Broad Economic Base Is Great When Coupled With Consistent Service

By Martin R. Baird

Ray Kroc of McDonald’s fame was a big proponent of consistency.  He didn’t set out to serve the world’s best burgers, but he wanted them to be consistent. 

Before Ray Kroc, if a successful taco stand owner decided two stands was better than one, he had a family member run the other location.  But then the owner relinquished some control because his aunt or brother was free to make decisions about spices, cooking and service. 

What’s the problem here?  If a customer visited both stands, they might get two different kinds of tacos, two different kinds of service.  No consistency.

I’m talking about Ray Kroc and taco stands because of the amazing variety of economic development tools I saw at the recent NIGA conference in Phoenix.  Tribes and Indian communities have casinos, resorts, golf courses, smoke shops, convenience stores, water companies and natural resources, as well as herbs and jewelry.  This is a small sample of what’s going on and it’s wonderful.

Diversification is one of the keys to having a successful business over the long term, but with it comes a challenge - the potential lack of good old-fashioned consistency.

If I have four businesses and they all are named in one way or another after the tribe, my guests will demand that they all provide the same level of products and services.  If I deliver on this expectation, I’m on the road to success.  But if products and services are inconsistent, my customers may make some erroneous assumptions.  Let’s say service at the convenience store is slow.  Most guests will assume the service is equally poor at the casino, even if it isn’t.  Maybe they will decide to avoid the casino.  If the restaurant offers reasonable prices, imagine the customer’s shock when they discover the golf course is very expensive.

If the same people are buying more than one product or service from you, they want consistency.  They want to have similar experiences.  It helps them feel comfortable.

So what are some solutions to this challenge?  What are some ways to provide consistent experiences for guests over a variety of enterprises?

Here are a few of my favorites.

            First, you need to have an executive management team overseeing all of the enterprises.  If the enterprises are completely autonomous, it will be very difficult for anyone to keep track of what each of them is doing.

This doesn’t mean you need to add an additional layer of management and bureaucracy.  You simply need to have an existing management team with a global vision.  You need strategists with a long-range view.  They are looking for long-term opportunities and are not focused on the day-to-day activities of a smoke shop or hotel.

After that, you need to have clearly defined goals.  What can these enterprises bring to the tribe, the community and the guests?  What do they have in common?  How can they be linked so guests see it as a family of businesses, not just a random group?

Next, communicate this commonality, this linkage among your enterprises, clearly and consistently to your target market and community.  Conglomerates invest millions of dollars communicating the message of how all of their products and services come together to help the customer.

One of the most important groups to communicate with is your own employees.  They will be the company’s mouth piece as they share information with guests.  They need to know in broad-brush strokes what the strategy is behind the different businesses and how they all fit together.  Remember that if you don’t share accurate information with them, they will be forced to either invent it or learn it through the grape vine.

One of the things that goes hand in hand with communication is training.  No only do you need to share concepts, you also need to educate your entire staff about all of your businesses and the standards that are acceptable.  If you don’t give people the skills they need, they will do it the way they think is best.

Last, you should reward and recognize employees for doing things right!  For communicating with guests and sharing information.  For being good ambassadors for the entire enterprise.  A reward program encourages employees to do the right thing, to demonstrate the correct behavior.

McDonald’s hires lower-skilled people and its restaurants still deliver a consistent product.  I get the same little burger in Yuma, Arizona, as I do in Toronto, Canada.

Your enterprise guests want the same thing.

Expanding and creating more pillars to support you is great.  It makes very good economic sense.  But it will be a difficult task without a plan for consistency.

Martin R. Baird is president of Robinson & Associates, Inc., a guest service consulting firm based in Phoenix, Ariz., that provides specialty guest service training, management skills training, presentation skills training, team building programs and employee incentive and recognition programs for the gaming industry.  The company is owned by Lydia and Martin Baird.  The Bairds have a Web site, www.casinocustomerservice.com, that’s devoted to helping casinos improve their guest service so they can compete and increase revenues.  Robinson & Associates may be reached by contacting Martin at 480-991-6420 or at mbaird@casinocustomerservice.com.  The company is a member of the Casino Management Association and an associate member of the National Indian Gaming Association.