Casino Customer Service

“Making the right decision starts with having the right information.”  Golf legend Tiger Woods once said that in a television commercial and I’ve been thinking about it.

As a corporate chief executive officer, I make decisions every day that range from what to have for lunch to whether I should expand my business and accept new clients.  As a casino general manager or key executive, you face a multitude of decisions on every shift.  Do you have the right information to make the best decision?  I know the commercial says “right” decision, but I prefer “best.”  After all, in some situations, decision making is not a matter of right or wrong.  It’s more a matter of figuring out what is best for all involved.

In my world as a casino guest service consultant, I often talk about things being “your movie.”  What I mean by that is we each have an imaginary movie that we see in our head about various situations.  We all do it at some level.  For example, I see someone at the store and make a movie about who they are, what they do, etc.  But because we don’t always have the right information, these movies often are no more based on fact than “The Da Vinci Code.”  I certainly wouldn’t want to make any business decisions based on such movies.

Pay close attention to what you do for one day and, just for giggles, tally up the number of decisions you make based on fiction.  Using something as benign as ordering lunch,   you decide to eat healthy and have a salad.  You have the right information and know that salad is a healthy choice.  But you don’t have all the right information.  You load it with dressing, cheese and a few croutons, creating a lunch probably higher in fat than a sandwich and a bowl of fruit.  Still, your movie shows you eating a healthy meal.

Taking this to the next level, I’ll remind you I’ve been writing lately that guest satisfaction surveys are a waste of time, energy and money.  Why?  Because people are fickle and “satisfaction” doesn’t measure risk.  The person taking the survey risks nothing by answering the questions.  But you survey your guests anyway and you now have a big chunk of fiction in your movie that says more than 70 percent of your customers are satisfied or extremely satisfied.  The executive team sits around a large table patting each other on the back because they are doing such a great job.  The good times roll and some of you decide to buy bigger cars.  You go for the gold and snap up that collector’s watch you’ve been eyeing.

But your movie is not based on the right information and you have not made the best decision.  The satisfaction survey has zero correlation to the future growth of your casino and the payment on your new car is very real.  What if the survey is used to justify an expansion of your casino?  I’m not sure that is the best choice for all involved.

Now let’s take the fallacy of employee satisfaction surveys for a spin.  You ask your employees how satisfied they are so you can do what?  If they are not satisfied, what will you do about it?  Pay them more money?  Tell human resources to hire better people?  Make your guests pass a personality test before they come in so they will be nice to the employees?   If your employees are actually satisfied, what will you do about it?  In either of these situations, I suspect you will do exactly the same thing  – nothing.

But for fun, let’s say the survey reveals that your employees are not satisfied and, based on that information, you decide to rectify the situation.  At this point, the movie is already playing in your head.  You start an employee incentive program or revise the one you launched a year ago.  Oops, you spend a lot of time and money and it doesn’t work because the next survey says employees still aren’t happy.  You turn to the HR people who designed and implemented the incentive program or the vendor that provided it and you let them have it right between the eyes.  But the problem may not be the program or its execution.  The problem may be the initial decision.  Your decision to improve satisfaction was not the best one because it was based on erroneous information.  Face it, employee satisfaction is as fickle as the wind.  If employees get lots of tips on Tuesday, they’re satisfied.  If tips are lousy on Wednesday, they’re not satisfied.

When I give a presentation to senior executives in the big meeting room with all the mahogany, I throw a statement on the screen that says, “We all know that improved guest satisfaction leads to growth.”  I leave the slide up for a moment and ask for a show of hands.  How many believe that statement?  A lot of hands go up.  Then I ask why they believe it and the answer is always the same:  “I just know.”  Here’s one thing that’s for sure.  These people are making major decisions and investments based on anecdotal evidence and beliefs.  

My last example involves hiring people for the team, especially the senior team.  You are hiring the key people who will lead your property toward its future goals.  So what are these decision based on?  I hate to say it, but these hires often are the result of a feeling.  The interview seemed positive and the candidate felt like a good fit for the property.  That’s hardly a scientific assessment that will lead to good choices.

Tiger Woods is right.  The best decisions come from the right information.  That’s a rule of thumb that you can employ every minute of every day on the job.  

