Tag Archives: Relationship Marketing

A new career as Hospitality Communications Consultant takes off, reaching new heights!

 

While I had tried to separate my Blog writing from my new work as a Communications Consultant, my cover was blown (so to speak) when a fantastic 10/10 review for my client was posted yesterday, including me in the praise.

It is the first time that I am offering Communications services for clients, since having owned PR Consultancy Relationship Marketing 25 years ago, focusing mainly on Social Media Communication, but also on client liaison, writing posts and content, organising promotions, proactively identifying all possible Continue reading →

Freedom Day 2014: reflecting on 20 years of democracy!

SA FlagIt was the interview with a Cape Argus reporter on Friday that made me reflect on how far not only our country, but also I personally and my business have come in the 20 years since we voted on 27 April 1994.  The Argus interview was focused on the progress over the past 20 years I have seen personally, business-wise, and politically.

My very first feedback to reporter Dylan was that 1994 was the first and only time that I was allowed to vote, having a German passport.  I do not recall how it was possible for all foreigners (by passport) to be allowed to vote, when it has never been allowed before nor since then.  I loved standing in a queue somewhere in Sea Point, being part of the exciting day that would change our country forever, and how much goodwill there was amongst South Africans whilst waiting patiently in the queues. Little did we know that the rest of the world waited anxiously for the outcome of the election, fully expecting a revolution to take place, unbeknown to us residents, with thanks to the SABC in ‘protecting’ us from this world scenario.

I moved to Cape Town in 1990, and transferred my marketing research consultancy Relationship Marketing from Johannesburg, changing its emphasis to Public Relations for food clients such as Baker Street Snacks, Bonnita (now Parmalat), Aylesbury, and more.  The late John Harrison was a favourite client when he was GM of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway.  Even Mark Shuttleworth was a client, before he became famous for selling his Continue reading →

Indlovu Project in Khayelitsha reaches top of the World (Bank)

I visited Khayelitsha for the first time in about 15 years yesterday, to attend the opening and launch of the Indlovu Project, a community development project aimed at addressing the high unemployment, large numbers of teenage pregnancies, lack of sanitation, and prevalence of TB and HIV, in Monwabisi Park in the township.  The invitation came for SAfm presenter Nancy Richards, and I am delighted to have made the time to attend the opening of this fantastic project.

I had not heard of the project prior to the invitation, so went to the ceremony with an open mind.  I had no fear of driving through Khayelitsha, and felt that little had changed.  When I first moved to Cape Town twenty years ago I ran a Market Research and PR company called Relationship Marketing, and we were the first company to take clients into the townships, to show them the fantastic entrepreneurial spirit of the township residents, and the diversity of retailing in these suburbs.   I drove past Coca Cola branded spaza shops (miniature supermarkets), shebeens, braaiers of meat for “take aways”, sellers of sanitaryware, beds and building materials, all displayed along Mew Way, the main road through Khayelitsha.  I wondered where these items are stored in case of rain and flooding. 

The Indlovu Project is a collective Youth Centre, guest house, daycare centre, clinic, soup kitchen, and creche, which was established in 2008.  Earlier this year the entire project burnt down in a shack fire.  Bishop’s School came to the assistance immediately, helping to clear the site, and monies were raised to rebuild all the facilities, but on a larger scale and following eco-friendly principles, given the donations received from actor Sir Ian McLellan (who is currently in Cape Town, acting in Samuel Becket’s ‘Waiting for Godot’), The Rotary Club of Claremont, actor Ralph Brown (who is busy filming “Dark Tide” with Halle Berry and brought her to the Project a week ago), the 476 Trust, Enzyme, and Investec Bank.   It is planned to market the Indlovu Project as a Tourism Centre, by offering traditional African meals in the community hall, so that the work of the project may be seen and supported.

