A legendary ski resort seeking to return to glory is relying on improved customer service to spearhead its rebirth.
Colorado's Crested Butte is one of the nation's premier ski facilities. Yet it has fallen on hard times. Now, new management is attempting to revive it using techniques that turned two sagging New England resorts into winners.
Tim and Diane Mueller are trying to turn around Crested Butte by convincing employees and townspeople that better service means more money in their pockets. The Muellers are credited by SKI magazine for turning Okemo in Vermont and New Hampshire's Mount Sunapee into top-five resort properties. Tim Mueller believes that changing the attitude of employees and customer service was the key to his earlier successes. He intends to do the same at Crested Butte.
Good Attitude Gets Attention
Mueller stresses to his employees that by being more attentive and positive with clients, they in turn will provide positive feedback and want to return again and again. Mueller ties the positive employee attitude to innovative marketing approaches to win new customers.
What the Muellers are attempting in a very public way is the same task many small companies face every day. When times get rough and layoffs or belt tightening are needed, employee morale suffers. Once the economy begins to improve or new management comes in, it takes twice as much effort to gain back lost morale and improve customer relations.
Crested Butte was family owned for many years and went through a management change before reverting to the Mueller group. Employees were down in the dumps and the plant had deteriorated due to lax management.
Image Improving
Visitors this past winter however report a mark change in the facility but the turnaround still needs time.
Giving employees reasons to raise their own morale is also key to any turnaround. Since small businesses by their very nature have fewer employees, morale issues tend to get magnified and expanded. Therefore it is important to keep turnaround efforts sharply focused.
Since small businesses by their very nature have fewer employees, morale issues tend to get magnified and expanded. Therefore it is important to keep turnaround efforts sharply focused. Faced with a demanding clientele under compressed conditions, ski resorts and other entertainment venues have a particularly difficult task.
James Laing, Vice President of Human Resources for Aspen Skiing Company confirms the impact positive employee morale can have on customer service and the overall guest experience. He states, "make no mistake about it, front-line employees are running the company. If employees have a positive attitude and enjoy what they are doing it shows through and is shared with the guest. Outstanding customer service begins with a positive attitude and it is definitely a competitive advantage in the ski industry where virtually all resorts have the same snowmaking, snow grooming and chair lift capabilities."