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

I was talking with a friend the other day about AIDS and HIV.  Please let me state here and now that I'm not a doctor or even medically educated in any way.  I honestly know very little about most diseases.  With that all being said, I found our discussion very interesting, even though it may not have all been based on fact. 

And before you move on to another story, yes, this does relate to gaming.

She explained to me that not long ago, a pregnant woman who was HIV positive wouldn’t know for years if her baby also was HIV positive.  I was shocked and couldn't imagine the stress of waiting years to know if your child had the virus.  My friend said doctors now know that a baby will have a very low probability of getting HIV if the mother receives a certain medication during late pregnancy and the baby is not allowed to breast feed.  What an amazing change from waiting years to know whether the baby would be safe.  That is indeed a change for the better.

The reason I share this is not because I'm on a crusade to stop AIDS and HIV, even though that would be great.  The reason I share this is because I see many casinos using yesterday’s customer service procedures and wondering why they are not getting better results.

I've mentioned many times in my columns the past several months that guest and employee satisfaction surveys are a waste of time, energy and money.  The big brains did the research and found there is zero correlation between customer and employee satisfaction and the future growth of any business.  The same applies to the gaming industry.  Nevertheless, I was at a casino’s Web site the other day and there were a number of places that showed me where to take their online guest satisfaction survey. 

Why do casinos continue to do things that are so unproductive, even wasteful?  Is it because they don't yet understand the futility of satisfaction surveys?  Do they still fail to realize that so-called “satisfaction” is fickle and pointless to measure?  Or is it just that they are lazy and comfortable doing things the same way they have always done them?  I don't have proof to back this up, but my guess is that it’s a combination of all of that.

I also think that much of this clinging to old ways comes from people’s inability to evolve with change.  With the AIDS/HIV situation, it's easier to create change because people know that lives hang in the balance.  But most casinos are making money and they’re fat and happy, so to speak.  So why change?

The reason casinos may want to consider embracing change is because if they don’t, they  could end up like many other industries that now exist primarily in history books.  These industries are no longer on the tips of people’s tongues because they failed to change with the times and faded.  Some of them are still around but the world has passed them by.  Look at the railroad industry.   Trains still run but the heyday of the railroad is long gone because the industry failed to adapt to new technology and find a different role for itself in a changing world.  I’m sure this is hard to relate to your casino when you see cars streaming into your parking lot at all hours of the day and night.  I’m also sure the railroads couldn’t envision an end to the glory days when they dominated transportation.

What are you doing in human resources and other areas of your casino to try new things?  What are you doing to take that next step that will lead you from where you are today to where you want to be?  Please don't take this as a slam or attack, but adding a hotel and golf course is not what I'm talking about.  Doing what you have always done, just in a slightly different way, is not the answer.

What would your guests look like if you could create your dream casino?  What would your guests look like if they were all advocates for your property?  What would your casino look like if you had a net Advocate Index of 50, 60 or even 70?  What would your employees look like if they were inspired by the work they do. What would your senior team look like if they were all advocates of the casino rather than the money or title they have?

Scientists and doctors that figured out a better way of dealing with newborns and HIV weren’t satisfied with the status quo.  They envisioned a better future.  The same is true for your casino.  You need to become dissatisfied with old-school management techniques such as satisfaction surveys.  Then you need a vision of what your casino could be in the future.  Share that vision with everyone at the property.  They must know what your casino of the future looks like in order to see it, too.   Better yet, they need to own that vision.  If the gaming industry is to have a future, it must take the scary step of changing its ways to make all of this happen.

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

What is your first thought when you see the word confidence?  Are you confident?  Are the people who work with you and for you confident?  Can they make decisions on their own or do they first need to make sure everyone agrees with them?

I sense a lack of confidence in the gaming industry.  People are afraid to make their own decisions.  When we do our training at casinos, it’s not unusual to hear employees say, “I can’t pick up a piece of paper without my manager telling me first that it’s OK.”  Before you call me an idiot, I already know casinos have a million and one rules.  I know that for the sake of security and integrity, casinos don’t want employees doing anything that could jeopardize any of that.  I know, so please stop yelling at me.

What I’m suggesting is that for some reason, front-line employees (and even some supervisors and managers) are so lacking in confidence that they won’t do anything without a letter of approval from the pope.  They must have a big A-OK carved in stone and handed down from on high.

Why is this happening?

