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Worried about the effects of a depressed economy on the upcoming season? I have one question for you: WWYDIAWO? (What would you do in a whiteout?) So ask yourself: would you keep skiing or boarding blindly along? Or would you pause for a few minutes to get your bearings?

The current economic meltdown is your whiteout. The bad economy is a swirling opaque cloud that’s obstructing your view. It’s forcing you to stop and have a good hard look around. And one of the things you’re seeing, maybe more clearly than ever, is how the people at your resort interact with your customers. You witness, for example, a less-than-brilliant exchange between an employee and a customer. (If not, then take a look at Mountain Spy, page 34.) You’re shocked and surprised and you want to do something about it. Right now.

Fortunately, you can greatly improve your resort’s level of customer service without spending large amounts of money. You can develop ardent customer advocates who ensure your revenues keep coming in no matter what the economic climate may be.


Build a Substantial Base
Just as a great snow base is built an inch of snowpack at a time, smooth, consistent customer service requires a carefully built foundation. It’s surprising how many resort leaders believe great customer service is something that is merely applied to the surface of an organization. You make a simple pronouncement, “Smiles everyone!” and marvelous customer service somehow magically appears out of thin air.

For customer service to be authentic, it must be strategically implanted in the resort’s bones. And that requires planning. You need a detailed plan that describes how stellar customer service will be incorporated into every business area and job function. Whether an individual is in a customer-facing position or works behind the scenes serving “internal customers,” you should nail down clear and measurable objectives for how that person can and will positively affect the overall service your guests receive.


Every Job Is a Customer Service Job
Take a look at your resort’s job descriptions. Do they talk about customers? How many of those job descriptions actually place customers front and center? Most job descriptions provide detailed explanations of the daily duties that will be required in a job function. Few speak directly to the individual’s responsibilities for impacting the customer experience. This is particularly true of “internal customer” or corporate office job positions.

Have you ever seen a mention of customer service in an accounting job description? Probably not. Yet there are few things more annoying than an incorrect bill, an unexplained charge, or a hassle when you attempt to have an error corrected. Your frontline staff can be the most charming in the world, but if the bill is wrong and it’s difficult to get fixed, the gig is up.

The point is, guest experiences are influenced as much by employees who work behind the scenes as they are by those who deal with customers face to face. Anyone who has ever been told, “We can’t do that” by a service team member can probably trace the reason back to an internal employee with little or no understanding of how his or her actions impact the organization’s ability to deliver exceptional customer service. If you want your organization to care about customers, customer service has to be front and center in every job description and every job.


The Fine Art of Interviewing
In my experience, resorts that have the most success with customer service do a couple of key things during the hiring process. First, Human Resources involves the supervisors and managers in serious discussions about the job skills and personality traits required to be successful in each position. Second, those in supervisory roles within the organization receive training that instructs them in the best way to interview potential employees.

This type of training can, for example, help a supervisor understand the important difference between a skill and a trait. A skill is something that can be learned and may be essential to the job position. A trait is a dimension of the applicant’s personality that can affect the success of the resort overall.

For instance, a senior lift mechanic must possess the ability to repair and maintain a lift’s mechanical parts. An unskilled interviewer might stop the questioning once he or she has discerned that an applicant has these skills. But that could be a mistake. While traits like “caring,” “cheerful,” and “good communicator” aren’t the first things that spring to mind when you think of a great lift mechanic, those traits become very important when that mechanic encounters a resort guest while en route to repair a broken lift. If the mechanic has the right traits, he or she will have the customer’s safety, comfort and enjoyment in mind—whether he’s riding past skiers on a snowmobile or is in the engine room repairing a mechanical issue.

Learning to listen to that gut reaction to a job applicant who looks great on paper but somehow isn’t quite right for the job can be difficult. That’s why training your people to focus on the necessary traits, and not just on the tactics and skills required for job positions, can reduce employee turnover and directly affect guest experiences.


Now That's What I'm Talking About
Providing great service across your organization requires the creation of an ongoing dialogue around service in every business area. I recently had a client who, as part of training, sent groomers out on the slopes to ask customers what they thought about how the runs were groomed. The results were amazing. The groomers developed a deep concern for pleasing the guests. They felt accountable to the people who mattered most—the customers. The guests felt pride in having participated in the creation of the smooth, even corduroy on their favorite runs. And they bragged to their friends about the experience. What’s more, the practice of interacting with guests also created a platform for the grooming manager to promote an ongoing dialogue about customers: “Bryce, why don’t you share with the team what you heard from the customers yesterday.”

Honest communications from the top level of the organization about the current situation, goals and objectives of the company is a critical part of the dialogue, too. There is nothing more motivating than feeling as though you have a meaningful role in accomplishing a larger goal, however difficult that goal may be to achieve. Many organizations balk at having the CEO or president share honest information with employees from all levels about where the company stands in tough times. But the payoff for doing so can be extraordinary.

Recessions are a true test of leadership. Those leaders who take the opportunity to support and develop their employees in good times and bad not only survive market downturns, they thrive. When you view even your least-skilled frontline employees as partners in the war for customers (and not as a cost of doing business) you create a true customer-focused culture.

The bottom line? To create a culture of customer service, dialogue about customers needs to permeate the everyday conversations of everyone from the corner office to the far corner of the parking lot. And once you’ve got the dialogue going, you need to make sure it keeps going.


Keeping the Momentum High
In a down economy, customers are harder to find. And the ones who do come need to be treated in a way that keeps them coming back and telling their friends about you. So while it might be tempting to cut your training budget right now, that could put an end to the essential customer service dialogue you worked so hard to build.

Working with your resort’s leaders to align their teams to the goal of continuously improving service is essential. Gathering teams together to learn new skills keeps the dialogue going strong and motivates them to do more in their day-to-day work. And exceptional service creates loyal customer advocates, reduces costs and builds efficiency. In a down economy, customer service planning, communications and training are absolutely essential to your bottom line.