Casino Customer Service

One employee or a few employees cannot provide a great gaming experience because it’s a team effort.  Every employee must pursue the goal of stellar guest service every day in order to create more guest advocates for their casino.  If one employee fails to pull their weight, that’s the employee who is remembered the most by the guest, the one the guest tells all their friends about.  This may not be fair, but it’s a fact.  Everyone must make a positive contribution to the cause of creating more guest advocates.
 

Each guest who comes to your property is expecting a great experience.  Meeting that expectation will ultimately turn guests into advocates for a casino.  Guests want to have fun, a good time and know  that they stand out and that they’re special.  Casino employees need to make sure that each guest has a great experience, that each guest becomes an advocate.  This is every employee’s priority any time they are at the casino.
 

When it comes to helping guests have a better experience, one of the problems gaming employees run into is their own lack of preparation.  They haven't thought about the different wants, needs and desires of their guests at any given moment.  They haven't put any real thought into making sure that each guest has a great experience.  You need to be prepared.  That may mean showing up for work 15 minutes early so you're ready when your shift starts.  Study the restaurant's menu, familiarize yourself with that day's specials and be aware of new shows or promotions.  Being prepared leads to great service.

Martin R. Baird
Robinson & Associates, Inc.
mbaird@casinocustomerservice.com
http://www.advocatedevelopmentsystem.com/
http://www.casinocustomerservice.com/
480-991-6420

Martin R. Baird
Robinson & Associates, Inc.
mbaird@casinocustomerservice.com
http://www.advocatedevelopmentsystem.com/
http://www.casinocustomerservice.com/
480-991-6420

Every casino guest is welcome.  They're welcome to play, eat, stay in the hotel and swing their clubs on the golf course.  They should feel welcome, not out of place or uncomfortable.  Make them feel as welcome as an old friend coming to your home.

Martin R. Baird
Robinson & Associates, Inc.
mbaird@casinocustomerservice.com
http://www.advocatedevelopmentsystem.com/
http://www.casinocustomerservice.com/
480-991-6420

Learning the ABCs of great casino guest service is a good thing but there's more to it than that.  Casino employees can learn even more about customer service from the next three letters of the alphabet.

Every letter of the alphabet offers lessons in outstanding casino guest service if you put your mind to it.  There are plenty of words that start with the letters D, E and F that can help casinos raise their service to the next level.

Letter D - Delight, Dependable and Determined. 

Casino employees with a customer service mind-set and the right attitude should be able to do these three things.

Delight.  Delight all casino guests.  Make them feel as if they are the only person in the room, that your full attention is on them at all times and that you're delighted to help them any way you can.  Do that and your guests will leave feeling special and important.  This is not a Herculean task.  Just do the little things to the best of your ability every time and your guests will be delighted.

Dependable.  This word is important for two reasons.  First, you must be dependable on the job.  Show up for work on time and prepared.  Your co-workers, managers and guests are counting on you to be there and giving 110 percent.  My other thought is that the words dependable and consistency go hand in hand.  Guests want a dependable experience.  They want to know they will be taken care of in a similar way each and every time they come to your casino.  Guests expect that level of dependability.

Determined.  Guests will have a great experience if casino employees are determined to provide it.  Drive could be easily substituted for the word determined.  Make sure you have the qualities of determination and drive every day when you come on property.

Letter E - Every Employee, Exceptional, Expectations and Entertainment. 

These words offer lessons that range from the obvious, such as the benefits of teamwork, to the not so obvious - each employee's role in the entertainment industry.

Every Employee.  One employee or a few employees cannot provide a great gaming experience because it's a team effort.  Every employee must pursue the goal of stellar guest service every day.  If one employee fails to pull their weight, that's the employee who is remembered the most by the guest, the one the guest tells all their friends about.  This may not be fair, but it's a fact.  Everyone must make a positive contribution to the cause.

Exceptional.  Guests come to a casino to have an exceptional experience.  Not just good, not just fair, not just OK.  They want to be wowed.  Remember that they sometimes lose money.  That makes it even more difficult for you to make sure something exceptional happens for them.  You have to work a little harder.

Expectations.  When it comes to guest service, this word is huge because guests have high expectations.  They want to be entertained, they want to win lots of money and, by the way, this all must happen while they're having fun.  You must manage these expectations of outstanding guest service as well as provide it, live up to it and exceed it.

