Greetings from New Orleans, Louisiana! For the past three days, I have been attending the national meeting of NAPBS (the National Association of Professional Background Screeners), the trade association for the background screening industry. This is my first visit to New Orleans since Katrina. The city has come back as strong as ever and the spirit and resilience of the people is amazing. I will be spending many hours in the gym paying penance for three days of wonderfully decadent food and fantastic service. Most of the French Quarter businesses have reopened and Sunday was the last day of the French Quarter Festival that packed the streets with people, music and art. The spirit of the people of New Orleans was tested and they showed what they were made of.
The keynote speaker at NAPBS was Jeff Hargett, of the Ritz-Carlton Hotels. Jeff is with the Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center and brings to corporate America the story of how Ritz-Carton has developed a culture of providing their employees and guests with an experience second to none in the hospitality industry. He spoke about creating “wows” for customers to make their experience at a Ritz-Carlton property memorable. According to Jeff, the American Society of Quality determined that 67% of customers leave a vendor because of an attitude of indifference by a company employee.
The art of service is disappearing in America. Many companies have employees who sleepwalk through their jobs every day. They are on autopilot. My experience with a lost bag at US Airways on Sunday was an example of how not to provide service and how to push a customer to a competitor. Today, there is no “face time” with the customer – no human contact – no empathy. In today’s business world, there are few differentiators between actual products and services. Everyone has access to supplies and suppliers. Everyone has access to computers and automation. What differentiates businesses is “Value.” Value is created by providing fast access to knowledge and experience; convenience and respect of the customer’s time; good utility and a total lack of hassles; immediate impact – the “wow” factor; and a one of a kind experience. Companies that accomplish this have the greatest sales force in the world, satisfied customers.
After my long night of NAPBS Texas Hold’em I finally achieved my fantasy of winning a Texas Hold’em tournament. No, it was not the World Series of Poker, there were no TV cameras, and they didn’t wheel in $2,000,000 in cash, but it was just as satisfying. Now, it is time to return to meetings and committees with my colleagues and peers.
