I was travelling and it was quite late, after midnight. I have this little hotel in Northwest Arkansas called Inn at the Mill that I stay in frequently. I couldn't wait to get there. When I checked in, I had traveled right through dinner, and I was hungry. I knew with certainty that on my pillow waiting for me were two freshly made oatmeal cookies. It's a little extra touch they've done for years. I was hungrier than that. I was telling the night shift attendant that I had missed dinner that night. He directed me to the kitchen, at 1:00AM, where he assisted me in making a great late-night snack at no charge.
In a Sam's Club recently I was looking for a picture frame. I asked an employee and he said he didn't think they carried them anymore. At least 15 minutes later, a store manager came up to me and ask me if I was the gentleman looking for the picture frames. Seems they had just gotten some new ones and in the prior gentleman wasn't aware of it. He personally walked me to the area and asked me if that was what I was looking for, and was there anything else he could do.
There is a hardware store in Boulder called McGuckin Hardware. It's a locally owned family hardware business that competes with the mega hardware stores that are now common. At the mega hardware stores you could build a bonfire in aisle 10 and you still may not get assistance. Not at McGuckin. I've been in there 50 times at least and the average time to be assisted isn't sixty seconds. It's so unbelievable I've started timing how long it takes to be greeted. It gets better than that. You need to build a doghouse and don't know how? No matter. They'll tell you everything you need to know, step by step. Want to install a new hot water heater in your basement and don't have a clue? Step right up. I've gone home and still had questions and called the salesman to ask for help. They clearly have been trained to give extraordinary attention to every customer.
Ken Blanchard (author of One Minute Manager and numerous other business books) tells a great story about Ritz Carlton employees. Solving a customer's problem is paramount to the Ritz's operation. Any employee can immediately spend up to $2,000 to solve a problem without getting anyones approval. A businessman checked out of the Ritz Carlton and traveled to Hawaii to make a important scheduled presentation. Upon arriving in Hawaii he discovers he had left his laptop, complete with the presentation, back at the Ritz. He called the hotel. A housekeeper had found the computer. The businessman needed the computer absolutely the next day. She took the computer to the airport, and her and the computer took off to Hawaii. She didn't turn it into a vacation, she returned on the next flight back. When her boss ask her why she flew the laptop to Hawaii rather than shipping it, she simply stated that there was less margin for error if she took it there herself.
Blanchard, in a book titled Raving Fans, talks about a method of management that sets as an objective turning your customers into "raving fans" about your business. The successful company of the future will be relying on their customer base as their marketing department. The goal, says Blanchard, is to give your customers an experience that far exceeds, rather blows away, any expectations they might have had when interacting with your business. When the customers start bragging on your company, you've created "Raving Fan" customers. Each of the examples above has cost the respective companies absolutely nothing in marketing dollars. Remember the Venetian luggage story from a few months ago? Same thing.
Blanchard boils it down to three steps:
1. Decide what you want. Think so far out of the box that you can't even see the box anymore. How extreme can you take your vision when it comes to customer service?
2. "Discover what your customer wants." Simply, ask them. Stay in touch with your core customer. See what their needs and wants are. Blanchard explains that there may be wants from the customer than don't fit your vision. These customers need to go elsewhere. You can't be all things to all people.
3. "Deliver what you promise, plus one." Exceed your customer's expectations when you perform.
With the continual transition of the amusement industry, and the increased competition from other forms of entertainment, I think these concepts are right on. On the surface, I can already hear the grumbling about how this doesn't apply to our industry. One example of an operator creating "Raving Fan" customers that comes to mind is how Stan Chilton sold his used video and pinball games. After totally refurbishing each used game, Stan would ship the used game out in the same box it arrived in when new. More than one customer questioned rather the game was new or used. When a game would arrive at Stan's office, the shipping box was removed very carefully and stored until that game was sold. Stan created "Raving Fan" customers before we had a name for it. Again, the value in this is that the story is retold to this day by Stan's old customers.
Another operator I know never recovers a pool table on site. He brings in new, or refurbished tables when the current tables are due to be recovered. Sure, it would be much easier to do the work on location. To no surprise this operator has very few instances of locations owning their own tables. Why would they want too? They get new tables two or three times per year. More "Raving Fan" performance.
The book is clearly worth reading. It can be read cover to cover on a
flight from St. Louis to Denver. I've always seen some businesses perform
extraordinary tasks and thought it was admirable. I had never looked at
it as though this was the new standard for successful businesses of the
future. For that new prospective, it's worth the time to read.