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RCEES: Jim Knight talks about service that rocks

The former Hard Rock trainer gives tips on how to treat your business like a band.

August 14, 2013 by Natalie Gagliordi — Editor of KioskMarketplace.com, Networld Media Group

SAN DIEGO – With the tagline "Retail that Rocks," this year's Retail Customer Experience Executive Summit kicked off with a keynote speech by Jim Knight, a former training and development executive for Hard Rock International. With his big spikey hair and even bigger personality, Knight revved up attendees with top takeaways and best practices from his years in hospitality – showing that the right approach to customer experience and company culture transcends industry.

According to Knight, businesses must start with a perfectly crafted mission statement. Without one, the business gambles on the employees to correctly fill in the blanks. The mission statement can be neither fake nor prepackaged, rather it must be unique and supported by the right employees. Equating a company to band, Knight listed takeaway No. 1: Everybody should be singing off the same sheet of music.

Moving on to personalization, Knight explained the importance of the company employee and their approach to the customer. With the employee as the frontline face of the business, they must have the ability to spot an opportunity for a more intimate customer interaction and, more importantly, seize that opportunity. After showing attendees a tear-jerking internal video by Chick-fil-A, he listed takeaway No. 2: Create a guest-obsessed purpose to the business.

Once the business has mastered personalization, the next requirement to keep customers returning is differentiation. Emotional attachments are created with personalized and customized service, Knight said, and employees must behave like they are in the memory business – which led to takeaway No. 3: People crave differentiation, so consider being unpredictable.

Getting back to the spirit of rock 'n' roll, Knight noted how the legendary rock band The Rolling Stones has not released a hit record since 1989, yet they remain one of the top-grossing road acts in the world. How? With ticket prices that range from $600 to $1,500, and sometimes more, The Rolling Stones anecdote illustrated Knight's takeaway No. 4: Value matters but memorable experiences help justify the price.

"Don't be scared to be the most expensive as long as you back it up with experiences," Knight said.

Discussing the importance of the employee, Knight stressed how brands need to staff their businesses with unique individuals if they want to create unique experiences. If the employee isn't "getting it" then get rid of them, Knight said, listing takeaway No. 5: Hire rock stars, not lip-synchers, to amp up the band.

Ideally, if all of the experiences have been extraordinary and the service superior, customers will commit the brand to memory and allot it a section of their mental shelf space, Knight said, increasing the chance that they will return.

"Create as many pluses as possible to get that mental shelf space."

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