But what impressed me the most was the work by and dedication of the Bishop’s Grade 10 boys, who worked in two teams of two on a World Bank project called Evoke – over a ten-week period the boys researched the needs at Indlovu, found solutions, and wrote a blog about their work.   Of the 19 000 scholars that signed up around the world for the World Bank’s Global Giving on-line project, the four Bishop’s scholars came first, and were given $1000 in seed money to grow their projects.   The Ecovillage project of Reid Falconer and Martin Dyer investigated self-sustainability in terms of fruit and vegetable supply, and analysed the soil type in the township, to choose the most suitable type of vegetables and fruit to grow.  The other Bishop’s pair, Emile Nauta and Kishan Chagan, tackled the township problem of shack fires, and developed a fire-resistant paint that costs less than one-tenth of the commercial cost of such paint, by simply adding two ingredients obtainable at pharmacies to the paint.   The boys will be flown to Washington to receive their prize, and are pushing themselves to raise funds to continue their work – one goal being to raise money to paint 1000 shacks by 2012.  The project was demonstrated, by lighting a newspaper painted with their paint, but it did not burn.   What impressed me was that the Bishops children come from well-to-do backgrounds, but it was very obvious that they are very proud participants in this project. 

The Makaze guest house is colourful and homely.  There is no TV, but the kitchen is spacious.  The Bishops’ moms assisted with the interior decor, Lucia Brain being the decorator.  I loved the Lion Match papered wardrobe door, and the recycled items dotted around the guest house, as well as the lamp shades made from buckets in the lounge.  Two bedrooms have bunk beds in them, while the third is the “Presidential Suite”, with a king bed.   Dinner is served to guests, being traditional African food.   The monies made from the guest house operation is used to fund the community soup kitchen.  What makes the guest house fascinating is that it is “green”, in that it was built by the community from sandbags and eco-beams; it is powered by solar energy and gas; and it has earthworm sanitation.

I felt enriched in having spent two hours in Khayelitsha, in experiencing a project opening which was blessed by a sangoma, entertained by proud township dancers and musicians, performing traditional music, that I could see a part of Cape Town that we do not acknowledge being on our doorstep, and experiencing the friendliness of the locals towards us as visitors, with so much goodwill to each other.  I will contribute to the Bishops’ Ecovillage and Fire Retard projects.  I encourage you to do so too. 

Indlovu Project, off Mew Way, Monwabisi Park, Khayelitsha.  Tel (021) 657-1026. http://www.shaster.org.za/index.php/projects/6-indlovu-project/6-indlovu-project.html

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

Mickey Mouse fails to WOW World Cup South Africa!

After sitting through a 2-hour Service Excellence workshop to turn South Africans into service ambassadors for South Africa during the World Cup, run by Be and Jeff from the Disney Institute of Orlando at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) in Cape Town on Friday, I could not help but be disappointed relative to the high expectations the invitation to attend the workshop had created.

First, an invitation to attend a Disney-run service excellence workshop is not to be sneezed at, especially if attendance is free, and there was no restriction on attendance numbers from a particular company.  The target audience was frontline staff of the South African Police, Department of Transport, Department of Home Affairs, Tourism Business Council, South African Revenue Services, the Retail Association of South Africa, the Banking Association of South Africa, airlines, hotels (we are sure that they meant guest houses and other forms of accommodation too!), and restaurants.

The Auditorium of the CTICC holds an audience of 1000 – no more than 100 front-line staff attended the Friday afternoon session – the morning session had been attended by about 700 persons, the organisers estimated.   The previous day the sessions had been held at a church in Goodwood- this was the sum total of the workshops for Cape Town’s hospitality, tourism and general service front-line staff.   A Friday afternoon, and a rainy one at that, probably is a bad day for attendance in Cape Town, and parking anywhere near the CTICC was impossible to find, given the Good Food & Wine Show, which had dominated the CTICC, especially given its star attraction Gordon Ramsay. 

Having obtained parking, we sat in the massive auditorium, and the two Disney staffers tried a number of participative techniques to get some life and energy into our audience, including blowing a vuvuzela.   I have been to Orlando, and attended a Relationship Marketing Conference at Walt Disney World a good 15 years ago – I loved every minute of the Disney Magic, and I know that the Disney Institute is regarded as the ‘University of Service Excellence’.

All the more the disappointment of the lightweight presentation by our two Disney “cast members” – all staffers are on show, and therefore they have this designation.   Leaving the presentation, I could not help but think that this was the cleverest way in which Disney could have marketed its Walt Disney World (and related parks in California, Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and soon to open Shanghai), and be paid for the pleasure of it!   A gi-normous Disneyworld park (biggest employer in USA with 60 000 employees in Orlando alone), could in no way compare to our little tourism and hospitality businesses in South Africa, excitedly facing the event of a lifetime, the World Cup.

