7 minute read
Turning Members into Marketeers
James Croll discovers how the quality of experience will not only drive reputation and visitation rates but could turn guests into a vast team of marketeers
Tom Scantlebury, Chief Executive of Sky Blue Customer Experience Services is ‘the experience man’, who, over the past two decades has been designing, delivering, measuring, and improving experiences across a diverse range of venues ranging from 5-star hotels to multinational companies.
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He believes that experience management (XM - as he calls it) is the key to running a successful and purposeful business in any area involved in member or client services.
Scantlebury believes that a significant number of venues across Australasia’s leisure industry fall way short of understanding and meeting their visitors’ needs. In fact, his work and research over the past few years reveals some frightening statistics, particularly in businesses that are built around memberships.
Scantlebury explains “probably the most worrying statistic of all is the fact that 80% of senior executives believe they deliver great experiences but only 8% of their customers actually agree with them. Whether they are in fitness, aquatics, or other client service sectors, management invariably make the classic mistake of looking at their business through their own eyes - i.e. that of the operator - rather than through the eyes of the customer. The result is a complete misunderstanding of their customer needs, the journey the customer is actually seeking, and little knowledge if any as to whether the business is meeting those needs.”
Scantlebury’s work and research over the past 20 years has been unique in many ways in that his focus is on emotions and feelings more than operational efficiencies.
As he advises “the word ‘experience’ is thrown around all the time but few realise how critical it is to a business, how it relates to customers and employees, and how it can now lead to the success or failure of organisations faster than any other time in our history. We are living in a world where potential clients are spoilt for choice and where they can instantaneously leave negative reviews which can go viral in an instant. We are living in a time where it is more critical than ever to understand about experience management to ensure the success and reputation of your business.”
It all starts with feelings Scantlebury goes onto explain how delivering quality experiences all starts with an understanding of a client’s feelings and how, if businesses understand their feelings and emotions, only then can they ensure they are meeting a client’s needs.
He notes that “the customer experience can essentially be divided into three parts.
“Customer success, customer effort, and customer emotion. In other words, do they get what they want?, is it easy for them?, but most importantly, how are they left to feel at the end of it all? - this one trumps everything. The first step, which is often not taken, is to deliberately design the ‘customer journey’ so there is a high chance of success. However, the only way to understand whether your business or your venue is delivering and meeting these three quite distinct parts of success is to measure your customers experiences - to obtain feedback - and yet, incredibly, few do this effectively if at all.”
Scantlebury explains that customer success is essentially whether a venue or business is delivering what the customer wants. An interesting case study in how this can be misinterpreted and how a client’s needs are not clearly understood is a recent case in the UK fitness industry. A health club chain realised that substantial costs could be saved by changing the shower heads in the changing rooms resulting in a decrease in water flow and cost-saving.
“The negative feedback from members was instant, particularly the feedback from members who worked out early morning prior to going to the office. The most important thing for them was the guarantee of a good hot shower after their workout prior to going to the office. It was a classic case of looking at the business experience through the operator’s eyes rather than the visitor or member. A classic example of bad profit.”
“Customer effort is equally important. How easy or difficult is it for a visitor to obtain what they want? The fitness sector provides another good example. Quite often, during peak times members may have to wait to use certain equipment. That not only begs the question as to whether a gym may be equipped with sufficient equipment that their members want, but other nuances come into play. Gyms often make the mistake of showing prospective members around during peak times whilst existing members are queuing to use equipment. It is not surprising that the timing of the showarounds may irk existing customers who might well believe their gym is at capacity as it is. No member in a fitness centre wants to be put through the effort of trying to find an available treadmill.”
It is the issue of customer emotion however that is the most interesting part of delivering successful customer experiences because it is here that we see the critical part that staff and employees play in a business’s success, Scantlebury explains “customers across most businesses but in particular when it
comes to member-based organisations such as fitness centres and aquatic centres want to feel welcome and a sense of belonging.
“Creating a community can often underpin everything. The welcome, the way issues are dealt with, and simply employees engaging and having meaningful interactions with members and visitors are just as important within a memberbased organisation as they are at venues where visitors may only visit once a year. Why? Because the way those visitors feel after their visit will make or break your business. Those visitors either become ambassadors or critics. They drive the reputation of your business more than any Google or other digital campaign.”
Training your teams to engage visitors Scantlebury’s work and research over the past few years has revealed key reasons behind businesses falling short when it comes to meeting customer expectations.
Scantlebury goes on to say “a vast number of venues and businesses simply don’t measure experiences.
“Their business operation is often based on assumptions, they do not have decent feedback, and subsequently do not have the hard data to make informed decisions that suit their members.”
There is also a frightening lack of staff training when it comes to engaging clients and improving their experiences. Just as worrying is how some staff who are simply not suited to clientfacing roles are simply recruited and placed in those positions in the first place. Problems and feedback can be solved with feedback programs but often visitors want to resolve things in the here and now by interacting with a staff member, especially if they are a paid-up member. There is nothing more off-putting than a grumpy receptionist or a fitness instructor who obviously does not care and demonstrates no empathy at all.
Scantlebury concludes “it is also staggering how businesses quite often do not have a profile of their typical customer. Just as important, they often do not understand their customer’s journey; the way they make their way to their venue, ease or difficulty of parking, managing queues, availability of lockers or equipment during peak times, right through to the time they leave the venue, each step is a potential friction point.
“There are straightforward solutions to all the above, but you need to be aware of them. Venues and businesses need to set up a system to always monitor and listen. Amazon have a wonderful example where they leave a spare seat empty at meetings for an imaginary client who is always in on a meeting. The process has ensured that Amazon always have the clients needs and feelings front of mind.
“Every business relies on reputation. If you understand your customers, you can meet or exceed their expectations and deliver the experiences they have signed up for. You can ensure they feel good and can create that community that they long for. The payback is exciting. Not only will members and retention increase but they will become your marketeers. You might save a fortune in potential marketing costs.” James Croll manages client and partner relations for Australasian Leisure Management.
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