Entertainment.  Casino employees may not have thought about this, but they're in the entertainment business.  People go to casinos to be entertained.  You as an employee are part of the entertainment, as are the tables, the restaurant, the hotel and the lounge act.  It really is easy to smile, be part of the show and entertain your guests.  You're not just there to deliver drinks or to say keno.  You are there as part of the entertainment.  So be an entertainer.

Letter F - Fake It and Friendship. 

These words may not seem like they relate to guest service, but they do.

Fake It.  Even though casino employees are in the entertainment, hospitality and gaming business, they still have to fake it sometimes.  There are days when you're tired.  You didn't sleep well.  It's raining and you feel a little down.  You don't want to smile.  On those days, you must knuckle down and fake it.  Fake it until you can put a real smile on your face.

Friendship.  Providing great guest service can create lifelong friendships.  Friendships with co-workers and players can be enduring.  For some of your guests, those are the friendships that keep them going because you are like family to them.

Martin R. Baird
Robinson & Associates, Inc.
http://www.advocatedevelopmentsystem.com/
http://www.casinocustomerservice.com/
mbaird@casinocustomerservice.com
480-991-6420

Casino guests should have a wonderful time.  They should feel wonderful.  You want them to think wonderful thoughts about your property.  All of these things will help you succeed, grow and excel.

Martin R. Baird
Robinson & Associates, Inc.
mbaird@casinocustomerservice.com
http://www.advocatedevelopmentsystem.com/
http://www.casinocustomerservice.com/
480-991-6420

Do casino guests want to feel that their entertainment dollars are well spent at gaming properties?  Absolutely, because they are looking for worth in their experience.  Guests need to feel that their money and time are well spent.  It's not enough for them to just come and play.  They need to feel that they had such a great experience that it was worth everything they spent and everything they did to be at a casino.

Martin R. Baird
Robinson & Associates, Inc.
http://www.advocatedevelopmentsystem.com/
http://www.casinocustomerservice.com/
mbaird@casinocustomerservice.com
480-991-6420

I just solved a little mystery.  I figured out the reason why casinos are stuck in the rut of doing what they have always done.  It's because change is difficult and uncomfortable and golf is more fun. 

I recently was a presenter at a gaming conference in one of the many sunny, warm locations in our great country.  One morning in the lobby, I noticed a group of people from the conference who were waiting to go play golf.  It was 7:30 and they were all smiling and shaking hands.  You could tell it was going to be a glorious day.  I experienced a total disconnect.  The conference was scheduled to start at 9 a.m.  How were these people going to get to the course, play 18 holes, shower and be ready to learn from the conference in less than 90 minutes?

I can hear you chuckling that no meeting starts on time, especially conference workshops.  Well, my presentation started promptly at 9 a.m. with about half the seats filled.  As time went by - for approximately the next 30 minutes - people sauntered and struggled into the room.  You could see on many of their faces that 9 a.m. was way too early for a meeting.

I thought back earlier to the people in the lobby at 7:30.  They were happy and awake.  They were alive and ready for the day.  But the people who showed up late for the 9 a.m. session looked more like they were going to a blood letting.  After a couple of days, the answer came.  Golf is more fun!  This was an epiphany for me.  If you let people do what is fun, they will do it.

Now here is the challenge.   For far too many people, change and doing new things are hard work.  That's not fun.  If you want your casino to be successful, it's easy to pay lip service to the notion that "great guest service" is a top priority.  Your casino is ranked No. 1 in guest satisfaction by the local newspaper that you advertise heavily in.  Your guests love you.  But you acknowledge you can always do more.  I hear this from casino managers a lot, but when push comes to shove, what are people doing about it?  I think the answer could be that they are playing golf instead.

Think about the following quote for a minute:  "Is a burning platform - a visible crisis - needed to impel an organization to move?"  I found this tidbit on the Internet and I think the answer is yes for many casinos.  For those of you who are not familiar with the burning platform concept, the idea is that people will not jump from one platform to another unless the one they're standing on is on fire.  The person who wrote the line I found on the Internet added that for most people, it's not enough to smell the smoke of the fire.  They need to feel the flames.

So I guess my question is this - will you, as casino leaders, wait until you are being burned by the flames of fierce competition before you start making needed changes and create new progress at your property? 

I know that golf can be much more fun than change.  I know that some people come up with great ideas on the golf course.  I know the fairways and greens can be a great place to develop long-term partnerships and agreements.  But some of your casinos are surrounded by flames.  You have competition from other casinos that don't want to just do OK.  They want to own your market.  You have competitors across the country looking for ways to take a little revenue away from you.

