Customer Service Is All About Your Employees

Steve Wynn, owner of Wynn Resorts in Las Vegas, knows a little something about customer service. I know, because whenever I go to Vegas, I stay at the Wynn. I stay there mostly because of the terrific customer service the hotel offers. From the moment I step inside the lobby to the moment the doorman helps me into a cab to the airport, my experience is sheer perfection.

It’s taken me several visits to the Wynn to figure out an important aspect of great customer service. But first, the obvious:

1. Great customer service costs money. You can’t give great service if you’ve cut into the muscle of your organization. In the Wynn’s case, you have to have enough people polishing the marble, vacuuming the carpet, and changing the flowers every morning, or the entire environment will suffer.
2. Great service requires training. You have to teach employees to smile, look customers in the eye, and respond promptly to requests. Wynn’s got that training down to a science.
3. Great service has to be recognized and rewarded. This, of course, is the case with any behavior you want to encourage.

But Wynn demonstrates a third element, and it’s both less obvious and more magical than the first two. Wynn’s stellar service is a function of authenticity, where employees willingly and without inducement say great things about where they work. Wynn employees talk openly about how much they appreciate Steve Wynn’s efforts to negotiate a tough economy without laying people off. They say how great he is work for. They say it’s a privilege to be employed by Wynn Resorts.

At least from this outsider’s perspective, it looks like Steve Wynn is working hard every day to give his employees the respect, dignity, and optimism they deserve. It’s just not possible to script the positive comments they make. Clearly, they are speaking from the heart.

If you want delighted customers, make sure you have delighted employees.