CUSTOMER SERVICE: Lessons from the hospitality industry

There’s no other industry that demands high levels of customer service quite like hospitality – especially if you’re working in Las Vegas. I know. I worked in the industry for a handful of years until I leapt over to the small business sector in 2000 (although I would describe it more as more of a quick darting action rather than simply a leap.)

While I admit that I enjoy no longer working for “the hotel man,” I often miss the deep-rooted understanding hospitality workers employ when it comes to providing great customer service. Perhaps it’s why I find it amusing that so much focus in today’s new business environment is on how to provide clients with great customer service when every business should have been doing it all along.

The secret? Constant communication and results. Really. It’s that simple and it’s that difficult. Yes, difficult.

For many, maintaining customer service can be a daunting task because it takes effort, which, translated for most, means moving out of their comfort zone.
For me, it’s a bit of a game. (I know how mental I sound. Thanks.) It’s fun, challenging and you’re always on your toes. I think I’ve done a pretty good job at keeping folks happy over the years. That being said, people often ask me how I get things done so quickly, or how I’ve been able to get in touch with someone and get results when they were unsuccessful at doing the same for so long – just a couple of examples which have enabled me to keep clients satisfied.

You’re out of luck if you’re looking for secret tips from Tony Robbins. Instead, I humbly offer suggestions that have worked for me over the years and have enabled our company (as many here share these philosophies) to maintain a high level of customer service:

Get results: It’s the primary reason your clients are with you. If there are no results, there will be no clients to provide customer service to. (Flattering the client only gets you so far.)

Understand how each client communicates: This is of growing importance as the workforce employs different generations of workers who prefer to communicate in various ways. The rule of thumb: If you’re the vendor, communicate with each client as they prefer. This is how you make yourself convenient and responsive to their needs. After all, they’re paying you to work for them.

Do not use email as a primary way of providing customer service: Yes, it helps, but I view email as, primarily, a means to get things done. Face-to-face interaction, phone conversations etc. are what help solidify and grow client relationships. I enjoy the flexibility email provides, but no one should underestimate the power of a phone call or meeting.

Always be pleasant, but get to the point: Pleasantries are appreciated, but everyone works frighteningly fast and although you have a great relationship with your client, they don’t want to read (rather “weed”) through your novel-length emails or listen to 10-minute phone messages. Make your statement and move ahead. And please, avoid being a repeat “email forwarding” offender. If you’ve done the legwork and need a question answered, do not forward email threads to coworkers and clients stating “see below” and expect a timely response – if any response.

Ask if you’re doing a good job: It’s valuable to your client satisfaction levels. It doesn’t have to be a formal affair. Just ask them, “Are you happy with us?” You’ll learn if they’re happy or if there’s an issue you need to address to improve the relationship.

Be the expert: Nothing’s more frustrating to a client than having them feel as though they’re having to tell their hired expert how to do their job. While it’s a working partnership, never forget that they’re looking for your advice and ideas and that, ultimately, your job is to ease their pain and help them succeed.

Just as in the hospitality industry, responding to guests (i.e. clients) is at the heart of great customer service. Moral of the story: communicate!

Amber Stidham is the Director of Strategic Planning at Imagine Marketing
Contact Amber at astidham@imnv.com

Pickiness is next to…annoying?

This morning I’ve been cleaning up some leftovers from reconciling our VISA bill. As the Company Mom, I do the cleaning up (I just don’t do windows). And because I seem to be the picky sort and these leftovers are costing us money, I get annoyed. I try not to let my annoyance shine through as I deal with the people/companies involved. Sometimes it’s hard, but I’ve found that if I am clear in stating my concern and in making a specific request, and maintaining a high degree of professional “niceness”, I get done what needs to be done.

In the overall scheme of things, if I let it ride, it would only cost our company a few hundred dollars. Only a few hundred? Our CFO, Jeff, probably just fell to the floor gripping his chest for that one. But it seems this is what some companies count on, the “only a few dollars or cents” mind set, that we are too busy to be either dollar foolish or penny wise. (For those of you younger than 35, it’s an old saying from when pennies actually were worth something.) In this economy, it might seem foolish to waste time tracking down the pennies, even when they add up to dollars. After all, isn’t our time worth more than that?

