Frontline Magic Podcast

Ryan shares some words of wisdom in this episode, below are some of the highlights.

Making people matter

The inspiration for Charles’ book is a sad one, having lost a well-loved colleague suddenly – Jason had a contagious energy and passion for customer service, and made everyone he met feel like they matter with just one line: “Thanks for coming in today.”

Charles knew he would miss hearing that line from Jason, every day, and has honoured him ever since by greeting employees at his hotel with the same line. He says that now and then, someone gets confused – of course they are there if they were rostered on – but it’s about letting them know that you truly appreciate their time and effort on that day!

“Every job matters, and it really matters when people make the decision to come to work. We're one or two people away, every day, from either a really great day or pure hell, because every person’s presence has an impact.”

A mop can be replaced – your best employee cannot!

Charles acknowledges that the secrets to building a happy and motivated team probably can’t be shared in just a few sentences, but boils it down to these fundamentals:

Leadership – Your leaders must be genuinely appreciative of the time and effort that their team puts in every single day. It all starts there – but there’s more at play here…

The right tools – Charles shares a story about a long-term housekeeper who left a job simply because her manager wouldn’t budget the few dollars it costs to replace her old and dirty mop; the single most important thing for her to be able to do her job well. For this reason, Charles keeps a “mop list” – the things that people just really need to do their job well.

“We may not want to admit this to ourselves, but employees don't come to work, excited to provide customer service for their manager or the brand. They want to provide good service because it makes them feel good and it's a representation of themselves. So if you're not providing them with the tools that they need to do the job, you're impacting their personal representation.”

The right people - When hiring, the Westin’s final step in the interviewing process is to look for a passion for customer service – someone with ‘a servant heart’ who lives to make others smile. This passion makes everything else easier - from on-boarding to living out the “service pledge”(more below).

Blow people away with the service basics

Charles is a big believer in creating a “service pledge” for your brand, and is surprised at the number of businesses who haven’t taken the time to develop this foundation. A service pledge reflects the basic service standards that everyone in the business lives out for every customer – super simple, but incredibly important.

Here’s one service basic that should be at the top of everyone’s list, and one that consistently earns positive feedback from guests at the Westin Fort Lauderdale – the 20/10 rule.

“Within 20 feet of a customer make eye contact. Within 10 feet, there must be a verbal exchange; hello, good morning, how's your stay going? This simple exchange is the single most important way to make your business feel friendly, and will quickly change the vibe of an environment.”

And we’ll leave you with one last quote for continuous improvement that Charles lives by, from Buddy LaRosa (a frontline success magician himself!):

“Good, better, best. Never let it rest… until your good is better, and your better is best”

The sisters are no strangers to the hotel industry – having built up The Spire in Queenstown to critical acclaim. The duo sold it ten months on from purchase after it won recognition as Australasia’s leading boutique hotel, New Zealand’s leading ski resort, and New Zealand’s leading boutique hotel.

“After our success with The Spire, Hotel Montreal was a chance to take something special and put our own stamp on it,” says Lucy. And that’s exactly what they’ve done, to rave reviews of their patrons.

The Kiwi entrepreneur is refreshingly candid, and simple, about what works – pointing to good, old-fashioned altruism; intuition; attention to detail and treating staff like family.

Here’s what we learnt about creating a 5 star customer experience when we caught up recently…

A rising tide lifts all boats ‍

Queenstown (New Zealand) and surrounding areas rely on tourism, with many businesses serving the same customer base. When running The Spire, Lucy intentionally built strong relationships with these other businesses – supporting them where she could. In return, they were quick to recommend her hotel as a wonderful place to stay. “These relationships created personalized and unique experiences for our customers,” says Lucy. Recently, a group of guests from the hotel visited a local coffee shop and were introduced to some of the team there; which resulted in a lunch with Hollywood actor Sam Neill at his local winery – now that’s 5 star, and a win/win for all!

Past experience doesn’t dictate future success

When hiring, Lucy tries to look beyond past experience because what made for a 5 star experience in a previous role might conflict with what’s needed in a new role. “Look for people who have the same values as your business – for us, that’s a genuine interest in connecting with people; intuition that helps build relationships and flexible thinking. Everything else that helps our business run operationally can be taught, but it’s these people skills that are fundamental to our success.”