One reason may be because of the way the “system” is organized.  After they are hired, casino employees endure an orientation that transitions from boring to downright threatening.  Each area of the property shows new hires 12 different ways they can be fired, written up or given points.  If employees don’t bolt for their cars after orientation, they are thrown, tossed or allowed to enter the casino where they mingle with the guests.  We all know guests are kind, supportive people who sometimes lose money and get frustrated.  Perhaps one’s confidence dips when you have guests yelling, swearing and doing the rest of the amazing things they do.

Maybe lack of confidence comes from a feeling of loneliness.  Employees have so many guests and such a large area to cover that they feel like they are doing it all on their own.  They feel as though no one has ever done what they are doing.  They have so many demands from the guests as well as from the casino itself.  They operate in fear of being fired or written up for what they did or didn’t do.

So what can casino leaders do to change this?

I know at least one casino executive who says properties should get rid of points so they can’t be waved over people’s heads like a club.  Wow, that is an amazing thought – that you can actually eliminate this weapon so employees can make decisions based on the situation and what is best for the guest and the casino.  For gaming, that is about as cutting edge as you can get. 

If you don’t think you can toss the points program out the window because it will create anarchy, how about crafting a system for building confidence?  You could take your employees from being timid mice to being advocates for your property.  Instead of catching people doing wrong, you could reward them for making good decisions that benefit both the guest and the casino.  

This is commonly known as positive reinforcement and my wife and I use it on our two young sons.  If we’re supportive and reward them for making good decisions, they tend to continue making good choices.  Of course, not all their decisions are good ones, but at least they try.  If we only point out their mistakes, they make more of them to get more attention.

What if you encouraged your people to make decisions and didn’t flog them with points or threats when their choices weren’t exactly the best?  Would they gain some confidence and start thinking and making decisions versus being an almost thoughtless machine?  I’m reminded of the 2006 NBA playoffs.  In one game, Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns was stubbornly trying to sink a three-point shot.  He was 0 for 14 in his attempt.  That was stunning because he is a back-to-back Most Valuable Player in the NBA.  The announcers wondered if Nash had lost his confidence.  So did the coach pull him from the playoffs?  Was he written up for making poor shots?  According to media reports, the Suns coach told Nash to shoot more!  The coach supported Nash.  He believed Nash would be back in his game and contributing to the team effort as soon as he got that first three pointer from “downtown.”

The same is true with your employees.  They need to be supported in a variety of ways from all different levels.  The more support they get, the more confident they will be.  With confidence comes better decision making.  With good decisions and confidence comes advocacy.  Your front-line employees will go from viewing the casino as just a job to seeing it as a place where they can be an MVP.

Lack of confidence is not some warm and fuzzy human resources problem.  This is a major challenge that casinos face.  If it’s not addressed, casinos will be forced to keep bringing in new people to fill the spaces created by those who leave each week because they lost their confidence.

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

Casinos that want to succeed – perhaps even survive – must learn to win their guests’ hearts in a big way and turn them into advocates.   

It seems that just about every industry except gaming is emphasizing the creation of customer advocates.  Major corporations such as Dell, Harley Davidson, Intuit and Symantec have created a huge customer base which is not just loyal; it is, in fact, the unpaid sales force for the company.

Here are some tips casinos should consider concerning the importance of guest advocates.

Tip No. 1.  Advocates engage in a positive form of risk.  Guest advocates risk their own personal reputation by endorsing their favorite casino.  They recommend the casino to friends, associates and relatives.

Tip No. 2.  Advocates create repeat business.  Guest advocates return to play again and again.  And when they are at the casino, they stay and play longer than other guests.

Tip No. 3.  Advocates can create new business.  By spreading positive word-of-mouth advertising about a casino, guest advocates encourage others to give the casino a try and that possibly generates new business.

Tip No. 4.  Measuring advocates is a sound business practice.  If a casino provides guests with a wonderful gaming experience through outstanding service and other means and then senior management measures the degree to which the property has guest advocates and expresses it in terms of an index, the management team a valuable tool.  The more advocates the casino has, the more successful it will be.  The higher the index, the more advocates there are and the casino can take steps to push the index ever higher. 

Tip No. 5.  A customer-centric model is the key.  Casinos should follow a customer-centric model, just like any other service industry.  The ultimate goal should be to make an advocate of every guest who walks through the door.  Although the index described in tip four is not a marketing tool, the casino should strive to turn guests into “marketers” for the property.

