Wash, Rinse and Repeat

We have all seen this statement on our shampoo bottle. Well it says it on the instructions so I must need to use twice as much of XYZ’s product to clean my hair. With one phrase the XYZ company may have doubled its sales by encouraging the consumer to use up the product twice as fast. Brilliant.

Now what can the service industry learn from this simple word? What makes repeat guests come back to Moe’s Tavern or Curly’s Hotel?

People. The human connection is the single most powerful force - all things being equal, a personal and positive experience with an employee, manager or owner will greatly influence the decision to come back. Customer engagement at all levels can win more repeats than any other program, product or promo.

Loyalty can be bought with points and perks but that can only go so far. How many late and cancelled flights, lost pieces of luggage and indifferent counter-agents must Jack and Jill endure to get a free trip or upgrade, only to receive more indifferent service?

To break the spell of perks sought by the multitude of travelers these days, the service industry needs to get back to exactly that; Service! And service is delivered by people…

Finding employees that have a genuine interest and aptitude for serving the public is the first step. “Trained” employees are not delivering a sincere desire to serve me and I see through it and I do not like it. Using my name five times at check in only annoys me.

The only quality I look for in an employee anymore is sincerity. With sincerely service-oriented employees, I can create a culture of service; genuine service. If a strong culture that is singularly focused on serving the guest is established, then customer loyalty is achieved with far more frequency than any gifts, perks or discounts.

Focusing efforts on attracting, motivating, training and retaining sincere employees is the key to success. A management team dedicated to supporting the employees delivering the service will further lead to success.

Norbert Mede makes leaders out of managers and builds a company culture of service, in companies large and small, hospitality industry or not. Contact us to discuss how he might be of service to your business.