A couple of weeks ago I had the good fortune to be a guest of the
My husband tagged along (in his words he was "happy to be my arm candy") and shortly after we arrived at the resort we found ourselves escorted to the most amazing employee training event either of us had ever attended.
Leaders whose deliver (or strive to deliver) red-carpet customer service know that in order to manage a team of exceptional service providers must: 1. Hire the right people 2. Be very clear about their service expectations and standards and 3. Train their people, train their people, train their people.
The Gaylord Opryland has made huge strides in their service delivery in the last few years, as evidenced by the growing numbers of positive customer comments and the fact that they stay at 80% or higher occupancy at all times (a feat almost unheard of in the hotel industry).
To that end, they have developed very clear service standards (they call them service basics) their team members are expected to follow. Like all companies who give their customers red-carpet service, they reinforce these service basics at every opportunity. Then...quarterly they have rallies....and reinforce their message in a BIG way.
Here's what Jim and I witnessed:
As employees (or STARS, as the Gaylord refers to them) piled into the auditorium, they were greeted by the Gaylord Opryland band rockin' out! Made up of Gaylord STARS, they were GOOD! Ask my rock n' roll husband. He was entranced....loving every second of it.
The two service basics the rally team focused on were:
1. Make Eye Contact and Smile
2. Speak First and Last
They spent an hour communicating these two messages to their STARS....in the most creative ways! They used video, live skits, game show parodies, commercial parodies (my favorite being Smilectra - similar to Viagra. If your smile lasts longer than 6 hours see a supervisor. LOL!), costumes, prizes, song parodies, the works!
Senior VP and General Manager, Pete Weien, may be the Herb Kelleher of Gaylord Entertainment - dressing up in a variety of crazy costumes to get his message across to the STARS.
By the end of that rally, every single person in that room got the message. Make eye contact with our guests, smile, and be the first (and the last) one to speak. Heck, I found myself smiling at guests...and I was a guest!
Now, several STARS knew that I had written a book that featured the Gaylord Opryland - so it did not surprise me that we received exceptional service that week. However, Jim and I watched the STARS who didn't know who we were - and we're pleased to report that 95% of the time we got big smiles and friendly greetings wherever we went.
You may not have the budget the Gaylord has to produce such an event. However, perhaps this post will inspire you to take another look at your training practices. Do you stick boring DVDs into the DVD player and call that training? Do you just tell your team what your service basics are? Do you send them a memo?
Or....do you find creative ways to get your message across?
And if you do.....why not share them here?
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