Getting better service makes me want to be a better servant (to my clients)
As leaders, we often find ourselves in the role of helper and problem-solver. It’s part of our job to anticipate needs, clear roadblocks, and guide our teams towards success.
But how often do we experience that level of care and foresight directed towards us?
Well I just felt what it felt like … and it felt so good that it made me want to be a better leader and level up for my customers. Maybe as leaders once in a while we should feel what it feels like to have someone be ahead of us as inspiration on how we can be that for our clients, but you have to FEEL it, cause if you treat yourself to an amazing hotel, where the team is THIS good, you can’t help but ask yourself… How can I help steer my business in a way where we aspire to that level of service, that kind of service that makes a client exhale and their shoulders drop because they think of your company as a “we got this” team vs a “what do you want us to do” team.
An unnamed CEO (unless they choose to let me change this), once said to me…you gave me a gift Wil, the gift of your time, advice, etc…and they went on to say that as a CEO every email is someone who wants something from us, every refresh of the inbox is likely to result in an ask, someone taking or needing something from me, that can be exhausting. While I don’t 100% feel that way, I do get it and I empathize.
During a recent stay at Kasbah Tamadot in Morocco (this is about to be the longest hotel review you’ve ever seen) I had this reflection, I recorded every little thing they did so I could vivdly wirte this post because every day,multiple times a day I was blown away and I knew I’d forget these stories. I wanted to write this post to give them a shout out, but also to give you a feel on the lengths they went and how it gave me a new gear to aspire to. I’ve been a sucker for great service all my life, a sucker for people who lighten my load, and love books like this one.
I had a realization: I’ve rarely, if ever, felt what it’s like to have everyone at a hotel so dialed in to my preferences that they can predict what I and my family might want and they just do it, no questions, they just do it because what they know is the last thing I want on vacation is making more decisions.
They functioned as a team, you could just tell they knew what the right thing to do was for guests, no hesitation, no nothing. That reminded me of the asset of longevity as a leadership team (I can imagine there’s some liability in there too, but its definitely more of an asset to me). Almost every one of my execs has been with Seer over 10 years.
They planned a scavenger hunt for my kid’s birthday
A perfect example of this was when I mentioned wanting to do a scavenger hunt with my kids (thanks Ellie) on their birthday in the Atlas Mountains.
With just that single request, they handled everything.
They got the drivers to take us, they found local people to assist in the planning, our guide brought his kids along so my kids could play tag, hide and seek, and play games with his kids, they contacted an ex pat to help figure out what would be educational and fun (we learned how to build baskets with a the guide’s grandmother), they printed maps for my children, even when we checked in, they said, “in 2 days you’ll be doing a scavenger hunt, here is the menu of items we can pack for your lunch”, they created clues for items to find, they got a photographer for us to take pictures, so I could enjoy with my kids…they did soooooo much from 1 request. Once I was willing to pay for the experience, that was the only question I had. All I had to do was…enjoy and in the photo below, this picture can’t be taken unless you got someone great with the camera wit you. If you are the photographer of the family, sometimes take a photographer along with you, so you can get pictures like this.
A Complimentary Mini Bar speaks volumes
If you are like me, I’ll spend 10 minutes contemplating the cost vs value of a coke when it is in a mini bar.
I also like places with mini bars that are complimentary, all over the property there were fridges where you could just take cokes, beers, water, ginger ale, etc…I think it goes to show something about the service and how they just want you to enjoy, I think the mini bar is just an example but it’s that kind of hospitality that makes them say look I want you to enjoy yourself here and if you want to drink I don’t want you looking at the price of a beer or a wine and choosing not to enjoy yourself, because you’re looking at the cost. Trust me I am already paying for it, it isn’t free.
In our businesses how often does every request become a “let me go see the cost or scope” vs is there another way to make your pricing and interactions less friction-full?
What is our business “mini-bar” that we could make complimentary?
Imagine if contracts had a 10 hour buffer, where once the client is over a certain level, they team is given the latitude to solve problems, but we do it in a way that is transparent with the client, so they understand there is a “bank” of hours set aside…where our teams can solve any problem, with Seer people or outside of Seer doesn’t matter, we will get the people who can help you with the problem. I think one of the things agencies do a lot is we open that mini bar but never tell our clients. It might be that simple.
