Casino Customer Service

A strong degree of guest and employee advocacy at a casino can help the chief executive officer or general manager reduce costs and boost profits.  Advocacy reduces costs in two critical areas.  Employee advocates have no intention of quitting their jobs and that reduces costly employee turnover.  Guest advocates play at their favorite casino again and again and that reduces the amount of money spent on marketing.  A reduction in money spent on hiring new employees and on marketing goes directly to the bottom line.

Martin R. Baird

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

Casino chief executive officers and general managers are under increasing pressure to anticipate future growth of their property and they can do that with an index that measures how many guest advocates a casino has.

Most casino CEOs and GMs are forced to make forward-looking statements for their bosses but they use backward-looking data.  That’s like driving a car forward while looking in the rear-view mirror.  An index that measures the degree to which a casino has guest advocates is a tool that can be used to predict future results with a very high level of confidence.

Guest advocates return to their favorite casino again and again and recommend that casino to others who may decide to play there, thus creating both repeat and new business.  The more guest advocates a casino has, the more successful it will be down the road.  Thus, the higher the guest advocate index, the more profitable the casino will be.

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

Casinos spend millions of dollars on marketing to attract guests, but some of those dollars could be budgeted for employee training that helps the staff provide the kind of service that keeps customers coming back. 

I know of a casino in a very competitive market that spends more than $1 million a month on marketing.  That casino and many others are throwing away precious revenue.  They keep spending money to chase after new guests when they could be wisely investing a fraction of the marketing budget to retain existing customers.

Following are some tips on budgeting for employee training.

Tip No. 1.  Attracting new guests is expensive.  There’s a marketing adage that says it’s 10 times more expensive to get a new customer than it is to keep an existing one.  There’s a lot of truth to that.  So it makes good fiscal sense to invest in employee guest service training to give existing guests a great gaming experience.

Tip No. 2.  It doesn’t take much to make a difference.  One or two percent of the marketing budget could be earmarked for training casino employees to provide outstanding guest service.  Yet casinos that spend millions on marketing just can’t find the money for training.  That is a mistake that will cost the casino money down the road.

Tip No. 3.  Training is an investment.  The cost of employee training is not an expense.  It is an investment – an investment in the casino’s employees and the property’s future.

Tip No. 4.  Training is critical to successful internal improvement.  Savvy casinos implement internal improvement programs designed to boost the property’s performance over time. Employee training is a critical element of internal improvement and casinos must plan to budget for it.

Tip No. 5.  Marketing and quality guest service can work together for the good of the casino.  Marketing and quality guest service each serve their own purpose and they can work hand in hand.  Marketing’s responsibility is to generate trial.  However, while it can set new guests’ expectations, it cannot control their actual experience.  If a casino’s marketing shows happy, smiling dealers and spectacular food, that is what guests will expect.  Each person who works at the casino must be trained to deliver that and more.
 
Martin R. Baird
Robinson & Associates, Inc.
www.advocatedevelopmentsystem.com
www.casinocustomerservice.com
mbaird@casinocustomerservice.com
480-991-6420

Casino chief financial officers who want to cut costs and boost revenue should work closely with other departments at the property to create as many employee advocates as possible.

Cornell University researchers found that the cost of replacing an employee in the hospitality field is more than $5,000 per person.  Look at your turnover numbers and see what it would do to your bottom line if you could reduce turnover by just a small amount. 
Employee advocates are not interested in quitting their jobs.  In fact, they risk their reputation to recommend their casino to friends as a great place to work.  Working closely with other department to turn employees into advocates for your casino can help reduce turnover and save a significant amount of money.

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

Casino marketing directors under pressure to attract new customers and increase the frequency of existing guests’ visits can meet this challenge by working with other departments to focus on creation of guest advocates.

An emphasis on guest advocacy is beneficial to a casino marketing department because guest advocates are an advertising army that drives the casino’s message to advocates’ friends and family.  Guest advocates create repeat and new business.  Advocacy research also reduces data noise that comes from volumes of customer data casinos produce but few people within the organization pay attention to.  For example, the casino can stop doing customer satisfaction research.  In short, guest advocacy can help a marketing department meet its goals while reducing certain costs and eliminating work to redirect resources to a more productive endeavor.”

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