We were shown videos and photographs of Walt Disney World, and interviews with South Africans working at the park, all eschewing the Disney mantra of smile, smile and smile!   The presentation was mainly focused on Disneyworld, and once in a while the presenters seemed to remember that they were in South Africa, and that they had to adapt their material to our big event.

The presentation in essence covered the following:

1.  Setting a vision – we know what it is for Disney (to be universally recognised as the most admired company in the world).  For World Cup South Africa it was defined as follows: “Deliver a pleasant and unforgettable service experience for the world visitors during the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa and beyond”.

2.   Defining a “common purpose” – at Disney this is for all ‘cast members’ to pick up the garbage and to give directions to their guests (not “customers”) with two fingers (not just one) or the whole hand.  For World Cup South Africa this was defined as follows: “Just now to WOW all customers“.  This mantra was repeated over and over again.  The “just now” introduction was a “South Africanisation” of the Common Purpose, supposedly reflecting how we speak (I’ll do it ‘just now’), badly reflecting service excellence, in that one would do something for the customer “immediately”, and not “just now”!

3.  “Guestology”, a Disney term for getting to know one’s customers in terms of where they come from, who they are, how large their party is, the length of their stay, and what their needs, wants and expectations are.   The presenters presented the audience with the profile of the typical World Cup soccer fan : travelling in groups of eight persons, predominantly males, 25 – 45 years old, wanting to experience things in-between the matches.

Key service excellence tips presented throughout the presentation were the following:

1.   Company leaders must share the company vision with their staff – this rarely happens

2.   The bottom-line will reflect good service excellence, but should never be the end-goal

3.   Everyone in the company is responsible for excellent customer service

4.   Customer service is not a department, it is an attitude

5.   Customer service is not only provided to customers, but should also be provided to colleagues

6.   The staff’s interaction with customers creates “magical moments” but can also cause “tragical moments”.

7.   “Treat every customer as if they sign your paycheck… because they do”

8.   Service must evoke emotion and drive repeat business

9.   Put a smile in one’s voice.

10.   Surprise and delight one’s guests

11.  Sometimes the guests are wrong, or cannot be served in the way they desire – say “NO”, but offer them an attractive alternative

12.   “I may not have the answer, but I’ll find it.  I may not have the time, but I’ll make it.”

13.   Make eye-contact and smile, smile smile…

14.  It all starts with respect

The bottomline: a most disappointing presentation, given the calibre of the Disney Institute.  It lacked the WOW it was meant to instill in us as front-line staff meeting soccer fans in 25 days from now.   It did not teach us anything new in how we deal with our guests.  It was a monumental fail, given that the Department of Tourism is said to have spent R 9,5 million on putting an estimated 250 000 (the number is questioned, given the poor response in Cape Town, perhaps only 10 % of this number) attendees through 75 two-hour workshops in all the Host Cities and related areas.    The Department of Tourism’s 3-page evaluation questionnaire we received on arrival was poorly typed, in that the rating scale from 1 – 5 was not aligned to match the written descriptions of the scale in numerous places.  It asked us to rate a “facilitator”, but we had two, and they had very different personalities, meaning that they could have been rated very differently.  The structured questions were not all suited to the answer options provided.   Certain questions were in grey panels, making them unreadable, an irony as the service excellence Disney had been preaching to us for two hours was not reflected in this poorly drafted questionnaire, which was meant to evaluate the Disney performance!  A pleasant surprise was that we did not have to pay for the very expensive CTICC parking!

We all left with a “Certificate of Successful Completion (of) the The Disney Approach to Service Excellence, World Cup and Beyond”.    We also received a business card with 3 “Service Guidelines & Behaviours”, to carry with us at all times:

 “.  I present a positive attitude at all times

  .  I am considerate and respectful to ALL customers

  .  I go over and above in my position”      

To see the objectives of and motivation for the Department of Tourism’s Tourism Service Excellence Initiative (the poor Disney presenters just could not get their tongues around the name of the Initiative) Service Excellence workshops, read here.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com