People buy from people they like. This is also true in the sponsorship and sport marketing worlds. When you treat people well, they stick with you. While it is true that your product must deliver, when you fail to provide great customer service or fail to deliver what you promised, you jeopardize what you have—both the sale and your reputation. Slick salespeople with lots of “graft,” “value add,” and “special offers” up their sleeves may get the buy initially, but the customer will soon learn that it was all show with no substance. If the product is not what you expected or wanted, or doesn’t deliver what you need, all the great customer service (or value adds) won’t save you.
I have now been on the road for about six weeks solid. I have attended client meetings from Quebec to Vancouver Island. I have also delivered seven SMCC One-Day Workshops and met with an amazing collection of properties, learning their stories and situations so that we can hopefully assist them to bring in more money, deliver better ROI for their partners, and ensure they deliver what their prospects are looking for. In addition, I have delivered a series of keynotes and breakout sessions for different organizations, at their AGMs and conferences. During these six weeks, I have learned a great deal about customer service. I have learned the good, the bad, and the ugly.
As a result of this “tour,” I have truly come to realize that great customer service is critical in the sponsorship world. I have always said this is true, but with the stories and experiences I have been exposed to, it has been cemented in. You can imagine my hotel stays. I prefer to stay at Delta Hotels and have been very pleased with them over the last decade—so much so that they get about 90% of my business. In six weeks (42 days), I racked up 34 hotel nights. In some cases, the hotels were amazing. They bent over backward to accommodate my early arrivals or late check-outs. The staff in the elevators and hallways asked how my stay was; the restaurant and the front desk staff greeted me as though I was a regular (and in some hotels, I am). But sometimes things went wrong. At two Delta properties, they did not have my reservations. I had reservations but they did not! In both cases, there was no issue. They got me a room right away. At the Delta Regina, General Manager Jim Kilkenny even took time to chat with me and make sure I was taken care of. This is customer service at its finest. Three hotels (two Delta properties) were under construction for upgrading. At both Delta properties, they made a point of accommodating me and getting me as far away from the construction noise as possible, knowing that I had phone calls to make. At the third “construction laden” property, a non-Delta hotel in Edmonton and one where I have stayed for over five years, they did not even acknowledge the inconvenience. By agreement with them, I was to have breakfast and evening snacks included. These were no longer available. And again, there was no apology or anything done to rectify the situation. The “welcome email” I received came from a general manager who had not been there for a month. And you guessed it, even with a great rate, after my upcoming June stay at that hotel, I will be switching. The customer service had disappeared.
When I was in Burnaby last month, I needed to take public transit. I took the Sky Train from the airport down to Water Street for meetings. Then I had to head out (during the evening rush hour) from downtown to Brentwood Station (I was working with the City of Burnaby the next day to deliver the SMCC One-Day Workshop). Trust me, I was lost. I looked at the maps. I knew I was heading to the Delta Burnaby, but had no idea how to get there by public transit. I asked a transit staff member for help and was amazed. She was fantastic! She made phone calls to the hotel to find out exactly where it was and then determined what train I should take. She directed me to the platform and reminded me to exit and change at the Broadway–Commercial stop with instructions on how to get to the other train line. When I got to the Broadway–Commercial stop, I looked confused. Three locals—fellow commuters—each asked if I needed help (I must have looked really confused). I, of course, accepted from the third one (coming to the conclusion at that point that I really did need help). He actually walked me upstairs to the connecting line and then went on his way. The Vancouver Public Transit System has won me as a customer. This was customer service at its finest. The transit worker went beyond her duty to help and not make me feel like an inconvenience. I felt as though she cared. I felt the same way as we worked with each of our partners delivering the SMCC One-Day Workshops. The venue partners accommodated us when we had more registrants than planned. They helped reconfigure rooms when necessary or changed rooms when possible. This is why we are so excited to work with these partners again.
Customer service is key! When you are prospecting or closing a piece of sponsorship business, when you are setting up an activation program or investing in a sponsorship, or when you want to ensure a win-win scenario, give great customer service. If you have a solid product, that is all you need to add. Failure to deliver on customer service—failure to do what is right for the prospect or client—will result in lost business. Those who buy need to ensure they understand that what they are getting is not smoke and mirrors, that it is not a big show of “value add” upfront with failure to deliver results or service at the other end. If that is the case, you are both in trouble in the short- and long-terms. Partnerships are about mutual success. They are not solely about best price, the biggest “value add,” and the biggest “wow” with color and splash. Partnerships are about making sure both parties get great ROI. They are about ensuring that buyers get the products they need with great customer service and sellers get all the information in advance to present the right proposal for success.
Think about your partners today. Take five minutes and just think about them. Which ones come to mind? Which ones provide great customer service and deliver results? Which ones fail to deliver either or both? Perhaps it is time you made a change as I have started to do in many situations. Customer service is critical to success and I am proud to say that 95% of our clients say we meet or exceed their expectations. Yes, there are some we have not done so well with and that is part of reality. We are not perfect as a company, but we strive to be perfect for our clients.