What is stopping them?  Please don't waste your breath talking about any of the "things" that make your casino better.  That is not a sustainable, competitive advantage.  For example, I can remember when none of the tribal casinos had golf courses.  Now most of them do or will soon.  I remember when their guests stayed at a Holiday Inn Express "in town" because the tribe didn't have a hotel.  Now they have some of the nicest resorts in the country.

Competitive advantage will not be sustained by out-building other casinos.  If you want your casino to grow and prosper, you need to create more guest advocates and work at growing that number each and every day.  Your casino's single focus needs to be on building advocates.  After all, guest satisfaction is fickle and it's a waste of time and money to emphasize it.

For those of you who don't know what guest advocates are and why they are critical to your casino's long-term success, perhaps you should have teed off at 10:30 after my session!

Golf is fun, but you can enjoy amazing satisfaction from always working to make your casino better.  Work hard and your casino could become bigger and more profitable than you had ever dreamed.  That is wonderful.  But, like golf, you can always do better.

Martin R. Baird
Robinson & Associates, Inc.
mbaird@casinocustomerservice.com
http://www.advocatedevelopmentsystem.com/
http://www.casinocustomerservice.com/
480-991-6420

I've been writing recently there is no connection between a casino's guest satisfaction and its future growth.  I've been recommending that casinos forget about guest satisfaction surveys and that they encourage employees to concentrate on creating more advocates -- guests who are so amazingly happy with their gaming experience they would be willing to risk their reputation and act as advocates for a property by spreading positive word-of-mouth advertising of their own free will.

This is important because guest advocates are highly likely to return to play again (repeat business) and generate new business through the positive word they spread about the casino.  All casino employees from executives to blackjack dealers to restaurant chefs should work hard to make this happen.

Why should casino employees care if their customers are advocates?  I assure you, advocates will tip and that means more money in employees' pockets.  Think job retention, too.  General Motors and Ford Motor Company announced in January that they will lay off tens of thousands of employees.  Those struggling auto manufacturers have no advocates for their vehicles!

I recently had the shock of my life when I learned that a major U.S.-based global corporation has created an index that shows the degree to which it has customer advocates but that it is doing nothing with the data.  It's wonderful that the company has this index because it can be a tool for planning and managing the corporation's future growth.  The higher the index, the more advocates the company has and the more successful it will be.  What's appalling is that management is sitting on the data.

Lest you think this is no big deal, let's put this corporation into perspective.  I won't identify the company but I will note that one major business magazine has named this corporation the No. 1 most globally admired company and America's second most admired company.  Another respected business magazine has named it the fourth most valuable brand worldwide.  This company is a household name that offers everything from consumer products to financial services.

The fact that such a successful company is aware of the importance of advocates is significant.  It is equally significant that one of its division managers told me in a telephone conversation that the company doesn't have a system in place to leverage the advocate data - i.e., to use the information to create more growth.  That's how the index can become a management tool.

Having brought guest advocacy to your attention, it's now time to take things to the next level.  The key word here is "system."   It's not enough that a casino have advocates and a way to measure them.  It must put its measurement data into action with a turnkey system.

It all starts with management's willingness to do this in the first place.  That is followed by measurement of the one thing that matters most -- advocates.  But it's not likely the casino will know how to use that advocate data to generate future growth.  Therefore, it must have a system in place to gather the data, put the data into action, make people accountable for leveraging it and keep the process rolling forward smoothly.

Successful companies implement best practices internally to make great things happen and casinos will need to do the same within this system: 

• Management must act as leaders to create a culture that clearly demonstrates how important guest advocates are.
• A formal program must be in place and it must be monitored.
• Goals must be set and met.
• Everyone must work together as a team.
• Employees are critical to providing the kind of customer service that turns guests into advocates. Incentive, reward and recognition programs will be needed to spur them on.
• Progress will occur only with action planning.
• I guarantee internal improvements will be required to create more advocates. Those improvements must be identified and implemented.
• Finally, employees will want to know how things are progressing, so give them closure by keeping them informed. As part of the system, guests should be asked how the casino can be a better place to play. Give guests closure, too, by letting them know how their input was used.

What I learned from that division manager shows that even the most successful enterprise can stumble.  Still, I simply can't believe that such a highly regarded corporation would have a crucial piece of data in hand and let it gather dust on the shelf.  That's a mistake - a mistake that serves as an example for casinos and their employees.

Martin R. Baird
Robinson & Associates, Inc.
mbaird@casinocustomerservice.com
http://www.advocatedevelopmentsystem.com/
http://www.casinocustomerservice.com/
480-991-6420