Horst Schulze, who is the former President and COO of the Ritz-Carlton (and one of my biggest influences) always said that rule #1 is to keep the customer. For any organization to be successful, they must become proficient at keeping customers (and not lose them). Keep them happy. Keep them
My friend, Kenny, and I had a great dialogue recently about leadership. While we may not agree on the necessity of leadership, we do agree that far too many people wait to be led by others. Each one of us already has the gifts, drive and experience needed to contribute
Plaques. Pizza Parties. Parking Spaces. The list can go on and on. After all, who doesn’t like to to be recognized and get prizes, right? There are even popular books that give hundreds of ways to recognize your employees. In the quest to provide employee recognition, companies often assume that
Oh, what a privilege it is to serve others. Whether you work in a hotel, restaurant, spa, club, conference center, etc, the purpose is the same: Consistently deliver exceptional service and create memorable experiences for those you serve. That’s it. Treat. People. Well. Everyday. Regardless of who they are, or where they
The Smile. Powerful, yet underrated. Majestic, yet overlooked. The mere mention of the word, smile, makes you want to…smile. You can literally feel someone’s smile; whether it’s in person, or on the phone, or via email. That is how powerful it is. Regardless of whether you smile with your mouth, eyes or
This excellent article was written by Brian Lassiter, President of the renowned Performance Excellence Network. Many thanks to Brian for sharing this article! Sometimes the most powerful insights come from the most disastrous experiences. This is particularly true as it relates to poor customer service – something with which, unfortunately,
Two Kings. Both are royal. Both are majestic. Both are worthy to be given every good thing and served with excellence. One of the kings is “King Joseph Smith” and the other is “Joe Smith”. It is obvious who King Joseph is when he enters a room. His clothes, jewelry
It all begins with a thought. Thoughts turn into words, and words turn into behaviors, and behaviors turn into habits. In fact, anything we consistently do will become a habit. Napoleon Hill wrote that “Thoughts are things, and powerful things at that”. It generally takes anywhere from 3-4 weeks of
*This article was graciously contributed by Mr. John Wood, who is the HR Recruitment Manager at the luxurious Shore Lodge Resort. “Nuggets” are those actionable points of execution that set one service experience aside from all the rest. That special occasion when an authentic connection is made between the service
It always begins like this: “Bryan, what do we need to do to create a strong service culture?” Or “How can our leaders inspire excellence from their team members?” Please notice the we in the first question and the our in the second question. Inevitably, the client and my team discuss key pieces like
Could it be? Is it even possible? What are the chances that every touchpoint is memorable? Each team member is engaged. All leaders act as though they are not just managers, but rather CEOs of their respective departments. Vince Lombardi famously said…. The real leaders live and breathe that philosophy.
Just like the word “clean”, everyone has their own understanding of what exceptional service is. Clean for me may be very different from clean for you. The same is true of service. To deliver exceptional service, it is important to begin with a clear picture of what it actually is. Exceptional means unusually excellent…not
