Marketing was quite different in early Las Vegas than it is today -  Casino hosts knew most of their players by name and handled their every need personally.  The customer file for a casino was probably kept on index cards and only used for invitations to special events and New Year's Eve parties. 

As the casinos grew in size, the number of customers increased the exponentially.  Casino hosts still tended to a player's every need, but couldn't provide that same level of personal touch to every customer.  So casinos were faced with a decision: either hire enough staff to provide a suitable experience for every customer or install computer systems to allow fewer employees to manage a higher volume of customers.  This was the foundation for the business model of casino marketing as we know it today.

Today, casinos track millions of customers, as many as 40 million for the largest gaming corporations with many properties throughout the US and around the world.  It would be physically impossible for human beings to manage those kinds of numbers.  As the sheer number of customers in the casino's database grows each year, more and more advanced computer systems are needed to process the data. 

In an effort to maximize their marketing efforts and minimize their costs, casinos worked to refine their marketing efforts by creating highly targeted, highly successful campaigns.  Even with sophisticated marketing systems, many casinos failed (and continue to fail) in their efforts to maximize the returns on their marketing programs.  The most common reason for this lack of success is in the execution of the marketing business model.  The software usually performs exactly as promised – we know that computers do what they are designed to do – it is the human factor that fails to use the technology effectively. 

There are many components of the marketing business model that are either ignored or not properly executed.  Each piece fits together like building blocks; leave one piece out, or have one weak piece, and the entire effort can be compromised. 

Strategy vs. Tactics
We are so often focused on marketing strategy in our industry, that we often forget about how we will execute against that strategy.  Marketing executives spend their days (and sleepless nights) coming with ways to fight the latest dip in revenue, or how to compete against the neighbors newest promotion.  But too often, little or no time is spent focused on the people, process and technology that will allow this strategy to be executed. 

Specifically, the call center that will be the customer's first interaction with the casino, the promotions staff that will run the tournament, or the player's club representative that must explain the latest changes in the reward structure.  Providing instructions to these and other groups is not enough; a thorough review and updating of their business models is in order.

Training is always a prominent talking point in these areas, but is also often left to the devices of people outside marketing to design, conduct and review.  No one knows how important customer service is better than the folks in marketing, and they need to be an integral part of all customer facing employee training.  I realize it is quite a leap to put forth the concept that marketing should be involved in, for example, food and beverage training, but I believe this is the only way to provide a consistent level of customer service that is carried throughout the customer experience life-cycle.

Other key items that are critical to the execution of the marketing strategy and tie-in to customer service and training are service levels and standards.  It is simply amazing, the number of casinos that either have no formal customer service levels and standards, or have them but they are so simplistic that they are basically useless. 

In a competitive environment in which each casino property offers similar rooms, casino games, and dining options, customer service is one variable that can set properties apart and provide a competitive advantage.  It is imperative that companies define customer expectations and develop products and services to meet or exceed those expectations.

To facilitate an initiative such as this, the casino must establish service levels for each identified key customer contact area.  This will provide a service infrastructure and feedback mechanism to assess its performance in servicing its customers.  Service levels are essential for defining customer expectations, establishing delivery expectations, and defining employee responsibilities.  Specifically, standards enable:

• Customers to know what to expect (e.g., customers expect a consistent level of service for each identified area)
• Employees to know what is expected (e.g., employees deliver consistent levels of service appropriate to the customer touchpoint or interaction)
• Management to effectively motivate, measure and manage (e.g., managers use tools to measure and score service levels and to maintain appropriate service levels by adjusting up or down)

Casino management, individual departments and outlets must work together to further define any service levels already developed for each key customer contact area identified. For each area identified, the team needs to finalize service levels, determine measurement criteria and define scoring ranges (numeric and/or yes/no).  This is an excellent way to manage execution and clearly focuses on the tactics of marketing in support of the overall strategy.

The success of consistent service delivery requires an ongoing measurement tool that accurately informs management about the results of the program and whether the execution is exceeding, meeting, or not meeting customer expectations.  It also identifies areas that may require improvements or recovery.  The key to a successful program is the continuous commitment to improvement through constant measurement and monitoring of service quality.   The casino's senior management needs to develop ongoing measurement procedures which can be linked back to performance improvement measures in order to provide incentive and meaningful feedback to employees.

The casino should incorporate this program into their employee evaluation process for conducting periodic random employee observations.  This can then be used to facilitate compensation adjustments. 

These are just a few examples of focusing on the tactical execution of marketing and how it can support the marketing strategies.  It is time consuming, expensive and often quite daunting (which is why so many people choose not to do it).  But without question, the casinos and hotels that provide a premier level of customer service, and tie it in with their marketing efforts, enjoy a greater success and higher revenues.

Managing Director, Saverio  R. Scheri III. www.whitesandconsulting.com  . Saverio R. Scheri III, Managing Director at WhiteSand, is the author of "The Casino's Most Valuable Chip: How Technology Transformed the Gaming Industry".

WhiteSand Consulting was launched in 2001 by former partners and senior consultants of premier consulting firms including KPMG Peat Marwick, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte & Touche, Bearing Point, and Deloitte Consulting.  To facilitate our approach to developing business solutions, WhiteSand assembled a team with experience in both hospitality and gaming, as well as other industries such as consumer products, financial, design & construction, retail, manufacturing and insurance. This diverse experience, with companies such as Philip Morris, AIG, GMAC, Cisco and others, has allowed WhiteSand to develop innovative approaches to industry challenges.

WhiteSand Consulting is the creator and co-producer of the Gaming Technology Summit held in Las Vegas each year.  In addition, WhiteSand consultants have presented keynote speeches and seminars at key industry events including G2E, Southern Gaming Summit, NIGA,  HITECH, Internet Gaming Symposium, UNLV Gaming Auditors Seminar and the Canadian Gaming Summit.