Wake Up Call

This is posted on behalf of JoAnna Brandi. It is co-posted on the Customers 1^st Blog and JoAnna Brandi blogs.

Monday morning, like many mornings, I woke up in a hotel. A brand spanking new Comfort Inn Suites in Tampa , Florida. Like many mornings the phone rang at 6:30 and stirred me out of a deep sleep.

“Beeep -beeep - beeep -beeep,” was the first sound I heard.

Dumb-dumb-dumb. Here was the hotel’s opportunity to make a “first impression” on me this morning and they did a poor job. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

As I was getting ready for the day I recalled the full spectrum of wakeup call experiences I’ve had in all the years I’ve been waking up in hotels.

At one end of the extreme is the call I received today - at the other end the LIVE bright and cheery voice of a hotel employee actually talking to me and telling me what the weather was and how happy they were I was in THEIR hotel.

In between is the automated call that gives the date, the weather and any other topics of interest (perhaps a breakfast special in the coffee shop, or free coffee service in the lobby.)

As I was reviewing all these messages in my head, I realized that there is a full spectrum of touching going on in any activity.

Pretend there is a scale. At one end of the scale is Hospitality with a big “H” – warm, friendly, inviting. At the other end of the scale rudeness, abruptness and maybe even contempt (thinly veiled of course.) Now take a look at all the touchpoints in your organization and see where you rate on that scale.

Find any wake up calls?

Wake up because in THIS marketplace – if you snooze, you lose.

If you’d like to see more of Joanna Brandi’s blogs, and comment on this post, visit JoAnna Brandi’s Blogs. You can also find out more by visiting her Customer Care Coach website. Joanna Brandi will be a keynote speaker at this year’s North American Conference on Customer Management, and has already been profiled on our Customer 1^st blog. Stay tuned for her posts on the Customers 1^st blog!