Yes and no. Our time is worth every penny we put into it and every penny we receive back. While some corporations might be cavalier in how they spend their money—and ours—we can’t be. We owe it to ourselves, to our vendors and especially to our clients to pay attention. If we are so nonchalant that we are struggling to make ends meet, or if we don’t care that we have been over-charged because we can simply pass it on to the client, we just wrote ourselves a ticket to failure.

This past year (has it been a year already?) our country, indeed much of the world, has struggled to make it through one of the biggest down-turns in decades. The horror stories of businesses closing, lost jobs, foreclosed homes and displaced families continue even now, even as a glimmer of economic recovery peeks over the horizon. We at Imagine Marketing can look with pride at what we’ve accomplished in the past year, and that many of our clients have continued to move forward with our help. Our vendors remain loyal and continue to provide quality products and service to their customers, keeping them in business. It’s a balancing act to be sure, but it’s working.

So I will keep poring over the statements, examining the invoices, making the phone calls and expecting phone calls back. If a client calls to find out why a certain item is included in their invoice, I will do my best to explain it or at least pass it along to their account executive for clarification. And we’re going to continue to be penny wise and dollar wise, as we move into 2010, still going strong and still offering our clients the best service we know how.

Sue Burkholder is the Company Mom for Imagine Marketing.
Contact Sue at sburkholder@imnv.com

Contact us, but not really

Have you ever been at a networking event and asked someone for their business card and, in place of their contact information, were given a clue to a scavenger hunt? Chances are your answer is no – and for good reason because the point of networking is to develop new contacts that hopefully will turn into business leads, and you can only start off this type of relationship with being easily accessible. So, the serious question is this: if you wouldn’t make it this difficult for someone to contact you when you first meet them in person, why would you want to make it difficult to get the same information from your Web site?

Often what I find under the “contact us” link on many Web sites is an obscure form that limits what I can say, and I have no idea who will receive it once I hit “send.” Recently I read a blog entry by marketing heavy-weight Seth Godin (a blog I would recommend subscribing to) that hit on this same issue. In his article Godin says, “E-mail contact is like a first date. If you show up with a clipboard and a questionnaire, it's not going to go well, I'm afraid. The object is to earn permission to respond.”

When I go to a Web site and am forced to hunt for contact information and am unable to easily find a phone number or e-mail address, I often find myself looking for an alternative company that offers a similar service, especially if I haven’t already built a personal relationship with the company in question. Most Web sites are built with the hope to engage visitors enough to pick-up the phone, but if this information isn’t easily found, it makes all the effort in creating a great Web presence null and void.

The best thing a company can do is to make sure both an email address and phone number is listed under the “contact us” page on its Web site. Having an e-mail or phone number listed in small font at the bottom of every page isn’t such a bad idea either. If the e-mail address listed is a generic contact such as info@abccompany.com, make sure someone is checking these e-mails on a regular basis and responding to any non-spam e-mails. An account like this may attract a lot of spam, but your Web site developer should offer some tips to make it more manageable.

Megan Lane is an Account Executive at Imagine Marketing.
Contact Megan at mlane@imnv.com/

Lessons in leading through serving

For the past nine months I have been part of the planning committee for a Christian community event called Free to Worship. The concept was to bring together Christian churches throughout the valley for a half-day event to worship through music. On Saturday, Sept, 19, over 1,000 people of all ages, ethnicities and Christian denominations came together to watch 11 bands perform. It was an amazing day and a lot of work, but very humbling at the same time. It was after everyone had left that I learned a lesson that can be easily applied to many areas of my personal and professional life, especially areas where I am called to lead.

After being at the Clark County Amphitheatre for well over 12 hours, completely exhausted but pleased with the outcome of our efforts, I – along with the other 10 or so people that had worked so hard in the 100 degree-plus Vegas weather – was ready to go home and crawl into the comfort of my own bed when we found out the cleaning crew had left. This was the crew hired to pick up trash, empty all the trash bins and deposit all the garbage into an off-site dumpster, and clean the greenrooms used by the bands – all tasks that had to be completed before we could leave the venue. So, before the high of putting on a successful event could even truly sink in, the realization came that it was up to us to clean the facility. As I was mopping up gooey puddles oozing out of a leaky trash bag left on the greenroom floor, I began to laugh. I realized the best leaders are the ones that serve others. This isn’t a complicated lesson, but it’s hard to understand when our lives are wrapped up in titles, positions and power.

