{What’s Most Important to Your Guests' Experience?}

What is the one thing a frequent traveler wants from a hotel during a business trip?

Of course a clean hotel, a nice room, a great flat-screen TV, a shower with amazing water pressure and other things. But all this is of no avail if one cannot have a good night's sleep. Some of us like me are fortunate that we can fall asleep anywhere anytime. Unfortunately, that is not the case for most frequent travelers.

Research International conducted an online study among 1,000 overnight and international business travelers who took at least 2 trips in the past year. 25 percent of travelers said they have fallen asleep in a meeting due to sleep deprivation, 70 percent felt less productive after traveling, and close to 20 percent had a presentation go badly or lost business as a result of poor sleep due to traveling.

So what can a hotel do? How far should they go?

In a recent trip to the DC area, I stayed at the Lorien Hotel and Spa in Alexandria, VA. As my teen marketing team and I walked into the hotel, I realized this would be a "different experience"; but was not sure if that will be different good or different bad. As I was checking in, we saw a living area on the right with tons of books, all in white covers. More strange stuff I guess.

The rooms were nice, the beds were comfortable. There was a fresh and clean aura in the room. But what I saw next completely startled me. Next to my bed, on the bedside table, was a brochure called "Sweet Dreams Made Easy". Inside the hotel had three pages of stuff, mostly free, to make sure that I had a good night's sleep. They offered pillows of every kind that ranged from snore-no-more pillows, a body pillow, a neck pillow, a bed wedge, water pillow, magnetic pillows to contour pillows. To unwind, they offered lullaby library songs, ear buds, sleep masks, bedtime stories, a soothing sound machine, diffusers or a humidifier. Of course if I was a tad hungry, they would bring milk and cookies for me for a moderate charge. And if all this fails, for $20, I could get my own teddy bear.

Wow!

I thought for a second and felt WOW (again). I had previously resigned to the fact that there could be no "really new" wow ideas in a hotel. Hotels to me have become transactional experience providers, but this was a case where a hotel really knew the most important thing I needed and went all out to make sure I got a good night's sleep. This is the perfect inspiration behind a WOW guest experience.

{Bad Image for Marketing & Operations: Cold Cappuccinos and Lonely Waitresses}

Many times when I write about Marperations™, Operations gets the bad guy image, something which is trying to come in with measures to be more efficient and hence makes the guest experience more blah. The following incident is slightly different as Marketing set a tone which put Operations in a no-win situation.
June 16, Westminster, Colorado
A few of us just came out of a presentation at the Madcap Theater. There were eleven of us. It was 8:30 p.m. We looked around and there was a plethora of choices: Rock Bottom, Tuk Tuk Thai Bistro, Jackson's All American Sports Grill, Dave & Busters, Que Bueno Mexican Grille, Anthony's Pizza & Pasta, BJ's Restaurant & Brewery, Bonefish Grill, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Hacienda Colorado. We walked into Johnny Carino's. I felt it was a great place for us to celebrate. I also felt with the state of the economy as it stands, any restaurant would welcome eleven of us on a Tuesday night with a big grin.

The décor was nice. It looked clean, proper, and inviting, but it was nearly empty. There were three or four other tables occupied in this amazing restaurant. We were seated and soon were busy in talking about the war we had just won. The "lonely waitress" came in and took our beverage order. Six of us ordered the cappuccino. When the beverages came in, they were lukewarm. Some on our team felt that the temperature was unacceptable. A guy who looked like the manager came to the table. He would not believe that the cappuccino was not hot enough. He asked all of us repeatedly. In disbelief he went back and returned with a fresh set of cappuccinos. This time it was barely warm. I was too tired to fight. As the manager kept insisting that we make sure that it was right this time, the same two in the group stated "No, it is still not right." The manager was in disbelief. He was ready for war. He came back with two steaming cups of cappuccino. We were all tired of trying cappuccino at different temperatures, but the manager strongly, even aggressively insisted. Yes it was finally right.

The rest of the evening the service was at that same "level". The "lonely waitress" was acting out. There were no smiles. Smiles were replaced by shrugs and eye-rolling. But we were happy to have a place to sit and eat. The food was nice, other than the fried calamari which was served "chilled".

As I sat there, I was upset at the service, but I reasoned with myself. I realized that the "nearly aggressive manager" and "lonely waitress" were humans. They were tired of carrying the load alone. Marketing must have decided that even if economy is down we should keep the store open till regular hours. Closing early on weekdays may send a wrong signal to stakeholders that we are hurting. Instead let us keep doing what we are doing, but now, let us operate the store with skeletal minimal staff.

