Park Operations
Steel PIer, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Solid Steel customer service Lessons from the Jersey shore
Anthony T Catanoso
(pictured) of New Jersey amusement park Steel Pier
offers some sage advice for fellow park operators
A ABOVE Anthony Catanoso
BELOW: A Steel Pier employee helps a young guest (and her cuddly friend) onto a ride
s I walked through Steel Pier recently along with one of our partners, Ed Olwell, I watched as a mother came up to him and asked if he was a
manager. She was anxious to tell someone about the ride operator who was so helpful to her son. When Ed asked which ride, she couldn’t remember. All she could remember was the ride operator joking with her son, helping him into the seat, going back a couple times to ensure he was secure and then telling him to be sure and smile for his mom’s camera. She said the ride operator was animated, fun, demonstrated he cared for the safety of her son and wanted to ensure her son had a good experience. In this case, it became obvious, the experience was far
greater than the ride itself. In other words, as Ed remarked, the experience was driven by manpower, not horsepower. It also clearly showed that we could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a ride, only to be impacted, either positively or negatively, by a person working for an hourly rate. Customer service is a daily quest at any park, but there are some trends to keep in mind, including knowing who is coming through your gate.
Understanding your customer As the number of customers who are millennials (people who reached adulthood around the turn of the century) continues to increase, they have different expectations than previous generations. Millennials currently represent about 25% of the population. They are tech savvy and demand superior customer service. The generation following them, Gen Z is on their heels (basically 20 year olds and younger). Gen Z is the first generation to never experience a time when the internet didn’t exist. They are plugged in, globally aware, more green and in many cases more frugal than millennials. Understanding their expectations on technology and the environment (green practices) is extremely important.
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The smartphone is #1 Attached to any millennial or Gen Z customer’s hand is a smartphone — a mobile computer — and acknowledging that is an important part of customer service. That phone allows them to visit your website, compare you to other attractions through reviews, post their own review and share their experiences immediately (more on that in a minute). Your website needs to be accessible and look good on a mobile phone, and customer service information, including unexpected closures, ticket prices, special offers etc, needs to be right out front.
Social media Today’s customer wants to share their experience. Social media platforms allow people to share everything, positive or negative. These platforms provide users a microphone (even megaphone) in what used to be a word-of-mouth world. Whilst we all hope for that amazing experience, we also have to acknowledge that just one video, say of a ride operator doing something they shouldn’t be doing or sneering at a child, can go viral in seconds and significantly impact your business. Social media is here to stay. Online channels may change or evolve, but the act of sharing your experience globally will continue, whether it’s on Instagram, Snapchat or something new on the horizon.
Online reviews According to a 2015 survey by Bright Local, which specialises in helping businesses grow through search marketing, 92% of consumers now read online reviews and 40% form an opinion by reading just one to three reviews. Today’s savvy consumers go online to research
everything. Using review sites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor, they seek to determine if that amusement park or ride is worth their time and money. Take a moment to look at your reviews and reply to those you can. If it’s a negative review,
NOVEMBER 2016
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