So, what does it mean to lead through service? It’s leading by example and not being afraid to get your hands dirty just because the title on your business card or job description might not imply or include specific tasks. People are more willing to follow a leader who not only lives by example but ultimately strives to provide for the greater good of the group without letting their ego get in the way.

Next June I will become the president of the Las Vegas chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC/Las Vegas). I am excited by the challenge but admittedly scared by the title. I am one of the youngest members of the organization and often wonder how I am going to get these people to follow my lead. I am starting to realize it’s not about getting anyone to follow me, it’s how I can serve my fellow board members and ultimately the members of IABC/Las Vegas. This is such a backwards philosophy to how so many organizations are run, but it feels so right.

What would happen if, in every role we had, big or small, leader or follower, we focused on serving others rather than getting them to follow?

Megan Lane is an Account Executive for Imagine Marketing.
Contact Megan at mlane@imnv.com.

Don’t let panic alter a solid formula

2009 has been especially hard on the restaurant business. Since becoming empty-nesters, my wife and I eat out more than we used to. In some ways, it’s cheaper than eating at home, especially with the proliferation of coupons and two-for-one deals that are one positive byproduct of the New Economy, at least from the consumer standpoint.

Unfortunately, many of our favorites are no longer with us. One night, a few months ago, we drove to three different establishments, only to find each one dark and empty. These were all mom-and-pops, a sector that has been particularly hard hit. By the time we pulled into the parking lot of the last one, it was time to give up and go home. It would have been comical if it weren’t so depressing.

Another time, we drove up to Carlos’ Mexican Café in Boulder City to satisfy our craving for the greatest fish tacos in the world. We had been talking about it and looking forward to it all week. As we headed down Hotel Plaza and noticed the dearth of cars surrounding the café, we experienced that familiar “oh-oh” moment. Sure enough, one glance through the window revealed the by-now familiar scene of chairs stacked on top of tables and fixtures piled haphazardly in the corner. Sadly, we’ve never found a replacement for those halibut delicacies. If you know of any, please don’t hesitate to contact me. We’ll drive for food.

The larger chain restaurants are by no means immune either. Last year, I tried to order a side of chili at Chili’s, only to be told they were out of it. Marketing note: If you’re going to name your place after a certain item, please make sure the item is always in stock. I had a sneaking suspicion that something was wrong even then. Sure enough, most (if not all) of the local Chili’s are gone.

More recently, one of my lunch stand-bys bit the dust. Evos, a healthy fast-food diner just down the street from our office, was always my fallback place when I needed a quick, guilt-free meal. Their baked chicken fingers and fries were always crisp, never soggy, and satisfied my craving for fried food without all the grease.

A few months before closing up shop for good, they changed their name to “Fast and Fresh” – or something along those lines. That was part of the problem. It sounded too much like “Fresh and Easy.” Not only that, but people naturally assumed they had changed hands, even though it was still under the same management. To make matters worse, they messed around with the menu. Some things were better; a lot of things weren’t (like their chili. What is it about chili, anyway?). They also got rid of their ketchup bar (which included mesquite and fiery hot flavors) and their excellent selection of organic iced teas.

The first day I walked in after the change, I knew it was their death knell. Not because I’m psychic, but because they allowed panic to alter what I knew to be a solid formula. Admittedly, as an outsider I had no knowledge of their financial situation. All I know is that changing the name and menu is a risky move even under the best of circumstances. You spend a certain amount of time building a reputation, an identity and a storehouse of good will, only to eliminate it overnight. This decision did not seem to be well thought-out, and the subsequent customer drain hastened their departure.

So, my favorite restaurants have dwindled to a precious few. The economy seems to be improving in some areas, so I hope they can hang in. In the meantime, when you send me suggestions for fish tacos, please drop in a couple of recommendations for baked chicken fingers. I’m really struggling here.

Brian Rouff is the Managing Partner for Imagine Marketing.
Contact Brian at brouff@imnv.com.

We are journalists who just happen to work in PR

A few weeks ago our Media Relations Department received a great compliment from one of our contacts at a local publication, who told a client of ours: “We like Imagine Marketing because they know how to write newsworthy releases.” This person also said they just toss releases from some local firms because of the poor quality.

This compliment was so meaningful because producing newsworthy content is something we in the Media Relations Department strive for every day – sometimes even to the point of receiving teasing for my unyielding adherence to the AP Stylebook.

