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Ellis Communications, Inc. - NEWS STORY
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Casinos Must Avoid Being A Grinch for Customers And Employees
This Holiday Season |
For Immediate Release:
December
12, 2007 |
Contact: Tom Ellis
Ellis Communications, Inc.
Phone (417) 881-5635
E-Mail tellis@casinocustomerservice.com
www.casinocustomerservice.com
www.advcoatedevelopmentsystem.com
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If there’s one thing casinos
should avoid this holiday season, it’s being a Grinch for
customers and employees.
“How can casinos be a Grinch?” asks Martin R. Baird, chief
executive officer of Annapolis, Maryland-based Robinson &
Associates, Inc. “It’s not that difficult. All they have to do
is fail to deliver on promises perceived or actual. This does
happen at some casinos.”
Baird offers the following tips on how casinos can fail to
deliver on expectations.
Tip No. 1. Marketing messages don’t always match reality,
Baird says. “If your advertisements show customers and employees
laughing and having extraordinary fun and your guests walk in
and decide the place is incredibly dull, they will feel as
though you did not honor your promise,” Baird notes. “If your
marketing talks about winners and they lose and don’t see a
single person winning, you again have failed on your promise.”
Tip No. 2. Effective marketing exacerbates the problem,
Baird says. “Ample repetition of a key message is critical to
effective marketing,” Baird explains. “If your marketing
department is doing its job, it is probably beating people over
the head with a rosy promise.”
Tip No. 3. Promises also are created through guests and
their experiences, Baird says. “When a guest goes back to their
friends and explains what an amazing time they had at your
property, that is the promise their acquaintances will expect
you to deliver,” Baird says. “That’s right, your guests can
establish a promise for others. People often put more faith in
their friends and the message they share than they do in your
marketing. That’s not a problem if a guest’s direct experience
and your advertising are a match.”
Tip No. 4. Hard work may be in order, Baird says. “If
your promise doesn’t match your guests’ perception, you need to
do some hard work,” Baird says. “Finding a problem is often
easy. But investing time and energy to fix it is where most
projects fail. You need to fix the situation so you deliver the
promise that either your marketing department is spreading or
that your guests expect so they will come back more often and
tell friends to come visit.”
Tip No. 5. Evaluate promises made to people who apply to
work at the casino, Baird says. “When they were hired, did you
sell them only on the glamour of gaming?” Baird asks. “Did you
promise an open-door policy and opportunities for advancement?
Or did you explain that some guests become angry and mean when
they lose money? Did you say they will work crazy hours and
every holiday without overtime? A realistic job preview should
be standard procedure.”
Tip No. 6. The outside world also offers a promise to
casino employees, Baird says. “When television sets show casinos
and all the happy employees, that is what your new hires think
it will be,” Baird says. “When they see the lights and
excitement on TV, that is what they will expect. I have yet to
see a TV show about casinos that gives a realistic view of the
‘back of the house.’”
There’s a price to pay for being a Grinch, Baird says: “If you
don’t invest in making your promise to customers and employees
match their actual experience, you could have fewer guests to
celebrate with next year and that revolving employee door will
just keep spinning.”
Robinson & Associates, Inc., is a global customer service
consulting firm for the gaming industry. It helps casinos
determine their Advocate Index, a number that indicates the
extent to which properties have guests who are willing to be
advocates. The company then implements its Advocate Development
System in combination with the proven methodology of Advocate
Index and best business practices to help casinos create more
guest advocates and chart a course for growth and profitability.
Robinson & Associates may be reached by phone at 480-991-6420,
by e-mail at mbaird@casinocustomerservice.com or via its Web
sites at www.advocatedevelopmentsystem.com and
www.casinocustomerservice.com.
Robinson & Associates is a member of the Casino Management
Association and an associate member of the National Indian
Gaming Association. |
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