When you do that you stretch operations to a point of no recovery. To me it is simply not fair. When a group of eleven show up and are having a "jolly good time" and have no urgency to place their orders, it is tough on the "lonely waitress". She must have been the lowest in seniority and hence got this shift. What does she do when six people complain that the cappuccino is too cold? I am trying to find excuses for the "nearly aggressive manager" but I cannot think of too many reasons why he got that defensive and aggressive. I guess stress shows up differently in different people.

So my suggestion to marketing is "Be Real." Please do not try to be true to the brand by making promises that operations cannot keep. It is ok to say that we will close restaurants early on weekdays so that every moment we are open, we will open with passion and vigor. Now that is a promise every customer likes, and employees, too, will cheer the resulting reduction in late hours. A win-win Marperations strategy for the customer and for the brand.

{Guest Experience: The Childrens Hospital Check-in}

Recently, my daughter was not feeling well. It was a Friday afternoon, after 4PM. Most readers who are parents will agree with me that health problems with our children mainly happen either after hours or on weekends.

So like any dad would do, I took her to The Children’s Hospital. In Denver they have a new location on the Fitzsimmons campus. We parked outside and marveled at the amazing new building as we approached the entrance. When we walked in, the first thing about the state-of-the-art hospital that struck me was their amazing security system. Before I could take my daughter to the lobby and meet a nurse, I had to go to the security desk and give them my driver’s license to create an ID badge for me.

In an effort to get through the process, I complied. But their ID printer was not working; my picture ID got printed as a black blob. I know I am not terribly good looking, but still, that was not right. However, I was fine living with the black blob badge for a few hours as I wanted to make sure my daughter got medical assistance sooner rather than later. But the security personnel were adamant on getting it right. What followed was a crazy episode of security people trying to act like IT professionals. Maybe they thought they could do it as their title “Security” includes the letters “IT”. It never worked, so finally I was allowed to go in with a black blob ID.

When we approached the patient registration desk, the first question the lady at the desk asked was, “Can I get your proof of insurance please?” Then I had to sit there, waiting for this insurance card verifier lady to take her time making copies of my insurance card and doing all sorts of verifications. Finally she came back and wanted me to make sure all information was correct and updated. I said a patient yet determined “Yeeeeees!”

After 30 minutes of security and insurance verification, I was finally in line waiting to see a nurse who would then decide if my daughter would get to see a doctor. I totally understand the operations philosophy of minimizing costs and serving a customer with the minimum salaried employee, but is that also the vision that marketing has? Is that the vision I, as a customer, had when I took my daughter to the hospital? I did not go in to get served in the most efficient way! I went in to be served with reassurance, immediately.

{Do you feel special? A closer look at loyalty cards}

During my days in working in the Pizza Industry (I started my career at Pizza Hut and eventually was the VP of Marketing & Operations Services at Papa John’s), one thing always baffled me. Why did the pizza category have the highest deal rate among any restaurant category? (A deal rate simply means what percentage of customers felt that they buy the pizza at a price lower than the menu price.)

In order to understand why the pizza category had become so deal/discount oriented, I developed the following hypothesis:

1.             For a customer, brand switching is very easy when ordering a pizza. To switch, a customer simply has to dial a different set of 10 numbers when ordering over the phone, or go to a different website for online ordering. That’s all it takes to switch brands!

2.             Consumers are always looking for who has the best deal or value offering, that day. As brand switching is so effortless, the brand offering the best value on a given day has the best chance of getting a customer to switch to the brand.

Brands feed this "consumer addiction to value" by providing ongoing value offerings and discounts like this:

30% off Pizza Loyalty Card

One specific practice caught my attention. It was a common practice to reward a frequent user with discounts. That simply means if you order 10 large pizzas on a calendar year, you get a special card that allows you to buy pizzas from the company for a 30% discount. When I performed some detailed focus groups with consumers, I learned the following:

1.       Consumers are okay with buying the pizza at its regular price. (Did the consumer not prove this by buying pizzas at regular price 10 times?)

2.       Getting the lower price made the customer realize that they were getting hosed by paying more than the fair price for the first 10 pizzas. (Whoa! What a way to start a relationship!)

3.       Giving the consumer a 30% discount for all future pizzas that year was deep discounting.  

But did the consumer want the 30% off Pizza Loyalty Card?

