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Marketing is EVERYTHING the customer sees and hears

I’m midway through a 10-day, 9-night trip, with stops in 4 cities and 3 states. At this midpoint, I’m spending a couple of days in an airport hotel, getting some rest, recharging my batteries and doing some work.

There aren’t many intrusions, so while it’s not terribly scenic or romantic, it’s an ideal situation to dig in for the last leg of the speaking tour.

I’ve had a pretty good experience at this hotel, but this morning, while trying to enjoy the complimentary hot breakfast, I thought my head was going to explode. Some guests, depending on their hotel book, receive coupons for the free breakfast, hosted in Houlihan’s Restaurant, in the hotel.

The problem was simple. The restaurant was understaffed. Only one server, Pam, to attend to any and all patrons. There appeared to be low level staffing in the kitchen, who were one or two steps behind. At one time or another, they ran out of hot food, milk, coffee, bread and rolls, silverware… the works.

Poor Pam was overwhelmed as hotel guests kept arriving in bunches. I’d observed the situation for long enough, picked myself up and went to the front desk. I explained the situation, rather emphatically, that Pam needed assistance, and it was needed NOW! The front desk attendant still didn’t quite read my urgency. I suggested that they were lucky Pam hadn’t walked off the job, and she still might. Now, I had her attention.

boss yelling Marketing is EVERYTHING the customer sees and hears About 10 minutes later, the cavalry arrived, in the form of one, recently hired chef (I found his identity out later). Behind the kitchen area, he berated Pam about something related to the coffee. I was about to have a New York moment.

I caught his eye, and with one finger (my index figure), I waived him over to my table. Mr. Clueless asked if he could clear my cereal bowl. No, I suggested he shut up and listen. Now, he was fully engaged.

Essentially, I told him that berating Pam, under these circumstances, was completely inappropriate. He apologized that I had overheard it. I explained, sharply, that what I heard was not the point.

The point was that he had been called in to assist, not supervise. The room was understaffed, and Pam was doing the best she could, in an impossible situation. He needed to bus tables, stock the buffet or wash dishes. Whatever Pam wanted him to do, was what he should be doing. He should be thanking her up and down for having to deal with this untenable situation, and knock off the superiority act.

He thanked me for the attitude adjustment, and I departed.

At dinner, I found the actual restaurant manager, and made sure she had the first hand story, for the record. Maybe I felt the need to insert myself is because I live in Las Vegas and see working stiffs, every day, being overwhelmed by understaffing. Big corporate management stupidity is evident in too many places.

Most people don’t take the time to analyze why they received bad service. I do.

Avoidable problems should be…well…. avoided. Hopefully, I had some small lasting impact on the restaurant scene, at the Ramada Milwaukee Airport.

Berating an employee, in private, or worse, in public, is not management. It’s stupidity. When a customer observes it, it’s marketing…. of the worst kind.

Care to share your observations?

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

How to stand out in a crowd: Without dressing like Lady Gaga

lady gaga How to stand out in a crowd: Without dressing like Lady Gaga

Networking situations have interesting dynamics. What makes people gravitate toward others? Why do certain individuals stand out and others become invisible?

Last night, Singer/SongWriter/Performance Artist, Lady Gaga, appeared at the Pearl Showroom, in the Palms, Las Vegas. There was a positive review in the paper, this morning. No review of Lady Gaga would be written without a thorough discussion of her wardrobe (costuming). Her ever-changing glam fashion facade recalls breakthrough presences of performers such as Madonna and David Bowie.

Eyes can be on you, without having to be ostentatious. Here are two examples.

DJ Marcello Pedalino is the first. I first met Marcello six years ago at DJ Conference. What stood out about him was that he was impeccably dressed. Suit and tie; neat as pin.

Marcello How to stand out in a crowd: Without dressing like Lady Gaga

DJ Marcello Pedalino

In a gather of mobile DJ’s, who all to often sported T-shirts and jeans, accessorized by expanding waistlines, Marcello always stands out. If you didn’t know him, you would think, “I wonder who HE is. he must be somebody important.”

Over the long term, this has created what I’ve termed The Marcello Effect. Year by year, I see more and more mobile DJ’s decked out in suit and tie, even when it might not be absolutely necessary. Hopefully, they are continuing that fashion statement in their local networking opportunities, not just at national DJ conference, because it looks good.

Darcy Anderson, Fashion Director, JC Penney’s: Darcy was a client of mine about 30 years ago when my company, Music Man, was providing music for many fashion shows in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Darcy was a stylish dresser, but what stood out was her singular fashion accessory, a bumble bee pin. Actually what stood was not the pin, itself, but where she wore it. Darcy always wore it on her right shoulder, on the back of her jacket.

Invariably, people would see the pin from a distance, and come up to her to let her know she had ‘something on her shoulder.’ only to see that this was not a mistake, but a fashion accessory.

This simple staple of Darcy’s wardrobe made her distinctly memorable. Here I am, blogging about it thirty years later.

What are you doing to make yourself distinct and memorable? In this case, not your company, YOU. When you walk into a room of 125 people, many of whom you haven’t met, is there anything you’re doing by your presence or actions that makes you memorable?

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority