Usa business

Relationship Equity

This is a term used frequently in industrial sales. It means exactly the same thing that we refer to when we discuss customer loyalty in the hospitality industry. Believe it or not there are many other common best practices that are all intended to help reach the common objective of growth and profitability.

In the hospitality industry, customer service is the platform upon which everything is built. It’s the mantra. It must become a core competency. So, if it’s all about customer service which is designed to build relationship equity with your firm; your brand which in turn creates customer loyalty, are cookies, coffee and the USA enough? I think not.

Building that personal relationship and customer loyalty goes far beyond little perks like cookies and coffee. Don’t get me wrong, I like those warm cookies and I absolutely enjoy having free coffee available “In the Lobby” but that has simply become the ante to play. Creating customer loyalty and relationship equity goes beyond that and it starts by making it absolutely seamless and easy to do business with you. Industrial sales organizations call it “World Class Service”. That is certainly a term and objective important to the hospitality industry.

The Next Hurdle

Once you’ve conquered that first hurdle and created a culture of world class service you can begin to focus on building customer loyalty by building relationship equity. You see, without the service you have no value proposition to support your platform. Relationship equity which creates customer loyalty requires all your employee to be customer focused. This means getting to really know who your customers are. Call them by name, know their purpose and intent. Are they on vacation or is this business travel. Who do they work for? This is not especially difficult if you have some type of repeat customer reward system. When you can show sincere concern about what really matters to your customer, who they are and what they are about, that builds relationship equity which creates customer loyalty.

Face the Employment Challenge

World class service is not guaranteed regardless of company mottos, promotions or any other marketing strategy. World class service is created by the employees. Make the investment in continuous training of your employees and provide real incentives for them to build relationship equity which in turn will result in customer loyalty. Don’t just hire warm bodies even though there is a shortage of candidates. Consider a recruitment incentive for current employees to recommend candidates. This could be paid partially when and if the candidate is hired and the balance paid nine months later after the new employee shows his/her value and retention. Look for potential, pay a little above market and make sure your managers are trained in leadership and continuously work on their people skills. There are many good books written on customer service. Provide some of the more popular ones to your employees and make them required reading.

Why invest in training when turnover is high and it becomes a waste of money?”

Remember, your employees are going to treat your customers based on their personal perception of how they are treated. That perception is developed by the culture and work environment you create as a company. Communicate company values, integrity, goals, objectives, initiatives and listen to your employees. They become the voice of the customer. Ask your self this question;

“Can you afford not to invest in the training and development of your employees and expect to create real customer loyalty?”

Let me assure you, marketing strategies, advertising and warm cookies alone will not do it.