CONNECTION IS EVERYTHING
June 23, Las Vegas
speech
summary.
Theodore Levitt’s famous Marketing Myopia article remains a great way to focus business strategy. What business are we in?
Defining that too narrowly, too functionally, and we lose opportunity for future success.
You may consider yourself to be in the hotel business, the leisure, entertainment, food/beverage, conference, casino and hospitality business, but we are in the connection business. The business of joy, desire, inspiration, excitement. We are in the experience business.
Businesses that focus too much on what they are versus what they could become tend to limit themselves. Focusing on the success of today, arrogantly assuming tomorrow will deliver the same results, was a strategy that did not fare well for Kodak or Nokia.
The 9-Dots exercise drove that home for all. If we simply ‘connect the dots’ in the same way every day, do the basics and fail to go beyond, to stretch our possibilities, there is no way we will deliver the Likely-to-Recommend (LTR) target of 70. As leaders we have to step outside our norms, swim in a new direction to avoid being pulled by the riptide of competitive and market pressures.
The world continues to change and one of the biggest forces pressing down on your business is the expectations of your customers. We need to deliver far beyond those expectations.
CONNECTION IS EVERYTHING
The keynote was entitled ‘Connection is Everything’ for a reason. Relationships and belonging are the driving forces of human happiness. The need to move away from a transactional model to one that puts the customer relationship and experience at the centre is key. This is particularly true as AI agentic prepares to commoditise CX. When every brand, every resort, has access to the same technology, where is the CX differentiation? Ultimately your brand relies on the connection you have with your audience.
AGENTIC TO HUMAN
We are about to head deeper into a digitally driven reality. As agentic AI removes the customer from the ‘consumer decision making’ process, all industries are bracing themselves for Business-to-Machine (B2M).
In a world where awareness, consideration, evaluation and decision-making will be undertaken by our AI agent, the future for brands is relational. We need deep and meaningful relationships with customers so that they will ‘call specifically’ for our brand or recommend it to others.
The hospitality industry will be heavily affected by agentic AI. The hundreds of resort options in Vegas, room choices, deals, facilities and price variance will be handled by agentic AI. We only become the destination of choice if we invest in the guest experience beyond any other property. It is why most brands are investing heavily in Experience and Advocacy today. These are the pillars that remain standing in an Agentic AI fuelled world.
And as this quantum computing, humanoid robotics, AI world takes hold, the law of Economics kicks in – that which is scarcer becomes more valuable. In this future, human connection, human contact and human interaction and emotion all become more valuable. This is the essence of the Venetian brand. The personal experience and connection.
THE WIZARD
OF OZ.
Not just a show in the Sphere, we used the movie’s characters and metaphor throughout today’s speech. Our own journey down the ‘yellow brick road’ takes us from an LTR of 60, now to 65 and forward to the 70 target.
01/ DOROTHY – IT’S ALL ABOUT ME:
BLUE DOT CENTRICITY.
The Wizard of Oz is Dorothy’s story to share. It is her experience, her tale.
We need to place our customer (and employee) at the centre, not the brand, product, asset, operation, or our own ways of working. The customer is not an end point of a customer journey. They are the BLUE DOT, that pulsing centre point around which everything must revolve.
In society, everything comes to the customer today. Why go to a supermarket when the supermarket can deliver to you? Why go to a restaurant when Uber Eats will deliver to your home? Why go out on the streets to flag a cab when Uber will deliver one to your door? Why use an expensive orthodontist when you can straighten your teeth with mail-order clear braces?
Similarly, customer service expectations have changed. Hospitality brands have often been asset, product, service, brand or operationally led for too long. We need to shift from a transactional to a relational/CX focus. The experience needs to be wholly customer employee centric.
Carrying the Blue Dot metaphor further, no one would open Google maps and follow someone else’s blue dot on the map – you are only shown your own. The modern customer expects to be treated personally; made feel special, have heavily customised service at every touch point.
Remembering a guest’s name, that it is their anniversary/birthday, or their favourite casino game is the starting point, not the destination.