Tip No. 6.  Advocacy and the index are easy to communicate internally.  Employees are the people who make it all happen.  Once advocacy and the index are understood, all anyone has to do is track the index over time to know where the casino stands.  The higher the index goes the better.

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

Readers of my blog have become accustomed to hearing me go on and on about the many ways they can improve the performance of their properties.  My ideas have ranged from such simple things as smiling more for guests to the complex notion of having a vision of how a casino should operate five years from now.  I’ve even written about the new and exciting concept of casino guest and employee advocacy.

I realized recently it’s one thing to hear all this from me and an entirely different matter to hear it from a real casino insider, someone who has been in the trenches.  I asked Jim McKennon, a 20-year veteran of the gaming industry, to help me out because I know he understands why it’s important to always looks for ways to improve.  I also know he realizes that change, improvement and new ideas can be challenging.  Jim’s career has spanned Westin Hotels, Caesars World, the new Aladdin and other associated gaming operations, including the Internet, mostly at the president or CEO level.

I asked Jim a series of questions and here are his answers.  As you read, I know you will realize you are not alone in your struggles to make your casino stand out in a very competitive industry.

MB:  Casino executives are expected to provide the “vision” for their casino but many of them have difficulty selling it down to managers and front-line employees.  Why?

JM:  The challenge with organizational commitment to a vision is just that – it’s a vision, an intangible, a concept.  The challenge of the management staff is to bring life to the vision through personal commitment.  They must be consistent and persistent with the vision regardless of near-tem consequences and pitfalls.  Too many times, circumstances overwhelm the management team and the essence of the vision is compromised, neglected or relegated to one of convenience.  Finally, the vision must be reasonable and make sense to everyone as something worth the organizational commitment.  Rewarding behavior for individual success in implementing the vision will help incorporate it into the company culture.

MB:  Embracing a new vision often means accepting change.  Why do casino teams find change so difficult?

JM:  I think there are a few reasons why change challenges casinos.  One is that the casino business, as a whole, is tightly regulated and, in large part, procedural and rules driven.  Many activities of a gaming operation must follow approved procedures and policies without deviation and that permeates the culture of the organization.  The second reason is that change takes effort.  It adds to the burden of a hard-working staff. Employees need to recognize the value of a new vision, to know that it’s not a “whim du jour” someone thought up as the new hot issue.  They need to understand it will bring strength and success to the organization in the long term.  Effectively communicating to the staff the value of the change to the broader organization, to their department, to their customers and, finally, to them personally is of the essence.  A great vision should ultimately mean greater success, increased market share, improved revenues and profits, greater employment opportunities, improved gratuities and so on.  Organizations can and will change if given good a reason to do so.  But be sure you never make your organization change weary.

MB:  One thing casinos might want to change is their reliance on satisfaction surveys.  I’ve seen research that says there is no correlation between customer satisfaction and the growth of any business, yet casinos spend considerable sums on guest and employee satisfaction surveys.  Do you believe that is a wise use of their money?

JM:  Surveys, as in all management tools, are only as effective as the effort put forth by the organization to use the information to solve an issue or problem.  After all, customer and employee satisfaction surveys are a snapshot in time providing some insight as to how well you are doing.  Satisfied customers and employees are born from the commitment of the organization to develop and train its staff, to adhere to sound human resource practices and to treat each employee with dignity and respect.  Each of our staff members is a measure of the culture of the company.  Positive, upbeat organizations looking to the success of everyone within the company need only survey to see how well they are succeeding.  Great employees guarantee great customer satisfaction.

MB:  One way to improve a casino’s performance is to create employee advocates who spread positive word about the property of their own free will.  As an executive, how did you go about turning your employees into advocates for your casino?

JM:  The key to an advocacy program is finding a few rallying points that are relevant, pertinent and inspire people’s support.  Communicating those points through easy-to-understand language, promotions, communications, etc., is critical.  Be sure your entire management team has bought into supporting the effort.  The easy part is finding employees within your organization who are evangelists for the company.  Give those formal and informal leaders the time and tools necessary to let them do their thing.  Support their actions and you will see amazing things happen.  Before you know it, the evangelists have enlisted an army of advocates!  Remember your customers in the process.  I have found that the gaming industry’s customers are the most involved in helping us succeed.  Help them help you accomplish your goals.  They are willing enlistees.

