What's Keeping You From Delivering a WOW! Experience?

We're just about half way into the 40 Day Guest Services Journey. While reading these daily posts, you may have picked up on a common theme sprinkled throughout:

It's all about WOW!

WOW! doesn't happen by accident, though. You have to work hard at it, whether you are talking about serving on the parking team, greeting guests at the entrance to your buildings, or serving as an usher.

Michael Hyatt, Chairman and CEO at Thomas Nelson Publishers, has a great post about obstacles to WOW!. Some of the key points are listed below; read the whole article here.

In my experience, there are at least five obstacles to creating wow experiences:

1. Often, we simply run out of time. The deadline looms. We are scrambling to get the product out the door. Or, we have to wrap up the service, so we can get to the next client before he starts complaining. We simply don’t have the time to give the job our best effort. So, we let it go. Half-baked. Before it is really done.


2. Sometimes, the problem is resources. We’d like to do a better job. We sincerely want to take it to the next level. But we just don’t have the money or the man-power. We rationalize by saying, I did the best I could do with the resources I had. And again, we let it go and turn our attention to the next project or client in the queue.


3. Occasionally, we don’t have sufficient experience. We just don’t know how to do what we know needs to be done. Our vision exceeds our know-how. We know what the product or service could deliver, but we don’t have the knowledge, the skills, or the experience to get us there. So, we settle for something less than our vision demands.


4. Too often, we acquiesce to the committee Perhaps we are a little unsure of ourselves. Everyone else seems to like it, we say to ourselves. Maybe they’re right. There are a lot of smart people in this room. C’mon, just let it go! And, so we do. We dial back our own vision for what could be and succumb to the collective judgment of the group.


5. But the biggest obstacle of all is fear. In fact, I would say that this is the primary obstacle. If we are honest, we must admit that the previous four items are only excuses. If we had enough courage, we would find the time, the resources or the experience. We would stand up to the committee. We wouldn’t settle for something less than wow.


What about you?

What's standing in the way of creating a WOW! Experience for your guests?