BOOST! your meetings in Cincinnati!

If you work in or around Cincinnati, you've got to check out Boost! It's a sparkspace-like meeting space very close to the heart of downtown Cincy. And it's really, really, REALLY uber cool.

The owner, Jenny White, is extremely passionate about creating amazing meetings and events. She not only shares our love of loft spaces, she also practices our same style of world-class customer service.

The space is large, very open, and can handle any kind of creative meeting, presentation, or workshop you can likely imagine. The environment has lots of natural light, wood floors, brick walls, and that whole hip, urban loft vibe. Plus, it's got an amazing rooftop deck with an unbeatable view of the Cincy skyline.

If you love sparkspace, I know you'll dig Boost!, too.

The Gift of an Extremely Difficult Customer

We are fortunate to have the most laid-back, easygoing customers on the planet.

We are also fortunate to have one customer who is extremely (which is really not a strong enough word) difficult to please.

When we see this guest on our reservation calendar, it forces us to operate at an even higher level of service than we do each and every day. We know that this client pays very, very, VERY close attention to all the details -- from the room setup, to the food layout, to the amount of ambient light -- and is not afraid to point out anything that is out of place.

We engage this client in every way we can think of. We look for everything that went "wrong" with this client in the past so we can make preemptive corrections.

There is a long list of hoops we jump through for this client. One example is the salad. At a past meeting, the client gave us the feedback that we didn't serve enough salad (although it was the same amount we had always served). So for their next meeting we ordered twice as much salad, and we ate the cost. Needless to say, we had plenty of salad that time and didn't hear any complaints...about the salad anyway.

Here's how we handle our most difficult client:

1. We listen. Sometimes that's all it takes. The client just wants to be heard.

2. We get past feeling defensive and we always take a good look at the suggestions. Sometimes the suggestions are quite valid and really worth paying attention to. Honestly, we do throw some of them out in the end, but we consider them all.

3. We act on the good suggestions to get even better at what we do.

4. When we see this client on our calendar, we immediately begin to work on ways to meet their needs and desires.

This client challenges us. The result is that we proactively try to please this client now rather than simply react to everything that gets pointed out to us. We also tend to raise our game for all of our other clients when this happens.

Again, we are fortunate to have a customer who pushes us to be better than our best. It's a gift.

A Letter to aloft Hotels

I was going to write a quick article about this recent great service experience, then realized I had already said everything in this letter I wrote to the front desk manager at the aloft hotel in Plano, TX. Enjoy!

Hi Matthew!

I just wanted to drop you a note to let you know how impressed I was with your hotel.

My family & I visited your hotel on a recent visit to Dallas/Plano. We were visiting family in the area, but took a few minutes to drop in to take a look at aloft. I had read about the hotel online and in a few magazines and had promised myself the next time I had the chance, I'd take a tour or stay in one.

It was New Year's Eve when we came in. We were promptly met with a chorus of "Alohas" by 3 happy staffers wearing New Year's Eve hats (actually antennae, I think). Fun first impression.

We announced that we had just stopped in to take a look. Karla immediately offered us a tour. She did a fantastic job of showing us the features of the lobby, pool, workout room (much nicer than expected, by the way), snack area, etc. She answered all of our questions and invited us to come back another time to take a look at a room when they were available. Unfortunately, we couldn't make it back during this trip, but look forward to the full experience someday soon.

I'm actually copying this letter to my blog on customer service (http://sparknewthinking.blogspot.com), which is read by thousands of people around the world each week. I wanted you (and all of the blog readers) to know that your staff did a great job and aloft is the freshest, coolest, and most fun hotel idea ever. Can't wait to visit Plano again. I know where I'll be staying next time.


Mark Henson
chief imagination officer

sparkspace
The most exciting retreat center on the planet

p. 614-224-7727
f. 614-224-6838
e. mark@sparkspace.com
w. http://www.sparkspace.com

100 SPARKS Excites, Amazes, and Inspires

Our other blog, 100 SPARKS!, chronicles our challenge to create 100 new ways to serve our customers. Thousands of people are following our progress each day. We're starting to hear rumors that some of them are starting similar challenges in their companies. That makes me so happy, I can't even stand it!

