Page 153 - The New Gold Standard

Build a Business Focused on Others
Diana Oreck, vice president of global learning and the Lead-
ership Center, picks up the story from the Ritz-Carlton vantage
point, highlighting the respect paid to the customers before even
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considering whether to place some of the Gallup CE questions
before them. “When the Gallup consultants brought in this new
set of questions, we thought that some of the items were quite
strange. We even did a pilot study to see if the questions would
translate to our customers. We were concerned that some of these
assertions, like ‘I can’t imagine a world without Ritz-Carlton,’ were
very pretentious. We told the consultants, ‘No, we are not going
to ask our guests to respond to that line of inquiry. We’re Ladies
and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen, and that’s an ar-
rogant way to get at the issue of their perception. Customers can
imagine a world without hunger, but where did our hotel fit into
their imaginations?’ Gallup then said, ‘We’re sorry, but you can’t
use the questions because unless you have a question like that,
you’re not going to be able to really quantify guest emotions.’”
Ultimately, Gallup had the science on their side, and guests
were comfortable with the survey. Ritz-Carlton implemented all
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11 questions of the Gallup CE , and now leadership gains reg-
ular insights into the emotional engagement of customers. More
important, a solid correlation has been established between guest
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engagement scores on the Gallup CE instrument and impor-
tant financial outcomes.
While the Gallup CE 11 is well understood and valued by
management at Ritz-Carlton, care has been taken to help front-
line staff understand what customer engagement means, how it is
measured, and the relationship between the results of customer
engagement metrics and the overall viability of the business.
Where many businesses might establish a single executive at their
corporate office as the subject matter expert on customer satis-
faction or customer engagement metrics, Ritz-Carlton localizes
that expertise to ensure that information is readily available to
all employees.

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