Why It Really Doesn’t Require Technology To Delight Your Customers

Sure, I expect some people are starting to plan their trip to Disney’s latest extravagant interactive hotel experience, Star Wars: Galactic Star Cruiser. At $6,000 for two nights for a family of four, you get to experience Disney to the extreme, where even the hotel windows look out onto “space!”

…My advice, rather than chasing the next voice-activated-drone-delivered-AI-promise of a customer experience…instead focus on delighting your customers without the need for excessive technology. 

We just returned from ten days at a delightful hotel in San Diego which was a wonderful escape as we are still unpacking from our house move, not quite finished with our renovations, and preparing our three daughters for back to school in real life. 

I tried a new approach to this holiday, where for a change, I did absolutely zero research ahead of time. I wanted to channel my twenty year old self, who would book a vacation on the basis of two one inch square photos in a printed brochure, and ten sentences describing the hotel. Instead this time, I let my husband choose the hotel, and once chosen I resisted temptation of checking endless online reviews, didn’t look at pictures ahead of time, didn’t check the menus, room configurations, or even who owned the hotel. (This coming from me…the hyper-focused research obsessed was a big deal, but I wanted to try the element of surprise.)

Thankfully. The surprise was all pleasant. 

The first barman we met, John, had worked at the hotel for 18 years, he explained how many of the team had 20,30, even 35 years service.  It certainly showed.

I always like to let the hotel manager know when I have great service so I tracked him down on LinkedIn and sent him a message. Within hours he had replied with his cell phone number, called my hotel room and asked if we could meet. 

The next day he met with me and my whole family as he wanted to hear directly what we thought of the hotel. He also introduced us to their star attraction: their brilliant concierge, Gordy. In the age of online restaurant booking services like opentable it would be easy to think concierges are no longer needed, but Gordy proved that to be a myth with his inside knowledge of local places to visit and ability to get us a table booking where the online systems said no. 

Live local music every day, great watersports so we were all able to paddle board for the first time, incredible food, amazing poolside service, great games that even our picky tweens & teens joined in, and employees who really seemed to care about who you were and how they could help you. 

I know many hotels and restaurants are challenged with hiring and keeping great staff right now, but Doug and the team at Mission Bay Resort San Diego proved the trend can be beaten.  We can’t wait to go back. 

Dedicated to growing your business,

Val

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My Shark Tank Ambitions And Why This Might Be Better

I’ve always wanted to be a Shark on Shark Tank or a Dragon on Dragon’s Den. 

I’ve met Daymond John and Kevin O’Leary when I was at the CNBC Iconic Conference with Inc Magazine a few years ago. I have been long fascinated with Shark Tank and the UK/ Canadian equivalent Dragon’s Den. 

In my corporate life I created a Shark Tank equivalent experience at Xbox when we needed to “broaden the appeal” of Xbox beyond shooting and racing games to compete with Nintendo’s Wii. From that pitch competition came the Kinect Camera that won a Guinness Book of Record for the fastest selling device of all time.

Since then I’ve worked with many of my clients creating their own innovation experiences and competitions to uncover new ideas and opportunities. 

Most recently, this one might have been my favorite! I was a judge for Fran Finds with fashion brand francesca’s. From hundreds of applications, over two days last week the finalists appeared at francesca’s headquarters to pitch their products, purpose, and passion. The catch was, their products needed to be available for this holiday season to appear in boutiques and online. It was incredible to see the range of entrepreneurs and hear their inspiration and dedication to building their businesses. 

Their stories are incredible and their products will be part of the holiday line up in nearly 400 boutiques and online for this holiday. 

Wondering how to create your own Shark Tank experience? You don’t need to be Mr Wonderful, nor have to have a deal with CNBC, but many ask me about having a TV show of my own, which I haven’t yet said no to….

Meanwhile, watch out for these Fran Finds winners at your local francesca’s boutique or online:

Simply Perla | Polymer Clay Jewelry & Accessories from Houston | @bysimplyperla

Citrus & Cane | Handcrafted Home & Body Products from Alabama | @citruscane

Gifted by Gabb | Homemade Clay Earrings from North Carolina | @giftedbygabb

Kozy Kandles | Handcrafted Soy Candles from Indiana | @kozykandles

Dedicated to growing your business,

Val

P.S. I hope you enjoyed this week's VAL-uable Insights, sign up here to get them in your inbox each Monday morning: http://valwrightconsulting.com/newsletter-sign-up/

How To Reduce Your Stress With This Easy Preemptive Move

Got a stressful event or situation coming up? if so consider a preemptive move to prepare. 

We just moved house last weekend. With our renovation not quite complete, the last seven days have been quite the adventure, (not least from teaching our three daughters that we will all survive as a family of five sharing one single bathroom for a few weeks!! - Yes I turned into my parents by saying “when I was your age…!”)

Prior to moving we decided that as it might be stressful we would check into a local hotel for two nights during the packing and moving stage. This was made all the more delightful when our dear friends were visiting from Barcelona and stayed with us at the hotel too. 

Hanging out with close friends has been few and far between the last 18months, so to catch up, relax, and have lots of laughs certainly filled up my energy reserves. 

…which was a good job, because the last seven days has been filled with unpacking, contractors, and slower progress than my impatient brain can typically handle!

I encourage everyone who switches jobs to take a vacation before starting, this is another preemptive preparation move as there is no better holiday than when you have no inbox or demands to take care of or be thinking about in the back of your mind. 

Consider how you can build preemptive preparation before any big work or life event. A new job, an important project, a critical presentation, or simply a higher workload than usual. 

Now I’ll get back to unpacking some more boxes!

Dedicated to growing your business,

Val

P.S. I hope you enjoyed this week's VAL-uable Insights, sign up here to get them in your inbox each Monday morning: http://valwrightconsulting.com/newsletter-sign-up/