This doesn’t mean everything is free, notice I paid for a lot of this stuff, but some small things like the mini bar is an example.
Small thing: Free drinks
Big thing: Include the cost, remove the friction.
Team-based Service and managing hand offs
Here’s a few other things that I want to give as examples they seem to work in teams here and have handoffs for their guests if somebody’s going to be out.
So their people after a day or two knew what your kids ordered for breakfast and how they ordered things that was also pretty amazing. On monday my oldest son ordered a breakfast without eggs, the next morning when he went to order, he paced the order but forgot to ask for that adjustment. Instantly, the server said, without eggs right? This can only be done when you care and have the time to provide that level of attention.
When we arrived I told them, my brother in law is coming tomorrow, and asked do we have a driver…they responded…instantly…
“Aron’s transfer is booked Mr. Reynolds”
They had already remembered the names of everyone in my party (even the ones who are not there yet) so when I referred to him as my “brother in law” (cause how the heck would they know his name) they responded with his name, this was within 15 minutes of us being on property.
That small gesture made my shoulders slump, weight was lifted, I could palpably feel it, these guys were going to take care of us. In every way, and more importantly…they were about to offer a set of care I haven’t seen for a LONG time, if ever. That impression was made in 15 minutes. They act as a “team” focused on me and my family.
When one of the staffers was leaving and wouldn’t be there to see us off on our last day, he found me and brought over a new person, he literally said
“Sorry I won’t be here to see you and Rio, Niko, Nora, and Aron off, but this is ________ (dang now I feel bad I don’t remember all of THEIR names) and he knows your preferences and will make sure he gives you great service while you are here.”
How can I do better handoffs in my business, how can I hire people who show that level of care when handing off, and take it personally even when clients are leaving? Dare I say I actually have a ton of people like this already, the messages of thanks when clients move on where ex clients are surprised at how well we handed off to the new agency, and how we finished strong shocks all people involved, super proud of the team — you can lose business and retain relationships and relationships always take you far.
Small thing: Say goodbye to me and my family and ensuring clear handoffs
Big thing: When the “relationship” ends, make handoffs and show the same care at “kickoff” as you do at “exit” regardless of how it goes down.
They drove 1.5 hours to get a sweatshirt I left in a restaurant, when I told them it was no biggie.
The hotel recommended a hotel in the Medina about 70 minutes away, we went, we loved it, we left our jackets. Ouch. Once we got back to the hotel, I realized it and I went to the reception area and told them that in 2 days we would be back in the area again and could pick them up in 2 days, the restaurant is only 10 minutes from the airport. They said no problem.
So I assumed that in 2 days we would get them. They had a different idea, but didn’t say to me “we’ll get it” they just said OK, knowing they were not going to do that.
The next day, when we woke up, the sweatshirt and jacket was at our front door. That means someone drove 70 minutes each way (maybe they had to pick someone up at the airport or something), to bring back our jackets.
When I told them…that wasn’t necessary…they said, it gets a little chilly here at night so we thought you might want them. I was blown away.
Every morning when we wake up there is a table set with five chairs because there are five people in our party in the restaurant which means somebody’s thinking through in advance of who all is on the hotel property and how big are their groups and they set up your tables in advance based on your group size with umbrellas and everything to block the sun, they have absolutely no idea when we’re going to wake up but it’s always prepared and ready when we’re there.
I never heard:
- When do you want breakfast
- How many are in your party
- Give me a second so I can set the table
- Let me go get the umbrellas to shade you
What I got:
- Wake up whenever I want
- Walk to restaurant
- Sit down in the shade at a table made for my party
- No thoughts at all, no waiting
Where am I asking my clients questions, where I could just predict after enough time what they want? Where am I asking a question, where I can proactively solve a problem, and show up with a “gift” for my client, already done… You start to treat the client in a way that makes them say…wow, why have I never been treated like that before?
The items they gave us that we couldn’t bring home, no problem.
In Morocco they cook in tagines and after we did our cooking class with the chef at the hotel they gave us each a tagine to take home, well we had no space in our luggage and they are fragile so they told us they would send them home for us and that they would get someone that’s a carpenter to build a box for us to keep them secure. I wanted these items because me and my kids cooked in them, we learned how to cook in tagines and I wanted those memories with me, the ones that the hotel uses for their cooking.