If you haven't checked it out yet, take a peak inside our company's unique customer service project at http://100sparks.com.

We'd love you forever if you passed the link along to people you know. We'd love you almost that much if you would read the blog and leave us comments, too.

Most of all, we hope you'll join us on our quest to revolutionize customer service!

Just When Is Closing Time Anyway?

I spent the Holidays in Dallas visiting family and friends. My brother, Doug, and I enjoy spending our time talking about business, which I'm sure drives both of our wives nuts. He owns a business called Intellimar Solutions that creates social media websites like iKlipz (a movie industry site) and Smokin' a Phattie (it's a barbecue site, I promise). Both sites are worth checking out, by the way.

Ok, now that I'm done with my totally blatant commercial for my brother's business, I'll tell you the real customer service story.

New Year's Day, Doug and I set out to find a coffee shop, because apparently you can't talk about business in America without consuming a hot, caffeinated beverage. Doug prefers a joint called It's A Grind in Plano. It's literally across the street from a Starbucks, but he claimed it was friendlier and had great coffee. He was right on both counts.

As we approached the door, we saw a paper sign plastered to the glass that announced their holiday hours. Sadly, the sign informed us that New Years Day they would be closing at 2pm. It was now 2:40pm.

Before the full reality of the situation sunk in to my caffeine-deprived brain, we noticed a few people inside the shop, sitting at tables, sipping coffee and chatting away. Doug and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders simultaneously, and walked on in.

Yes, we were some of those STUPID CUSTOMERS who don't read -- or pay attention to -- signs of any kind.

We tried to look relaxed as we approached the counter, but I was seriously expecting somebody to yell at us. And for once, I wouldn't have blamed them or written a nasty newsletter article about it.

Instead, a happy voice came from behind the counter, "Hi, what can we get for you guys today?"

My guilt for being "that" customer (you know, the one who doesn't think signs apply to him) immediately took over and I blurted out, "But you're CLOSED, right?"

Here was the reply: "Well, we were going to close at 2pm, but people kept coming in, so we stayed open."

I might have to end this article right here because I'm still a bit speechless over this completely selfless act. It was such a raw and rare example of true customer service, it's almost hard to describe how I feel about it.

I know we've all got other stuff to do in our lives besides work 24 hours a day, but would you be willing to stay open as long as customers kept coming in?

I'll be honest, I've been guilty of closing the doors and turning off the lights the moment the clock reaches our official closing time, hoping nobody would show up before I could sneak to my car and drive away to my non-work life.

Worse yet, I've been guilty of listening to a voicemail near the end of the day and deciding that customer could wait for my response until tomorrow morning when I know there's a chance they're still in the office.

Fortunately, there's a cure for this behavior. You simply have to SHIFT your thinking from what serves you best to what serves your customer best.

I said it's simple, I didn't say it's easy. As humans, we're programmed to be selfish, so we have to train ourselves to shift. It's part of what our 100 SPARKS experiment is helping us do in our company. Keep reading to hear more about this very interesting challenge.

We're making a special effort to make even more of that shift in 2009. I hope you'll join us.

Talk TO Your Customers, Not AT Them

The absolute best customer service pros in any business are the ones who have learned how to talk to customers instead of at them.

Matt, an extraordinary waiter at the Texas Land & Cattle restaurant in Frisco, TX, recently gave the best example of this I think I've ever seen. We were a large group to begin with, several adults and several kids. Serving a large group is never easy, and Matt seemed to handle the group quite well.

What made Matt special however was how he handled the kids. When he approached the kid end of the table, he did a combination of two things that put him in a class by himself. He made the simple gesture of kneeling to put himself on their level, then he talked to them. He didn't talk down to them, or treat them like children. He just talked to them like people.

If you've ever been around kids, you know that 99% of the time they're completely shy around strangers, and they rarely want to order their own food. But this time, not one kid at our table asked a parent to order their chicken fingers or mac & cheese. I was truly amazed at how effective Matt was at setting a safe, comfortable moment that allowed the kids to open up and enjoy the experience.

Thanks, Matt!