Make them feel special by connecting personally with them. Move away from a commodity experience. Use data and technology to better leverage that connection. How we make people ‘feel’ is key to differentiation.
Thinking back to the earlier ‘what business are you in’ question. Remember the product is not the suites or restaurant row. It is not the spa or the casino. The product is how we make the guests feel.
This is the essence of Unexpected Joy. This is the way Taylor Swift makes those fans feel when she sings right down the lens of their phones. This is how Muraheem felt the day his entire world spoke his language. Emotion is the fastest way to build LTR and Customer Lifetime Value.
Think about how your brand can better connect with your customers in a way that makes them feel like they are truly at the centre, that this ‘Land of Oz’ is all for them.
02/ TIN MAN
CONNECT WITH HEART.
The Tin Man lacked a heart and felt empty. Life is worth less when you can’t feel anything, and it is the same for our customers. This is why that LTR rate is so important. The Tin Man said it best – ‘a heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others’.
The engagement brand ladder took us from dissatisfaction, through to satisfaction, delight and on to engaged and empowered customers.
Satisfaction is simply Customer Experience = Customer Expectation. If our experiences match our expectations, we are satisfied. But few customers share that story. To truly drive LTR and peer-to-peer conversations, we have to give customers more than they expect, at every moment.
Unexpected Joy is not a marketing or service gimmick. It is a philosophy, a culture of going beyond at every touch point. ‘Joy’ in terms of definition is a ‘deep sense of contentment and connection’. We are not striving for happiness, a fleeting external emotion. We are seeking joy, something which requires more investment on our side.
Recall that Virgin Atlantic Goldfish story. Not only are the brand values brought to life in the arising brand storytelling, but it demonstrates the depth of connection when employees make the effort to delight a customer, to go beyond expectations. The same with Taylor Swift and Swiftmas. We saw through the whites of the customers eyes what Unexpected Joy looks and feels like.
If we are not creating daily goldfish stories, why should our customers bring our brand to life in the stories they tell?
This is how we climb to the top of the ladder – to engaged, empowered customers. Those Harley Davidson, Red Bull, Swiftie Army communities. Building a tribe.
Tribes are all about belonging and tribal fandom is what the Venetian seek. We do not want people to visit, or even to just experience. We want people to belong.
03/ SCARECROW - CONNECT WITH INTELLIGENCE.
The Scarecrow had a body but no brain, no direction, hanging paralysed on his frame.
Our data, software and tech stack is not intelligence. They are the foundations for potential insight, understanding and action
Similarly, Apps and AI are nothing unless we harness their power to better connect with customers, to deepen the overall experience.
Recall the hospital implementation of their speech-to-chart system, turning clinical interactions into deep, immersive and empathetic interactions. Patients enjoying full eye contact without any administration blocking the empathy flow. Employees happier as they feel more present during consultations. Humans doing what we do best – connecting.
That was brought to life even better with the Octopus Energy story. Music played just for your 14-year-old nostalgic self. Turning the pain of waiting into enjoyment. This is everything data and AI should be. Connecting with intelligence. Using data to make customers and employees feel special.
Technology unburdens human talent so we can do what we do best – connect. Make people feel.
04/ COURAGE.
The Lion lacked courage.
Courage is often the ability to do the right thing, even when it is painful or uncomfortable. Brands and HR departments often fail to get uncomfortable, preferring to stick to the safety of policy and procedure.
Again, we turn back to the importance of empowering employees to make a difference, evident in that Ritz Carlton laptop story and the hospital parking attendant story.
On one hand, our front-line employees need to understand that they are wearing the ‘glittery red shoes’, that they had the power all along. They are ones that bring the Venetian experience to life.
On the other hand, as directors, managers and leaders, we also need to reflect on our role. While they can make a significant difference with every guest interaction, it is the leaders of the business that are responsible for success.
The pit-crew in Formula One are well trained (just like we have done with the Maestro programme) and work as one. And while races are most certainly lost if the pit-team cannot do their job efficiently, they are won by the driver.
