SENIOR’S SOLUTIONS NUMBER 18
Grahame Senior takes a look back at some of the key developments of the past three decades, and argues that there are some real lessons for operators today
Thirty years on How to do the things that work and avoid the things that don’t
T
he French have a way of putting it – “plus ça change, toujours la même chose” (delivered with a Gallic shrug). A lot has hap- pened in the last 30 years – but the old rules of good practice remain. Put your customers fi rst, trust your staff and treat them well and embrace problems as an opportunity to build relationships. The leisure and hospitality business has one golden formula – let marketing build guest expectations and ensure that operations delivers an experience that exceeds those expectations. I remember the very fi rst National
Visitor Attractions Conference at the Queen Elizabeth Centre. Then, as now, the whole thing was orchestrated by the inimitable Ken Robinson. Then, as now, there was a great deal of optimism and not, in my view, quite enough realism. I remember delivering my own views
on challenging times ahead. The increas- ing frustration of individual leisure travel on congested roads, the increasing lure of massive leisure/ retail complexes close to home and the rise of electronic in-home entertainment and information sys- tems were all threats to the ‘days out’ UK leisure industry. Much of that has proved well founded (even though I did get some rather sharp words from the chair) but it hasn’t all been doom and gloom. In particular, perhaps, the electronic revolution in data management and communication has been a hugely liberating force. Everyone and everything is connected to everyone and everything and this has
THE INTERNET REVOLUTION – THE BEST THING EVER?
I’m with the government’s internet czar Martha Lane Fox – if you’re not connected you’re not empowered, whatever you do. The great- est change in both marketing and operating resources over the past two decades has been the internet. But you have to use it properly and embrace it fully. Gone are the days of your web- site being a fancy version of your brochure. Your website is your front door, your customer conduit, the fi rst and most important welcoming moment you can give your customers.
The key rule is to remember who is in charge - they are! You don’t even know they are checking you out unless you charm them and they take the next step to booking or contact. So, let your web- site refl ect your chosen brand personality, make it open and easy to use and above all, be generous. Make not only your website but all your e-com- munication a priority and look for the young resources within your own team to manage and take responsibility for keeping it up to scratch. E-communication is strangely intimate and it needs the right touch to get it right – not an endless parade
proved a superb boon for leisure operators. Perhaps the biggest single change in the past 30 years has been the fact that communication is now so much more fl exible and cost effective. The production of qual- ity messages and graphic images through electron- ics is now so easy and
affordable. Every operator with the dis- cipline of accurate data collection and preparation can communicate very spe- cifi cally to all their target markets. No longer do they incur huge supply and pro- duction costs as so much can be done in-house by media-savvy young staff. For me, that freedom of communi- cation is probably the single greatest empowerment for operators.
Ensuring that your website is welcoming and clear is key
of terms and conditions to wade through. Paradoxically for such a hi-tech environment, effective e-communication also needs to be intensely human and appropriately friendly. It’s all out there to embrace.
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Read Leisure Management online
leisuremanagement.co.uk/digital
ISSUE 1 2011 © cybertrek 2011
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