Lifetime Diamond Baby!

I wrote a post in October discussing customer service.  At that time, I laid out concepts in the book The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath. Their process focuses on ensuring people have a positive impression of your organization. The basic premise is that if you nail beginnings, endings, and transitions, the perception of your company goes through the roof. (Think Disney World).

Recently, I experienced an excellent example of that.  I earned Lifetime Diamond status with Hilton late last year.  In February, a package showed up at my house containing a Lifetime Diamond package.  It included a personalized journey brochure outlining my first stay with Hilton and several frequent stops along the way, a pair of wireless Bose sports earbuds, and a personal thank you letter from Hilton’s CEO.  Well, as you can imagine, my loyalty to Hilton now goes deeper.

This is the way to practice customer service.  I encourage you to spend some time analyzing things you can do to deepen your customer’s experience and, for that matter, all your stakeholder’s experience.

By the way, I have a long-time desire to teach in a university or an adult-learning environment someday.  Strategic planning, entrepreneurship, and the mental side of growth are primary passions.  However, my lack of an MBA limits me as it is an accreditation requirement.  So, I started an accredited, self-study, web-based MBA program in December with Western Governors University.  After 20 grueling weeks of nights and weekends, I now have my MBA and can put that behind me.  I have enjoyed things this week, once again only having one job.  For any of you with a dream to pursue – there is no time like the present.