Be true to your culture. Seth's Blog: How to spend $20 million. Treating different customers differently is important.
Customers actually like it if you do it right. People in coach don't mind the folks in first class getting more service, because they'd like to be there one day. (Or because they like the fact that the people paying too much for a fancy seat are subsidizing their flight). People at nightclubs like watching celebrities being whisked to the front of the line, because it reinforces their belief that they're at a special place. The trouble kicks in not when you treat different people differently but if it's random, or unfair or unpredictable. When Steve Jobs gave a $200 discount to the late adopters of the iPhone, the early adopters were incensed. Free exclusive ringtones, commissioned from Bob Dylan and U2, only available to the people who already had a phone.
The key is to not give price protection to early buyers (that's unsustainable as a business model) but to make them feel more exclusive, not less. Satisfaction - People-powered Customer Service. Nightmare on Hyatt Place: How computers and disorganization ruined an otherwise great hotel stay » Upgrade: Travel Better. Last week, my wife and I stayed at a Hyatt Place, the Hyatt chain’s new upscale suite hotel brand.
I was really looking forward to the stay, since the early reviews were good. After actually staying at one, I hope that the absurd number of problems we experienced were isolated, and that we simply were unlucky. This was a stay that I’ll never forget. As background: Hyatt Place hotels are few and far between at this point, but they’re revamping old AmeriSuites properties and swankifying them to include the Hyatt bed, plasma televisions, etc. The lobbies are completely redesigned, with warm, contemporary design and some interesting sitting areas. As part of an 800 mile drive last week, we spent a night at the Louisville location. 3:00 a.m. 3:15 a.m. 3:25 a.m. 3:30 a.m. 3:55 a.m. 4:00 a.m. 4:15 a.m.
When we checked out (very, very late) the next day, a different clerk asked us if our stay had been pleasant. This would have all been somewhat funny if we hadn’t been so spent. ShareThis. Why Customer Service is the New Marketing. For most companies “marketing” is all the stuff they say to people to make a sale. It’s a practice that involves running prime time TV ads, distributing glossy brochures, even flying planes over stadiums pulling banners just to get us lathered up to buy their wares. Marketing is sexy–they make those funny Super Bowl ads, everyone in their department is hot, and they really know how to use their expense account. But so often there’s a monster gap between the images they project and the dispiriting experience of being their customers. Kathy Sierra shows the disparity as something like this: Before the Sale After the Sale If a company hustles me with smoke and mirrors alone, not only am I going to find out, I’m going to tell everyone I know with a giant bullhorn called the Internet.
But companies spend an inordinate amount of time hiding from their customers after the sale. Some companies have been known to institutionalize bad service precisely to deter unnecessary communication.