It is your job to win this race. Your job to inspire and motivate your crew. Your job to give them the tools, the heart, the brain and the courage to deliver. It is your job to LEAD.
You are the Wizard.
You are only a leader if people chose to follow you. Make a difference.
05/ RELATIONAL.
Ultimately, building Customer Lifetime Value and Customer Intimacy is about building Relationships. It is about moving away from that old ‘transaction model’ and moving towards a model that is based around putting the Relationship at the centre. This is why the Guest Experience has become such an inherent part of success.
It is only when emotions are engaged do we build relationship, when the customer ‘feels’ something. We need to become a trusted partner for our customers, not just another resort.
The more we embed emotional response and authentic, compassionate customer interactions in the customer experience, the more we build that bond with that customer. We achieve that scale and depth of connection, and emotional entanglement.
Look for ways to build significant relationships, with depth, authenticity and purpose. Recall the United Airlines story and how Customer Intimacy works, fostering that sense of closeness. Remember that Taylor Swift fan enraptured with experiencing the product up-close. This type of engagement only comes when there is a significant relationship related to the brand experience.
In our future deep-fake, AI-fuelled world, authentic relationship will be everything. The experience a customer has builds that relationship. Customer Intimacy is the endgame.
Unexpected Joy is a philosophy, a culture that needs to pervade the organisation. The Venetian not just as a destination, not just as an experience but as a belonging.
Your Strategy Audit
10 Questions to Answer
01
If you were to make your area more BLUE DOT tomorrow, what would that look like? Where in the customer journey could you do a better job at making it about THE CUSTOMER and not about your processes or ways of working? Where can you personalise more? Their name on the room TV no longer delights anyone.
02
Where could you implement PROACTIVE service rather than waiting for a customer to ask? How could we build loyalty and brand respect by moving towards a proactive service model? How can you motivate your team to live their everyday with ‘eyes open’?
03
Where do we routinely go beyond customer expectations into the delight space? What 5 ideas could we bring to life in a customer journey that would make a customer smile in delight? Brainstorm big ideas, medium ones, small ones?
04
What AI and digital elements add value to the emotive customer experience? Are most of our digital tools about efficiency and process? Where are the delight moments using technology?
05
What moments have we created in the last 3 months that would be our Goldfish and Raymond stories? Big moments that bring our brand values to life. Who is telling your Brand Story today?
06
How do you share the moments of delight and above customer expectation internally? How does the organisation hear, routinely, that we are delighting our customers? This is key to your team stepping up in their desire to copy what others are doing.
07
Who is your Excite & Delight Director within your team, responsible for delivering moments that go beyond customer expectation. If we are to take Unexpected Joy seriously, let’s make sure we give the planning responsibility to every layer of management and the front-line.
08
What are you doing in the Employee Experience space that motivates your employees to want to deliver 5-star CX service? All of the values discussed apply to employees also.
09
If a customer decides not to return to your resort tomorrow, where is that failure most likely to have come from in your customer journey? Audit your CX processes, identify pain points and look to dissolve the friction. Push beyond the data and understand the emotion.
10
Where is the evidence you are building relationships, climbing the Customer Intimacy ladder and building Customer Lifetime Value in your customer experience? Where are you authentic and pushing past transaction into relationship in the everyday?
More content
from Ken.
THE TRUST TOWER: WHY BRAND LOYALTY IS BUILT ON BELIEF, NOT BENEFITS
THE CUSTOMER INTIMACY LADDER: FROM SERVICE TO SOUL
THE BAD BUNNY HALFTIME EFFECT: WHY IDENTITY IS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL FORCES IN CUSTOMER CONNECTION
For those too lazy to read blogs, and to view further visual content and past performances from Ken Hughes, check out the YouTube channel where he discusses all things consumer and customer experience related.
If you want to develop a true understanding of Customer Intimacy and Brand Advocacy and understand the power of the EX/CX relationship, get yourself a copy of my latest book. Packed with inspiring stories around CX/EX, it is your backstage pass to brand brilliance.
