We recently celebrated 30 years of marriage, and to mark this milestone, we were blessed to enjoy a seven-day cruise in Alaska. Having been back home for a couple of days now, I was reflecting on our trip and was once again reminded that, in my view, exceptional customer experience comes down to three words, each beginning with the letter “P.” The first “P” is product .
The ship was simply awesome. We were both awestruck by its size and grandeur when we first saw it at the port of Seattle. Inside, we were amazed by her grandeur and how sparklingly clean she was.
Speaking of a different type of product — the food and beverage options were abundant and extravagant. Each dish we encountered was exquisite. The product was, indeed, pretty much perfect.
In my view, the second “P” that contributes to an exceptional customer experience is process, and this was exemplified perfectly by an app the ship’s company designed primarily for customer use. I say “primarily” because I can also see how the app helped staff processes as well. The app listed all the daily events on the ship’s schedule.
As customers, we could bookmark events that appealed to us both (or individually), building a daily schedule to follow together or separately. The app directed us to our chosen events and helped us locate each other if we decided to go in different directions for a while. We also wore a medallion that allowed the crew to instantly identify us and our cabin number.
This enabled them to greet us by name and charge items to our account if needed. Technology can be a great enabler of exceptional service. The third “P,” which I believe is the most variable and challenging to deliver consistently, is people.
Over our seven-day experience, we interacted with about 100 crew members aboard the beautifully adorned ship with all its latest technological innovations. Sadly, we found that only about half of these crew members seemed to demonstrate a genuine love and care for their roles in service. The job title or stature didn’t seem to influence their spirit to serve.
Whether someone’s role was to clean cabins, make drinks, serve food, or supervise others while wearing a white shirt with shoulder stripes, we observed varying levels of employee engagement. Something as simple as eye contact or a genuine smile is easy to give but was only offered by some in service roles. These attributes are difficult to instill through training; they naturally come from individuals who understand who they are and why they do what they do.
Unfortunately, we sensed that some employees were ready for the end of the Alaskan season, and it seemed they were too. Such employees need to be reminded by their superiors that while it might be their 112th day, it’s the customer’s first seven days. We found some staff a little disingenuous in their eagerness to get a “10” from us on the pending customer survey we would be receiving at the end of the cruise, often pleading with us to call them out by name so they could receive recognition, a promotion, cash prizes or extra days off.
My word of caution to survey-driven organizations is not to poison your customers by making them sick of hearing about your survey constantly for the last 24 hours of their vacation. Yes, it can drive employee behavior but in turn it can drive your customers mad in hearing about it over the loudspeaker system while being hounded by staff wanting you to remember them. Although we are grateful to have been able to afford such a luxury to celebrate our 30th year together, I was once again reminded of that unpredictable variable — the people component of the service experience.
Yes, we will remember the wonderful product and the processes that made things nice and easy, but ultimately, it’s people who serve people, and that’s where the memories truly matter. Paul Butler is a Santa Clarita resident and a client partner with Newleaf Training and Development of Valencia (newleaftd.com).
For questions or comments, email Butler at [email protected] ..
