Instant information, instant results

I’ve often been asked about the value of external evaluations, especially in the world of customer service and sales. In the past, we distributed comment cards or sent surveys, but this meant that we were soliciting the feedback, and it could take weeks if not months to get that information in our hands. Today, that is way too long to wait on data that helps shape our business models.

So, how do we get instant access to this data? Just check the social media universe. There is a multitude of sites that offer customer feedback — networking sites like Facebook and blogs or micro-blogs like Twitter. However, I believe there’s no better way to truly understand your guests’ experience than to read the reviews on sites such as TripAdvisor.com. Let me share why this is so important with the following story.

Back in the early ’90s, I was working for a communications company, and we had recently spent a lot of money trying to improve our customer service. As you know, communications (phone) companies were notoriously lacking in these skills, especially in the previous decade. The majority of the money and energy was spent on a customer tracking or CRM system. At the time, it seemed like the panacea for all of our customer service ills, but of course, it was not.

The system came with a lot of bells and whistles, and promised to finally integrate all of our legacy systems helping us manage the customer experience from end to end. It did that from a technology standpoint, but what we didn’t account for was the human factor. The greatest customer relationship software in the world is useless unless everyone understands customer service to begin with.

What I found as marketing manager was that despite our new system, customers were still not having a good experience with us, and in fact, our customer service ratings actually deteriorated after installing the system. It took months to survey and read the results, and during that time our customers became even more irate with our company. Eventually, the investment paid off, but it was years later and millions of dollars spent on upgrades and tweaks to suit the customers’ needs — all because we didn’t have instant access to customer feedback.

Today, we don’t have to wait months or even days for that information. Due to the new social media tools, we can have instant access to customer data. These tools even provide an avenue for us to quickly respond. You can monitor Twitter and search for your hotel name or brand. It will instantly bring up tweets in which your company is mentioned. If you have a Facebook company page, you can (and should) monitor it constantly for guests posting about their stay.

“I don’t have time to monitor all of those sites,” you say. And, I agree — it can be overwhelming! However, you don’t have to. There are many sites dedicated to collecting and distributing this information for you. Some are free like Technorati.com, and some are geared specifically to the hospitality industry, with dashboards and customization tools. I’ve found ReviewAnalyst.com to be one of the easiest to use and understand. There are many out there that may be right for you and your property. Check them out today — valuable feedback awaits!

 John Ely is senior vice president of marketing for Signature Worldwide, a training and business solutions company dedicated to helping clients create legendary experiences for their customers. Ely is responsible for developing, implementing and evaluating strategic marketing and corporate growth plans, and has more than 16 years of industrial and consumer marketing experience. For more information, call (800) 398-0518 or visit www.signatureworldwide.com. For more from Ely, visit his blog, www.OnceUponACustomerExperience.com or follow him on Twitter @johnrely.