The real secret to improving your customer experience?

As part of my job I have been fortunate to be able to visit seven stadiums in five days. I must admit I am a stadium geek, I love stadiums, and whether they’re empty or full they’re fascinating places. They evoke memories and emotions like no other place, the sense of history and the present colliding and creating new stories is a powerful dynamic.

Trying to ensure the best possible customer experience

The stadiums visited were all significant venues seeking to ensure their customers experienced the best day possible with maximum enjoyment. It was interesting to hear and see how that translated into operational goals and challenges.

Naturally you would expect some similarities, and some were very tangible, as all the hosts were passionate, knowledgeable and striving to achieve more in their venues. I met CEO’s, directors and heads of department who were clear on their objectives, driven to excel and understood their successes and what could be improved further.

But stuff gets in the way and teams just aren’t proactive enough

It was also very apparent that they were all busy, with many demands encroaching on their time, meaning issues had to be prioritised and time managed. This lead to some frustrations as potential improvements had to be scheduled in the do later box.

All expressed a desire for their delivery teams to be proactive, to present new ideas, new ways of operating and new methods, to offer opinion and take the initiative. However, teams would often wait till asked or, if a contractor, would only present new plans when a tender process demanded.

Nothing is actually wrong but …

This lack of productive communication often occurs in the corridor of comfort where the venue and its operational teams settle into regular, repetitive ways of working – where nothing is wrong, but potentially could be better. Even venues with sold out events find it hard to continually challenge the norms and strive for improvements.

But things could be so much better

Often a catalyst is needed, where the teams can be facilitated into analysing operations and reviewing delivery, to present ideas and try a fresh approach. This catalyst could be cross team working groups; a forum of staff; dynamic heads of department meetings; a cultural challenge; consultant led input; effective information cascades; and/or actions based on customer feedback.

The common denominator and secret to improvement is…

Communication. It’s the link between the people leading the teams and the staff themselves which ensures questions, ideas, opinions and solutions are heard and then people feel empowered to respond. It’s a key element of staff engagement which leads to a more motivated and proactive team, who will generate the next wave of initiatives and keep the venue at the forefront of delivery. In short, if you want to improve your customer experience, it starts with improving your communication.

And of course, a progressive venue is always appreciated by its customers.