Any sustainable business worth their salt will tell you they successfully exists because of their good customer relationships. Furthermore these solid relationships are also extended towards their in-house staff, for without the staff they would ultimately have NO product to present to market.
Relationships with both customer and staff are however the Holy Grail of some managers and owners, especially when Social and Emotional Intelligence is deemed less important than the initial Entrepreneurial Seizure (thank you Michael Gerber) of getting a business up and running.
Customers are humans like you and I and therefore understanding what makes them “tick”, or should I rather say what drives and motivates them is an exceptional start to building sustainable customer relationships. Understanding why people do what they do and how this impacts their behaviour and how you can pre-empt scenarios, notice the signals that will in turn make your customer engagement soar. So often (not always though) we as humans approach others with what is termed our version of events and our perceptions of others is somewhat tainted with how we view the world. When we appreciate that their are other vantage points to consider – other ways to view the same map as it were life becomes a whole lot easier.
Sometimes (having been in the hotel and tourism trade for quite some time now) I don’t know if hoteliers and staff appreciate the intimate nature of their interactions with their guests. How more personal does it get, sleeping in someone else’s house and eating in their kitchen? Yet somehow the disconnect still does happen and the relationship building ingredients are left untouched, and I think it is because the industry doesn’t know what to do with the Human Behaviour Data they see on a daily bases! If you only knew what your guests shoes reveal of their purchasing strategy you would see so many more font liners take note of the shoes that walk through the doors!
Wouldn’t it be grand to have a secret “stashed away understanding” of human behaviour that you could apply from front office, to housekeeping , concierge up to top management – that would help build, rectify and solidify quality relationships?
Glad you thought so!
Here are my 4 tips to understanding why humans do what they do and how you can turn this into a gold mine of relationship creation.
Tip 1) Primarily first and foremost we all have the inherent need for safety, security and comfort. Which is why hotels and hotel brands chains around the world work. This need is why people seek out that which they know, for things to be familiar, safe and the same. For eg. when families travel the need to seek out adventure probably hits a high, which means their need for the opposite – safety – becomes far more apparent. Enter the hotel’s safe zone, and now knowledge of how they can nurture the customer relationship through highlighting their benefits!
Tip 2) The opposite of safety, we all have the desire for adventure, insecurity and variety. Again a gold mine of information for a hotel’s marketing department. Imagine the potential client is satiated in safety, security and comfort back home, they have hit Ground Hog day as every day is the same….enter the heightened human need for variety and adventure and all of a sudden you are plugging into the needs of your customers. They start to see you as an answer to their problems and that you as a product really understands them as a human. I trust you are finding this of benefit thus far?
Tip 3) Significance for all of us is a must – meaning we love to be made to feel special, to be a significant “other” to someone, to receive recognition and acknowledgement of our existence. We all have this need and for some the need for significance comes from seeking it all the time (and sometimes not in the most resourceful way) instead of giving significance to others. Let this be noted about the human pursuit of Significance, it can be perceived as arrogant, boastful, bragging, loud, attention seeking and a host of other adverbs – its antidote is Tip 4 and this is liquid gold.
Tip 4) Love and Connection may rule the needs roost, and as I mentioned it is the opposite and quick fix for a customer with significance issues. Those who seek the most significance need the most connection, conversely those seeking the most love and connection could use a dose of significance in their life.
These four tips or these four human needs will go a long way to deciphering human behaviour and creating the sustainable customer and staff relationships based on what the customer’s behaviour is showing to you the recipient. Know now that you have a little sprinkle of magic up your sleeve when it comes to dealing with that next pesky complaint, or the overly needy diva client.
Happy people watching – observation is the key now that you know what to look out for.
About the author
Adele Spurgin
