How Difficult IS Customer and Member Service

My business coach called me today to touch base and went through our call center for some reason but I’m glad he did.  John is a very successful businessman from New England with strong views on business success.

He marveled at how flawlessly our customer service representative handled the call.  She asked the right questions and was never ruffled as John tried to put her through the paces.  He was on hold just a moment before I picked up and was equally pleased by our on-hold messages.

John was telling me the story and I asked him how long he thought this person worked for us.  He was afraid of the answer (rightly so) but guessed she was with us at least 4 or 5 years.  He was not-too-surprised when I told him she was with us just 7 days.

Yes, we work hard to hire right.  But the biggest contributor is culture and simple customer service advice: The Golden Rule. I never fail to be amazed at companies that spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on training and processes that overtake a reps ability to think.  Perhaps treating others the way you want to be treated is simplistic…but it works!

I Feel Like Don Quixote

I have this seemingly never ending quest to find an increasingly disappearing commodity in our great country: good customer service.

I worry sometimes that my zeal overshadows common sense until I hit that occasional raw nerve that reminds me: good service makes a difference.

Tonight is a culmination of 3 weeks of travel and lots of awful experiences. On my latest sojourn to Washington I experienced the bain of every business traveler: the lone diner. My hotel didn’t have a dinner restaurant but my trusty iPad pointed to a supposedly good place just a block away: RIS. I went in early (6:30) to a fairly empty restaurant but busy bar. The hostess displayed the “I need to find a seat” look (dear God, I’m ONE person). She traipsed around the bar (eating at a packed bar is not an option) and, on the way back to help me, stopped and engaged a couple in long conversation, ignoring my desire to eat. I told the other hostess, thanks but no thanks and found the West End Cafe around the corner at Ritz Carlton who warmly welcomed me and provided me with a great meal and great service.

On a trip last week to Davenport, Iowa I found myself awake most of the night as freight trains passed beneath my window. Granted my review to Carlson may have been tainted by just one hour of sleep but I’ve heard nothing from Carlson or Radisson.

The earliest trip was to DC and a stay at the Beacon hotel where the AC died on my last night. It wasn’t the heat as much as the staff response that sent me over the deep end. I was surprised when, a couple of days later, I heard from the general manager. He talked a lot about what went wrong, I just hope he has an action plan for the future. None the less, he did reach out.

What differentiates it? Pretty simple: as a leader, put yourself in the customer’s shoes and maybe your perspective will change.

My mom taught us the Golden Rule. It works. Somehow, somewhere…others were asleep and missed the chancew to “wow”.

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Hospitality Industry Doesn’t Get It

In April I spent a week in Italy and had a wonderful time at the Crowne Plaza near the Vatican. From the front desk to the restaurant, people “got it”. It sounds strange that I sound surprised but as one who logs over a hundred thousand miles a year (mostly in the U.S.) I was beginning to wonder if the hospitality industry was losing its luster.

Well, I suspect I presumed too soon.

After a month-plus hiatus after vacation I’m on the road again and, living down to my expectations, hospitality isn’t hospitable.

For example:

I stayed at the Silverado Resort in Napa last week. As is now common in most resorts, I had the honor of paying the “resort fee” for things I either don’t need (I read USA Today on my iPad) or that never work right (wireless internet).

On my very first day I went to the Grill for breakfast. The hostess seated me and, for the next 20 minutes as I looked around after reading the menu, watched a table next to me bussed by a whistling young man, other tables served water and coffee and two couples seated nearby. I finally got up to leave and the hostess was incredulous that I would walk out. Thankfully we found a wonderful restaurant in Yountville (Pacific Blue) that saved the day.

Some of us talked to management about that, the wifi debacle and other issues. It seems anymore we get a big smile and big promises of solutions to problems we didn’t address (“we’re getting ready to spend millions on the rooms”). Decor doesn’t mean crap if nothing works and I’m being nickled and dimed.

On my most recent trip I headed to Washington this week. I return from a day of meetings with my sticky suit from walking the streets of DC only to discover my room 10 degrees warmer than the thermostat is set. I call the front desk and, of course, engineering will be right up. 45 minutes go by, no engineer. I call again, a promise to track down the engineer. This goes on for two hours until finally a cheerful person on the phone tells me that it is ok (I felt like I was on the phone with a Microsoft call center). I said “no, its 5 degrees warmer then earlier”. He continued to insist that it was better, finally saying it is better but he doesn’t know when.

Its interesting to me that an industry that should set the bar for good service fails with such regularity. I can only presume that hospitality management thinks the only people dumber than them are the customers.

Why am I ranting? Because its an industry that has no real need to create screaming fans. I read a great little piece about Tuffy Auto Repair the other day that should inspire the “hospitality” industry. Check out www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-dawson-column-062011-20110619,0,2360312.column.

I guess many of us will continue to suffer with the likes of 82 degree rooms, nickle and dime charges, poor internet, and horrible follow up until the likes of Skype free us from the drudgery of poor service. At least Skype doesn’t smile and ask me stupid questions.

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Why Do We Accept Status Quo?

I read an inspiring quote in this morning’s Wall Street Journal from Dr. James Wallace who discovered the double helix. Speaking about leadership he said: “To be a good leader you have to ruffle feathers.”

It brought to mind another quote I read a couple if years ago from a fellow association executive who was celebrating a milestone achievement: he “survived” 25 years at the same association.

I doubt surviving a career is what I’d like to see on my headstone.

Dr. Wallace challenges the myriad of bureaucracies and lawyers who inhibit the discovery of cures for cancer – something he wants to see cured in his lifetime.

It’s a significant goal but he’s willing to buck the trends. How often are we willing to ruffle feathers when we know it’s the right thing to do? Or would we prefer to survive?

The Power of Vision

One thing I learned at Disney was the power of communicating through story. What I learned in other businesses and associations was the importance of sharing your vision as well.

I saw the value of blending both of those this week when our social media director presented me with a comprehensive 10 page media plan for a new business we just added to the fold. It was developed after one meeting and a bunch of stories.

Strategy and execution are important but don’t underestimate the impact of a clearly communicated vision.

Does the Association Governance Model Still Work

I was working on a project this past week with a new for-profit association and it got me thinking about how long or at what level the association governance model within a tax-exempt organization can continue to work as we’ve known it historically. Perhaps part of that question lies in the expectations and deliverable results of philanthropic organizations versus trade and professional associations.

As the parent of a Millenial and a Gen Y, I feel confident that the level of meaningful volunteerism continues to grow in this country. Both of my kids had to complete community service hours to graduate from school. I never experienced that in school. Some of us volunteered, but we weren’t required. But it’s not just my observation, a recent government study showed an increase in volunteerism between 2007 and 2009.

That’s good for philanthropic and community organizations but it’s not something trade and professional associations should use as a reason for status-quo. These same folks (and, I would argue, even much of my own generation) look for a faster turn-around when it involves their careers and that’s where the traditional model could be prone to failure.

Speaking for myself and many close to me, the amount of time we have to dedicate to our business and community organizations is decidedly limited and becoming more scarce.

In a perfect world, volunteers in a typical association would drive strategy just like they do in their own organizations. Yet I still find so many organizations saddled with volunteer leaders with limited time and even personal agendas that hinder the organizations’ ability to competitively drive results. Not that you can’t have the same issues in corporate America (God knows I’ve experienced both) but the freedom to create competitively in a for-profit environment is still a game-changer for either and both.

I say competitively because many companies are seeing that the classical association model doesn’t always have the ability to deliver results as swiftly as a company without the governance burden can do.

Many of my associates in stand-alone organizations disagree with me. I hope they’re right but I also hope they’re watching the rear-view mirror.

HAPPY VETERANS DAY

Today I’m preparing to head out on another trip in a few weeks full of travel. It will be fraught with all of the problems we’ve come to accept in this “new” world: lines, delays, walking shoeless through intrusive machines, exposure to xrays, speed traps (ok, that’s just the very unfriendly Salt Lake City Airport) and more.

Yet despite that in think this morning about people like my dad, a WWII vet whom passed away 7 years ago, my uncle, an Army vet who wrote extensively on his experiences in WWII, or my friends who either went to Viet Nam and never came home or returned home with unthinkable problems. Even my friend Mike who returned from Viet Nam only to die in an accident when his infamous Pinto was rear-ended.

My little inconveniences pale in comparison to the sacrifices made my my family, friends and countless others who keep us free. Thanks to them so many of us are able to write our blogs, run our businesses…basically enjoy life and all that comes our way.

If by chance you’re traveling today like me you’re bound to cross paths with a vet in an airport headed to or from one of the world’s hotspot. Take a moment to stop, thank them and wish them a Happy Veterans Day.