MB:  Turning both employees and guests into advocates involves making internal improvements.  Do most casino executives see improvement as an investment or an expense?

JM:  When a company invests its capital for an expansion or renovation, it does so with the expectation that the investment will have a positive impact on the future financial viability of the company.  This holds true with investing in your staff.  Look to your staff as the most important asset entrusted to the company.  The caring and nurturing of your staff should be of paramount concern. Incorporating training, development, promotions and rewards programs into the company culture will enhance employee satisfaction.  Companies that invest in their staffs may find that kind of return far better than the return on hard assets.  Those companies that look at employee investment as only an expense will find hiring and retaining good employees difficult, if not impossible, and they will suffer the consequences of high employee turnover and poor customer service.

MB:  Vision, improvement, advocacy – these represent a high level of performance.  Will the increased gaming competition of today be the end of casinos that don’t deliver such a superior gaming experience for guests?

JM:  I don’t know if I would foretell the end of those whose customer and employee satisfaction is not a cornerstone of their culture. What I do believe to be the case – and I have seen examples time after time – is that great service equates to improved market share and better revenues and profitability when compared to those within one’s competitive set.  Those companies that pride themselves on staff development and service training will succeed at a greater rate than those that do not embrace these philosophies.  Ultimately, our customers are the harbinger of our success and they can and will vote with their feet.

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

Anyone who works at a casino knows that the guest is the most important person at a property.  So creating an exceptional gaming experience for guests makes great dollars and sense.

This is especially true when it comes to creating more guest advocates – guests who say positive things about a casino of their own free will and potentially create new business. 

One way to create more guest advocates is to provide exceptional service.  Employees and their managers both play an important role in making this happen.  Employees deliver the outstanding service and managers who keep their employees happy and inspired help make sure the service is consistently stellar.

Here’s the bottom line:  when employees have fun, guests do, too.  And an employee reward and recognition program is just the ticket.  Most people are desperately looking for a simple “attaboy” or a pat on the back.  Casino employees face so many rules and regulations, it’s easy to forget about having fun.  Likewise, it’s easier for managers to focus more on the negative and less on the positive.

Incentives and rewards change behavior.  By putting a system in place that rewards the positive customer service actions you want to see from your employees, you are head and shoulders above the competition and more likely to turn ordinary guests into guest advocates. 

Here are a few important points to think about when planning a reward and recognition program.

First, you need to decide what behavior you’re looking for from your employees.  You need to identify this first so you know what kind of behavior to reward.  It could be something as simple as smiling or more complex behavior such as using a company slogan when talking with guests.  If you don’t identify the behavior you want, you’ll be rewarding people for doing something entirely different.

Second, assign someone to decide whether employees are performing the way you want them to.  Many casinos think this is a good activity for managers and department heads.  Unfortunately, bias and standards get in the way.  If a manager doesn’t like an employee, it will be difficult for them to see the employee’s actions in a true light.  Also, you run into the problem of different standards from different people.  One shift manager may have lower standards than the next shift manager.  Thus, employees on one shift may get more rewards than employees on another shift.

It’s important to use an unbiased third party.  This avoids finger pointing and claims of unfair treatment.  When my company works with a casino to help it improve its guest service, we use a mystery shopping company to garner “real” people’s input and ideas.

Third, you need to think about the rewards.  Many people believe employees prefer cash.  However, studies show that most staff members think a tangible gift has higher value than cash.  With the number of gift companies available today, it’s easy to give rewards that people want because you can find so many things locally or on the Internet.  It’s also easier than ever to provide gift cards as rewards.  These cards are available for everything from Wal Mart shopping to long-distance telephone calls.  The rewards don’t need to be huge.  They just need to be consistent.

Finally, realize that it’s very important to offer the reward as soon after the event as possible.  If a person is told they did a good job a month after it happened, they don’t have a clear understanding of why they’re being recognized.  People need to get the positive feedback as soon as possible.  If it’s too slow in coming, it’s almost as if it never happened.  The faster they get feedback, the more it will affect their behavior.

Improving guest service is a must in these highly competitive times.  Great training is the start and then it comes down to your employees.  The happier your employees are, the easier it is for them to share some of that happiness with your guests.

Rewards and incentives are the next step for casinos that want to reach a higher level of guest service and generate as many guest advocates as possible.