent yourself every so often to keep things interesting and new. The other reason the scores aren't higher is that the limitations faced by the airline pack are pretty daunting. When you consider weather delays, mechanical standards, complexity of crew schedules, dependence on computers and machinery to move vast amounts of people and luggage through a system that's already clogged...you're going to have issues. In fact, it's remarkable that anyone can achieve these results, both financially and in the service realm, given the rules and conditions of the game. And, due to this contextual reality, Southwest doesn't really need to do any better. They're already remarkable, close to 10 points ahead of their nearest competitor, Continental.

While the explanation was lengthy, the lesson is short: figure out ways to hold conversations and engage with your customer...and, don't tout yourself as being the best...let them do it for you.

And here's a bonus...when looking for place to play the engagement game, choose a sand box where going beyond expectations doesn't happen often, or at all (like the airline business, satellite TV or the economy hotel segment). It makes you remarkable by default when you do.

Sharpening Your Saw...Keeping Up with New Marketing

indieHotelier show #31 is up...

Stephanie and I take on the subject of new marketing, everything from blogs and podcasts to RSS and wiki's. We talk about ways hoteliers can initiate and hold conversations with their guests...a much more cost effective method than traditional marketing tactics. Click on the indieHotelier logo to go the website. Or, on the podcast button to begin listening.

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Unsubscribe

This is the type of thing that bugs me the most about marketing...companies continue to stick to the old ways of doing things. Apart from Bill Marriott's foray into blogging, I haven't seen any signs of Marriott letting go of their old "best practices". I'm a Marriott Rewards member, which means they have my attention. But, I didn't sign-up for any e-mail newsletters or price alerts...at least not that I was aware of (another big problem). Then, when I took the time to unsubscribe, I received this:

                       
Email Confirmation
   

You have chosen not to receive Marriott email.

Please allow 10 business days for processing.

It took seconds to sign-up, but it's going to take up to two weeks to get me off the list. Why? My guess is that this has litte to do with technology, and more to do with trickery and hanging on to old fashioned promotion tactics.

More for Less

According to the 2007 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index(R), recently released by Brand Keys, Inc., hotel guests are asking for more...more  "efficient services". They are placing a higher importance on the experience and emotional engagement than other aspects of the stay. From the article...

"Consumers may be willing to settle for less," said Passikoff, "But they expect more and better customer service in this category." Service and customer service elements increased in importance in 54% of the categories. "That's 100% of the categories that have any customer service component at all,' noted Passikoff."

What all this means is that you have a growing opportunity to be different, to be remarkable, to step on the gas, etc. But, not by being bigger, more expensive, cheaper or cleaner. Rather, by being the best at engaging with people. Or, as I like to say, giving people what they want and delivering it in a meaningful way.

links for 2007-05-01

Falling Short

I recently received an e-mail from the front office manager at the Residence Inn in South Austin about my upcoming reservation there. A nice gesture...certainly more than most hotels are doing to engage with their guests. The troubling thing about the letter is that it was clearly a form letter, likely mass distributed to every reservation holder. Some people will still like the touch. But, considering the increasing amount of form e-mail, spam, newsletters and advertsining we all receive, my bet is that more and more people feel like I do...disappointed...not in the idea, but the execution.

Ego

A good post by Seth on feeding egos. The problem with the idea of customizing things for people is that it takes a lot of energy and time...precisely what most companies, hotels included, don't want to invest in. They're too busy growing, adding more hotels and worrying about attracting more and more customers...too busy to take really good care of the ones they already have in the chair, the bar, etc. I suspect that the small companies (and even large ones, although not as likely) who do this well will prevail, albeit they'll never show up on the NYSE.