This summer, I had the opportunity to go on two different parent-child trips that were coordinated by the same organization. One was a weeklong educational sailing trip with five boys, two dads and a boat captain. The other was a trip to Camp Sequoyah near Anniston.
Both trips were incredibly fun. Of course, any opportunity for a dad to spend this much quality time with his 14-year-old son would be worthwhile. I’ll always treasure our time together this summer, but one trip was more memorable than the other.
It all came down to the varying levels of service at these different trips put on by the same organization.
I could detect a difference in the service level of the staff almost from the beginning. At one event, the staff members were noticeably more attentive, more interested in helping out and just more fun. During the other trip, they were doing their jobs … but little else.
I wasn’t sure why the staff at one event was clearly more interested in making the most of our experience until both trips were done and I had a moment to reflect on them and consider what happened when the trips were over.
Only one of the events had a survey at the end asking about our experience. They wanted feedback on every aspect of our event: the food, our accommodations, ease of check-in, the hospitality of our host, etc. They asked us to rate it all. When I delivered the evaluation, the person at the desk couldn’t wait to read it. Then, while she was reading it, someone else came up eager to look at the results, too.
It was as if I had handed them a treasure map.
I then remembered that a staff member had told me earlier during our trip that he always earns “10’s” (the highest score) on his surveys. He was proud of his scores and proud of his consistency.
The other event didn’t have any type of survey at the end. And, perhaps predictably, that was the one where the service level was only average.
As I thought about all this, I was reminded of a great quote that has had a profound impact on me over the years. It absolutely sums up what was going on in both situations. Howard Hendricks said, “Experience doesn’t make you better, evaluated experience makes you better.”
Our noticeably different experiences with two events put on by the same organization are proof positive of the immense value of evaluation.
Think about this: What can you evaluate to make your customers’ experiences better? Figure that out, and start today.