So why is it so important to our firm to produce newsworthy content? There are several reasons, actually, but here’s a few:

· Providing media contacts with newsworthy story ideas, which is all they’ll accept anyway, builds trust. Anyone our firm has worked with at any point in time in the past knows that we aren’t going to waste their time. We understand they receive hundreds of PR pitches every day or every week and, if we waste their time, they will no longer give us, and as a result – our clients, the time of day ever again.

· Writing press releases in AP Style and inverted pyramid format, which is the style our media friends write in, makes it easier for them to find the most pertinent information fast. They won’t recognize the newsworthiness of a press release if it’s written so poorly that they can’t quickly find the relevant information (because they won’t read it to the end to figure it out).

· Newsworthy press releases and story pitches give our company, and thus, our clients, credibility in the eyes of the media. Because they deal with tons of PR people all the time, many members of the media don’t always have a favorable view of our industry. However, newsworthy information written concisely and in their style demonstrates that we “get them” and aren’t here to waste their time.

· Newsworthy media pitches referencing hot topics show our media contacts that we know what’s going on in the world and in the community and will actually be worth working with.

· And finally, by combining all of the aforementioned reasons, pitching only newsworthy content builds good will. Although it doesn’t happen often, we do sometimes have to go back to our media contacts and, regardless of who’s to blame, take responsibility for a mistake – a mistake that publicly, our media contact will probably end up taking the blame for. In these situations, we have to draw from our “good will” bank account and, fortunately, there’s plenty of good will left to keep our relationships strong.

Really, as our founder D.J. Allen always says, “We are journalists who just happen to work in PR.”

Melissa Rothermel is the Director for Media Relations for Imagine Marketing.

Contact Melissa at mrothermel@imnv.com

Follow the leader or follow the rules?

Lately I have tried to be more aware of what’s going on around me, especially when on the road. Which leads me (albeit ambiguously) to the question, do we need to only be conscious of life’s rules and try to live by them, or do we need to be proactive in following those rules? The same question can apply to marketing – do we just follow the rules or are we proactive in our quest to provide our clients with the best we can?

As I left for work, I saw a driver actually smile as we executed our car ballet through a six-way stop. Why was anyone smiling at 7:15 a.m.? What did he, or any of us, have to smile about? Well, probably a lot, no matter what our present circumstances. Do we carry that smile into our customer service? I hope so, because a smile is an invitation to connect – either as a part of the morning commute, the human race, or in our case, in creating a vital relationship with our clients.

I noticed lots of dog walkers, and I wondered if they had their little blue bags with them. Not only because the law says so, but because courtesy dictates it. Do we care enough about those around us to “clean up the droppings?” Do we shrug away rude behavior as “what do you expect?” or do we work overtime to overturn the rudeness that we experience, and not simply reflect it back?

It’s easy to break common sense traffic rules on the way to work. I stopped for quail crossing the road, irritating those behind me. I wove in and out of traffic to get a little bit ahead of those not quite going the speed limit. While I know it’s not a good idea to brake for animals, some rules seem made to be broken, and I think missing the quail is one of them. But I knew I probably wouldn’t get to the next light any faster than the cars I passed, so why did I try? Like passing those slow cars, do we feel the need to rush, to be first, causing us to take short-cuts with our clients, or be impatient with our vendors?

How many rules do we break when dealing with our clients? Little rules like showing up on time for a meeting or not returning a phone call right away are easily broken. But what about the big rules such as meeting deadlines, accurate billing and honest communication with the client, even if it’s not quite what they want to hear? Breaking those kinds of rules will bring a marketing firm, and their clients, down faster than…well, fill in the blank. At Imagine Marketing, the rules have been etched in stone (okay, brass) in our mission statement, vision and values that were established as the foundation of Imagine Marketing.

At the freeway off-ramp, the first car in line didn’t move when the light turned green. What were they waiting for? Not paying attention? Or maybe they were acknowledging the inordinate number of red light runners, waiting those few extra seconds that could save a life.

I believe that in our business, while it may seem that we need to work at break-neck speed, be the first, get the most, ignore the obvious, taking the time to wait a few seconds can do wonders. Maybe it won’t save a life as it would at the traffic light, but it might save an account, a relationship or a valuable contact by just taking a metaphorical breath before jumping out into traffic.

Sue Burkholder is the Company Mom for Imagine Marketing.
Contact Sue at sburkholder@imnv.com