Human ExchangePoints Matter, Even With Crepes

Human ExchangePoints can make even crepes irrelevant

Last week I had a crepe for the first time.  If you don’t know a crepe is a very thin pancake rolled around various ingredients, either cheese and meat or some kind of fruit.  It can be quite delicious and the little shop I visited in Kingston last week was no exception.  But no matter how good your product is, one little lapse in service can ruin it all.

Jaime Les Crepes is a small shop right next to the Kingston Ferry, where about 80% of its customers come from, and the whole shop can’t be more than the size of a small kitchen lending to it the distinct feel of a European shop.  I liked it immediately.  I enjoyed it even more when on the first day I was helped by Kattie, a two year crepe veteran.  Kattie made the crepes, held a conversation with multiple customers, and rang up the orders all by herself.  I was in and out in about 5 minutes or so.  She was very personable, completely competent, and left me wanting to come back the next day.

The difference the next morning was night and day.  I walked into the shop to see two younger girls at the counter, both seemingly in a bad mood, trying to work around each other in a cramped space.  The whole mood inside the small shop had changed.  When they finally got to my order (two took longer than one) it was made well, as far as I could tell, but without the conversation or the enthusiasm.  Since I had to transport the order back to the cabin my wife and I were staying at, I tried to help by telling her what Kattie did the day before.  This employee looked right at me and said with almost a sneer, “I’ve done this before.”  Okay then… I stepped back and observed at that point.  I paid for my food and brought it out to the car only to find that the container with the blueberry crepes had leaked on my foot.  She hadn’t packed it right.

All of these factors make a huge difference.  I would rather have this entry be a love letter to that establishment as a shining beacon of what customer service should be, but instead I would probably not remember to personally recommend that shop to anyone I know.

All companies have points at which they exchange value with customers, ExchangePoints, and the human point is often the most important (as well as the most difficult to control).  Customers buy into these exchange points just like they do a regular product, I wanted the service interaction just as much as the crepe.

In the end this is the difference between a destination point and a stop of convenience.  Most customers will use the product until a better alternative comes around, then the customers will jump ship and swim to a newer boat.  Whether it is a service business or a chance conversation, the little things matter, and a quality Human ExchangePoint could be the difference between a loyal friend or a passing acquaintance.

Brand Promises Broken

Just got back from my Honeymoon and we had a fantastic and wonderfully relaxing time… for the most part.

One of the crowning jewels in this blissful experience was to be an overnight stay in Seattle; catch a show, stay in a nice hotel, eat some really good food.  Alas, it was not to be so.  The hotel I booked looked like it was filled with old world charm and elegance, just the things that my new bride enjoys.  The pictures on hotels.com for the REGULAR GUEST ROOMS, not the suites, look like this:

Beautiful room, right?

Supposed to be the guest room

I won’t say the deal I got on the website but it was a fairly decent price, and I couldn’t wait to show her the wonderful place I found for us.  As we pulled up to the front entrance, we were greeted by an effusive and smiling parking attendant who seemed knowledgeable and very helpful.  He then informed us that we would have to pay an extra $38 for him to park our car or we could go down the street a couple blocks to a public garage.  He said this while taking our luggage out of the car, with an impatient tone, leaving me feeling like we had no option.  I gave him the keys.  This was definitely strike one since most other hotels of repute in Seattle pay for guests parking or offer some kind of discounted service.  Not this hotel.

We walked into the grand lobby, looking just like the pictures.  Rich, majestic, and quite beautiful.  The check-in goes fairly smoothly, and we are off to our room.  The walls are colored robin’s egg blue with trims of gold and yellow, all very well done and the excitement is building, I can’t wait for her to see the room.  We get to the door and open…

The bed was kind of nice

Plain, Plain, Plain

Does this look like the pictures above?

Looks like a Holiday Inn, not a 5 star hotel

To say the least, we were disappointed.  I understand that promotional pictures are different from reality but this much?  And beyond that, how is the theme of the room jiving with the rest of the hotel?  Old world elegance meets thrift store Asian Fusion?

I called down to the front desk hoping for some resolution but instead found a disgruntled employee unwilling to help my new wife and I on our honeymoon.  She had no explanation for the discrepancy in decor, made no apology for the subterfuge, and informed me that ALL the guest rooms looked like that (in a tone that suggested I should have known that) but she might be able to find a different color scheme.  I hung up.

We pressed on and being the great people that we are we had a fantastic night, caught a show, met some new friends, and generally enjoyed life.  The next morning we got up to check out and skipped down to the guest services counter, happy to be leaving the disappointing room.  When we got to the counter, the employee asked the fateful words I had been waiting for:

“How was your stay with us?”

I told her.  In great detail actually of the fantastic frustrations the hotel heaped upon us.  It wasn’t a bad hotel, nice in it’s own way, just the advertising is lying and that isn’t good for the company’s soul.  To her credit, Jonah, listened patiently and apologized immediately for her colleague’s callousness, comping our parking and offering to help us with a room in the future.  She nearly saved the experience.

Nearly.

These days no business can afford to be substandard, to promise a certain level of service or product and then not deliver.  People expect all businesses, just as they do other people, to be honest and fair with them in their dealings together.  The hotel offered one experience and delivered another, not drastically different but enough that our expectations were immediately shattered.  It was so bad that the room might as well have been a flea bag motel.

Will we stay there again?  Probably not.  The memory of being lied to is too strong and I suspect we are not alone.  I imagine that the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle has lost a fair number of customers because its advertising isn’t based in reality.  I know my wife and I will always remember our stay there as the low point on our honeymoon, simply because our expectations were built up and then shattered by a lack of brand integrity.

Getting Married

Photo Courtesy of saffandiphoto.com via avani-mehta.com

Many know, some don’t, that I am to be married tomorrow to the most wonderful woman I have ever met.  After so many years, we are to be joined together in marital bliss for the rest of our lives.  I have honestly never been happier than I am at this time in my life and it will only get better from here.

The wedding will be at First Congregational on Division street in Tacoma at 7pm with a reception following immediately at the Landmark.

Then comes the honeymoon, most of which we will be spending in a secluded cabin out in the woods… almost no cell phone reception… no TV or anything…it will be glorious! Needless to say I won’t be posting anything as I will be indisposed and otherwise engaged.

Thank you so much to all the friends and family who helped to make this possible, and especially to my parents for giving Megan and I the rehearsal party of our dreams last night.  Honestly it could not have been more perfect.

Just for fun

If I have any readers left in a week and a half, when I get back I will begin posting again on the 18th.  In the meantime I honestly want any topic ideas you might have.  Just leave a comment and we will talk.

Thank you and talk to you soon.