Now of course this is going to cost me some money, when I sat there trying to figure out how to get these home, they didn’t give me up a bunch of options they basically said if you’re okay with us shipping them to Marrakesh will have somebody there make a crate for you and give us a price and as long as that price is good we’re good to send it to you. I didn’t have to try to think through, do I just want 1, do I want all 5, can I put one in my luggage, how can I store it so it doesn’t break, etc etc etc, I didn’t have to think of those 20 options because they literally said, if you are cool with the price, then we’ll get you this home.
We’ll stay open, just for you and your family when you get back
We’re here at a time where there’s not a ton of other guests so we went out to dinner the other night late probably around 7:30 and before we left they asked us if we wanted to come back to the bar, the reason why they ask is because they will keep somebody on site at the bar with nobody coming through if we tell them that we’re coming back and want to go to the bar.
Thought: Be ready when your clients needs you, client has a board meeting? Be ready on the phone, in case they get a hard question, after a board meeting ask them…where did you feel prepared or under prepared for tough questions you got. Find out when your client POC has a recurring meeting wit their boss, maybe make yourself available, already there with your version of an umbrella and seats.
The road to success is just mistakes well handled
I was going to be gone for my wife’s birthday, so I used this opportunity to get her a spa day while here. When I walked over, the spa wasn’t opened… so I went to the reception, you could tell they were horrified that something went wrong. They told me to go back to my place and they would handle it…30 minutes later they came to our door and let us know that we can go over whenever we are ready. I told them we’d head over in 30 minutes. We decided to start walking over after 10 minutes, as we are walking the reception desk person was waiting on the path, in 90 degree heat under no shade. He stopped us, and said “we’re comp’ing your spa appointment, we’re so sorry” that wasn’t what impressed me. What impressed me is that 20 minutes before I was expected to leave my house to walk over they were already on the path, waiting…in the heat…because they just wanted to make sure to apologize and tell us this was comped. They could have just stayed in the spa with the air conditioning.
Intentional “friction”
If the place we’re going is in a developing country I want them to hire mostly locals and care about that vs expats. I’d really enjoyed staying here because everyone here is at some different level of English and I like that they lean into the fact that sometimes some people you may talk to might need to go get someone else to help you but they’re not going to hire a bunch of expats to make me feel more comfortable.
And just when I thought I had given you every example of how well they took care of me when I turned on my phone when I landed back in Philadelphia my driver had messaged me checking to see how the flight was and how the family did on the way home. Again that has never happened, ever, anywhere.
The only thing that felt heavy the whole time was leaving, it was emotional for me.
We woke up, I felt heavy shoulders, not because I had to go home and get back to work, it was because I realized that this feeling was going to end, I have only once felt compelled to shake everyone's hand, say thank you, and goodbye which I did to every single staffer & gardener I could find. Every single one. I wanted them to know how meaningful their care of me and my family meant to me. I got all these stories in only 4 days on property.
I am not one for telling people “they deserve” vacations because guess what, I ain’t paying for it. But if you’ve made it this far, I share these stories with you not to say “stay at this place” but to say once in a while it might be worth it to stretch.
Providing this level of service is exhausting
Which means it has to be deeply personal for you as someone who works with clients, smiles cost nothing, trying to predict what somebody might want next doesn’t cost anything but I could see how it’s exhausting always trying to think one step ahead of your customer or client, this isn’t something I think you can train I think it’s an innate thing in people to either want someone to feel great as a result of being in their presence or to just believe that their job is to do whatever was in the job description.
But if you ever feel the way I felt on this trip, you almost can’t help but walk away and ask yourself am I missing those little moments to be a step ahead of my client and help them take a back seat the way the team at the Kasbah Tamadot did for me and my family. Because I’ll never forget what that felt like, And I’ll go back in a heartbeat to capture that feeling once again.
Renting the property for my team
I want more people to feel this feeling, so when I got back I got pricing on what it would cost to rent the whole property to maybe do a leadership retreat some day…now I got a goal to add and a reason to work harder and grow this thing…cause I believe if they all felt what I felt as leaders we’d all want to be better for our clients, and that will help take us to places well beyond our dreams.