It is amazing how one gets the answer to every question when they talk to the customer. Of course asking the right question is very important.

When I was moderating the focus groups I asked the customers if the 30% off pizza loyalty card would get them to come back to the pizza place over and over. The customers looked perplexed.  “Did we not prove to you that we have been to your restaurant to buy at the regular price more than ten times?” Good point, I thought. Then I asked, “So what do you want?” 

It took the customers just a second to say, “Every time I order, put my pizza in the oven first, before everyone else’s.” 

I asked myself, was the customer talking about a first class experience on a plane?

“Remember my favorite order and deliver it without any mistakes.”

“Give me something more that I did not order, e.g. breadsticks or cheesesticks. Or even some extra dipping sauce.”

“Remember my name. When I call, your phone should ring with a different ring tone.”

So what did the customer really want?

As we cleaned the focus group room and sat down to de-brief, it dawned on me that the customer wanted to be treated special.

Years later, I was revisiting the humbling learning experience from the focus groups. Then I got it. On a given day the customer buys just pizza one time, and we, in the store sell to hundreds of customers on any given day. The customer wants to feel that we are only making their pizza. Instead, they get an efficient, process-oriented response, in which everything is mechanical. There is no personal touch.  That is where things break down.

This is what resulted in the birth of Marperations™.  Marperations™ is a place where we put the customer first.  There is no operations or marketing team in Marperations™. Instead everything is focused on guest experience and meeting the guest’s expectations. For a minute, forget the efficiency mantra of operations, forget the branding preaching from marketing; instead, be present with the customer and smile and ask… “What can I do for you?”

Marperations™ is built on five universal truths:

1. Every customer interaction - which is usually in the exclusive domain of operations - is actually marketing to a significant extent.

2. Every advertising campaign - which is usually in the exclusive domain of marketing - sets the expectation that governs every sale and is therefore in the operations realm.
3. Linking marketing and operations is critical to presenting one unified message to the customer. This occurs from the start of the marketing communication to the actual sale of the product or service.
4. The better a company's operations run, the easier it is to market its product or service.
5. The better a company's marketing runs, the easier it is to perform the business of operations.

{How a Big-Box Retailer Can Make You Fall in Love}

Recently, I was visiting a Target. At check-out, I only had seven items so I went through the fast lane. It was quick and efficient. I was done in lightning speed.

When I was ready to gather my bags and leave, I paused to look at the long line of regular customers who were buying more than 20 items. Their lines were long and the customers had tired looks on their faces.  

Poor guys. It is tough enough to go to the store with kids when you need to buy a lot of stuff, and then to wait in line forever seems like cruel and unusual punishment.
 
That's when the light bulb went on for me. Whoa! Each of these customers is spending at least four to five times more than what I spent in the store. They are the higher volume customers. Aren't they more important for the store than me, and yet I got the fast checkout?

Please do not get me wrong, I appreciate the fast line for the few-item-customers like me, but shouldn't the store treat the more valuable customers with more care?

Visualize a Target trip where you go around the aisles and work hard to find all your daily and weekly needs. Finally when you come to check out, a staff in red uniform greets you. She gently takes over the cart from you and guides you to a desk. You sit down while she gets you a bottle of water. She then starts ringing each of your items and places them in bags and then runs your credit card. She asks you if you need a 24 pack bottled water or some other household items to take home. You gladly say yes, as this may be only time in the day you will be able to take a breather and sit down. You want it to last a little longer.

Then the staff drives the cart to your car and loads everything in the trunk. As you get in the driver's seat and buckle up, the staff softly closes the door for you and smiles. You roll down the window and thank them. The staff member just smiles at you and says "Not a problem, Mrs. Jones. You are absolutely welcome. The next time you are in the store, look for me. Either I or any of my associates would love to assist you in any way we can. Drive safe."
 
You roll the window up.  As you leave the parking lot, you realize that you are IN LOVE.  You are in love with the red Target sign. You love Target. And you are looking forward to the next meeting.

Wow! Why can't this happen at Walmart, Costco, Sam's Club, BJ's, and even Home Depot? This is a customer centric Marperations model where there is no Operations or Marketing gap. Instead everything is focused on guest experience and surpassing the guest's expectations. For a minute, forget the efficiency mantra of Operations, forget the branding preaching of Marketing; instead, be present for the customer and let him feel the love your brand has for him. 

It is that simple.