Get in touch with your senses

Lucy’s also learnt that delivering a 5 star experience – every time and for every customer – requires paying a lot of attention to the little things. “To be truly memorable, we need to activate all the senses – think about what the customer can see, hear, touch, smell and taste,” says Lucy. Senses can trigger a memory; or create a moment. Lucy’s hotel makes use of personalized scent, fabrics, art and more to create feelings of nostalgia and new memories and she’s convinced it’s the difference between blah...and aaaah!

It’s a family affair

With two sisters owning the business, the Hotel Montreal is already ‘a family affair’. Lucy’s challenge? “Take it one step further by truly caring for, respecting and trusting your team as if they were family.” Not surprisingly, Lucy’s staff join the business and want to stay – they have the confidence to make decisions; share feedback with the team; and feel appreciated for the hard work they do. “Shining a light on frontline achievements – big and small, and making that recognition personal, brings the team and management closer together.”

Lucy’s final ‘gold star’ tips on creating magic for your customers?

Take risks! Sometimes, trusting your intuition is the best thing you can do.

Don’t be afraid to be distinctly you – and let that show through your brand. Create something different and you’ll be remembered!

Focus on a niche. You don’t need everyone coming through the door; you need the right people coming.

Make your space one that customers want to be in – young and old. Make sure they feel welcomed and embraced.

Be a bit unpredictable. Keep things fresh and exciting. Surprise people and they’ll want more!

Here are Mitch’s top tips for supporting your frontline:

• Make your people your purpose
• Creating psychological safety is key
• Ask for feedback AND act on it!
• Stay in the field!
• Empower your people to identify and to fix problems

Read more about what they mean to Mitch here.

A common theme across the best companies that Adrian has worked with is that they are always open to new things. You can’t stay at the top of the charts by resting on your laurels and singing the same old tune. Working hard, intensely so, but staying humble is key. Thinking that you’re already the best and what you’ve achieved will keep you that title can’t be the leading strategy for any organization wanting to earn customer loyalty. Make sure you’re looking for opportunities to do better in different and innovative ways. It’s about improving, constantly.

Planning the future; researching the next big thing in technology and experimenting around different ways of working are really important, but all useless if you aren’t hyper-focused on what's happening here and now. The future is built on the present, and the best organizations are those who are working on being the best they can be right now – because it’s in the here and now that your customer is ready to spend money with you. If they tell you about the brilliant service they received, capture that – and transfer it to those future plans.

If you think about the brands that are held up as being the best, their CX secrets are hiding in plain sight… they have their basics for the customer down to a T, and that’s how they treat every customer, every day.

To get to that point, you really must understand your customer’s needs, and that takes ongoing dialogue. Talk to them about what they do, how your service helps them, their buying history with you, and what they expect from your organization in the future. (But don’t forget the here and now – always involve them in a conversation about what's happening right now, and how you can make their day easier.)

Those consistent conversations with customers will give you priceless feedback on all aspects of your business. But – don’t fall into the danger of thinking you know all the issues affecting customers, or what they love most about your brand. Think again! Each and every one of those small annoyances or moments of magic could easily be dismissed as insignificant. It’s building on a lot of those little things that will add up to big things.

We often take for granted the results we see when a beautiful painting sells for a record amount, or a new 100m world record is smashed – but these huge achievements are the product of hard work, and small improvements daily.

Here’s a summary of some top tips from Lisa on how to create magic for your customers:

- Listen…to the good and the bad – from your staff and your customers.

- Lead from the frontline, not from the back office. Allow your people to take ownership of their job and delivery.

- Give positive feedback to your people and share it with the wider team - even with their family!

- Encourage being proud of the work you do and its purpose – you are there to serve and that is an exception, exciting thing.

What does it take to deliver awesome customer experience in people-powered businesses?

The Frontline Magic Podcast is where we talk to industry leaders about the magic tricks that help them create experiences that keep customers coming back for more.

Follow along as we unlock the secrets, the real stories - the magic that makes every customer experience awesome.

With your host Susanne Axelsson.

Let’s unravel the secrets of world class customer experience together!