Case Study

Cape Town International Convention Centre

For the CTICC, continual improvement in client service is a strategic imperative - one that N'lighten is helping us to achieve. Their understanding of our business, the relevance of their survey results, and their ability to interpret those results to help us deliver on our service objectives is invaluable to the CTICC. N'lighten has become like an extension of our business."

Joey Pather, Chief Operating Officer - Cape Town International Convention Centre

The CTICC has a vision to become the best long- haul international convention centre by 2020. It's no small ambition, but according to Chief Operating Officer, Joey Pather, they consider it to be achievable - particularly given the success that the centre has already had - despite a challenging economic environment and stiff global competition - in a relatively short space of time.

According to Joey, much of this success can undoubtedly be attributed to the CTICC's unwavering focus, since the day it first opened its doors in 2003, on delighting its clients and guests with exceptional service and unforgettable experiences.

"As a convention centre, the CTICC has never seen itself as a venue. We're a facilitator of experiences," Joey explains, "and, as such, we have a responsibility to anyone who visits us or hosts an event with us, to go far beyond service excellence, and offer them a complete and unique experience."

According to Joey, this service commitment is vital to the long-term success of the CTICC, which is why "consistent service excellence' forms a key cornerstone of the centre's mission and vision. "While contributing to the economic growth of the city and region is a key part of our mandate, we at the CTICC have never measured our success solely on our bottom line achievement," he explains, but also on our ability to consistently deliver on our promise to give our clients and their guests the best possible experiences."

Obviously guest and client feedback is a vital component in realizing this superior service objective, which is why the CITCC has partnered with N'lighten for a number of years now with the aim of giving its visitors the opportunity to provide honest feedback that can then be used to inform the strategy of the centre on an ongoing basis.

The input CTICC management receives from the centre's clients via N'lighten's surveys and Customer Satisfaction Index allows them to quickly identify areas of potential risk to the business in terms of service delivery. "We use this information to fine tune our strategy, measure our service at a company, team and individual level, and develop our service culture," says Joey, "and it even informs our staff incentivisation programmes because it provides us with a clear indication of how CTICC employees are performing in terms of their agreed "customer centricity and service' performance indicator."

Joey points out that this type of constant measurement and adjustment is vital for the CTICC because it sets itself service standards that extend far beyond merely "serving' the client or guest adequately. "We truly believe that service excellence is no longer negotiable, it's a given in any hospitality environment," he points out, "and we strive to elevate what we offer from excellent service to a holistic, exceptional experience. It's how we have achieved our success thus far, and it is what will differentiate us from our competitors and take us forward to our vision."

Joey's service "secrets"
When asked what he considers the "secrets' to service excellence, Joey doesn't hesitate to list the following three, which he insists are non-negotiable for the success of any business in any industry today:

  1. Stop thinking "service'. Businesses need to help their employees get past the archaic thinking of service delivery as the most important thing. Service is not something you should need to work on, it should be a given! What companies need to be focusing on now is shifting the service mindset to an experience mindset - to make sure that every aspect of a customer's interaction with the business (including the service they receive) is memorable for all the right reasons.
  2. Memorable = Repeat. Attracting repeat business these days is not about price or service, it's about the whole package that a customer gets from his or her product or service provider. So while some businesses still argue that they can't afford to focus so much on making their customers feel valued, the truth is that no viable business can afford not to. And just a little bit of effort invested into creating memorable experiences will be more than rewarded through long-term customer loyalty and repeat business.
Get the basics right. While "service' is not "experience' it is a vital element in the way a customer feels about your business. Don't fall into the trap of becoming so focused on creating the big, memorable experience with all the fanfare and trappings that you lose sight of the need to do the simple things that customers value - like greeting them with a smile, being there when they need you, and making them feel special.