Today's episode covers a story about how one man in one company seized the reputation as the highest quality hotel chain in the world and what salespeople can learn from it.

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At SalesDrive, LLC, we help companies perfect the salesperson hiring process by offering a variety of tools, like a sales assessment and psychologically-based interview guides, that aid companies in never hiring a bad salesperson again. SalesDrive was founded in 2005 based on the single biggest frustration many companies face, selecting sales candidates who interviewed well, only to flame out when placed on the line. Dr. Croner reviewed more than 90 years of academic research as well as his own work in conducting intensive behavioral interviews and discovered that high-performance salespeople shared three innate personality traits. After identifying a gap in the marketplace, he went on to develop The DriveTest® sales assessment. The only sales assessment to measure the three non-teachable traits necessary for new business acquisition.
 
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[00:00]  Katherine Abraham: Hello and Welcome to the Sales Psyched podcast, where we discuss strategies for leveraging psychology within the world of sales. Each episode is hosted by Dr. Chris Croner, who has a PhD in clinical psychology and has spent his career helping companies around the world build stellar sales teams.

[00:20]  Let's get started.
 
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[00:30]  Chris Croner: Here's a story from the world of hospitality, hotels to be specific, and how one man in one company seized the reputation as the highest quality hotel chain in the world.

[00:41]  I'm talking about Four Seasons Hotels. A company that started with a single hotel in Canada and now flies flags all over the world. Expensive, exclusive, yet sought after by people who want and expect the highest levels of service and an experience like no other every single time, and in every single city.
 
[01:04]  Some years ago, my colleague decided he wanted to know the secret. So, he contacted the CEO's office at Four Seasons, hoping to get a meeting with a high level quality control person. Much to my colleague's surprise, the CEO invited him to come to Toronto and spend some time there with him to discuss quality. And once he got there, he discovered why. Quality was this CEO's obsession. He lived it, breathed it and drove it from the CEO suite right through the hotels and into the back of the house.

[01:39]  And once he began to drive quality as a value, it became contagious. Everyone in the organization was encouraged to be creative. There were legendary examples, but one story has it that a guest jumped in a cab in Manhattan and left his briefcase on the curb. The doorman scooped it up, jumped in the next cab and delivered it to the man when he arrived at the airport.

[02:02]  In Chicago, when they opened a new hotel, 300 employees were selected from an applicant pool of 9,000. Four Seasons was looking for people who had the fire and the passion to provide great service. When my colleague asked about what type of CRM system the hotel had in place, the CEO laughed. He said they left cards in the room asking guests three simple questions.

[02:31]  One, did we meet your expectations?
             Two, did we not meet your expectations?
             And three, the real question, did we exceed your expectations?

[02:43]  If any hotel was not receiving an overwhelming answer of exceeding expectations, they could expect a visit from the CEO.

[02:52]  So, a great question for us to consider as salespeople is: "Are we exceeding expectations all the time?" "Every time?" There are salespeople out there who do just that and they are achieving their hopes and dreams for themselves and their families.

[03:11]  See you next time.

 

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[03:15]  Chris Croner: Thank you for listening to the Sales Psyched Podcast. If you haven't already, please be sure to click the subscribe button and leave us a five-star review. If you found this information helpful, please consider sharing it. We'd love your help in spreading the word.
 
[03:32]  Until next time, take care!