Your Staff Is Already Delivering Your Brand.

Ask most developers what threatens their brand and they'll instinctively name the competition. It's the new build across the street, or the flag that just announced a project two blocks over. 

If that sounds familiar, you’re watching the wrong door. The bigger threat is already inside the building — and it's your own staff. 

Your staff means well. Most of them have been trained to be efficient, and they're good at it. That training matters. It's also where most properties stop, which is why staff is the most neglected part of brand development.

Your brand, from positioning to design to campaigns, makes a promise to the guest. Staff who were never taught that promise can't be expected to keep it. Instead, they deliver their own version of the experience. And it often contradicts the one guests booked, even when it’s friendly and efficient. That gap is where your brand erodes.

The fix is to teach your staff the why behind the brand, along with the how. Training for efficiency keeps the line moving. Training for the brand creates the kind of remarkable experience guests will happily pay a premium for.

Efficient staff can still erode your brand

Hospitality is a form of show business. When your staff steps in front of a guest, it's show time. Their job at that moment goes beyond simply checking a guest into their room, welcoming them to the spa, or seating them at the bar. Their job is to create an experience that reflects the brand itself. 

We call the result we're after the Symphonic Effect. Every touchpoint a guest encounters is like an instrument in the same orchestra. Your staff are the players. They put on a live concert in front of the audience every single day.

Unfortunately, training staff to create that experience usually gets left out of the calculation of what it takes to deliver a brand.

You've been to properties where nobody made that calculation. You walk up to the front desk, and the attendant is taking a drink as you approach. They set it down and ask, "How can I help you today?" 

That's simply getting it done, and I'm pretty sure that's not what you set out to build.

Compare that with a storied property in Southern California that worked with Smarthinking on how its staff delivered the brand. The property’s spa had suffered from service issues in the past, and the challenge was making a beautiful, eccentric resort feel accessible while charging top dollar.

About six months into that work, the property's interior designer, a man with some fame of his own, came in for a massage. When he got the bill, he told the front desk attendant that $220 was pretty steep for a massage. She told him, with a smile, that it was "[property name] fab." (Our clients value their privacy, so I'll leave the name out.)

Her response had panache, and it had fun with the fact that yes, the prices were high — and they were worth it. The designer went on to write to the owner about how much the experience had improved since his last visit.

That's what it looks like to connect architectural excellence to operational excellence. Too many properties invest heavily in the building and let the service side die off, because nobody taught the staff why the place was built the way it was.

Rehearse the moments you can see coming

I was once hired to secret-shop a spa in the California desert. It was a cool place, with tents for rooms and a vibe unlike anything else around it. Halfway through a facial, the esthetician leaned down and whispered in my ear that she'd be right back. "I just need to go to the bathroom," she said.

All the work that went into creating a magical experience, undone by one moment of simple honesty.

The woman clearly meant well. She was going to need a break at some point. Everyone does. It's up to the property to decide in advance what she says when it happens. Lie to me. Tell me you're stepping out to get more mud from the desert that'll be perfect for my face. Just don't tell me you're headed to the restroom and then come back and put your hands all over my face.

Bathroom breaks are an inevitability, just like the many other predictable moments every property can see coming. The guest who arrives before their room is ready. The guest who thinks you're far too expensive. The prospect who asks why they should buy here instead of down the street. The guest celebrating an anniversary they never mentioned when they booked. The guest who wants to joke around, and the one who absolutely doesn't.

Decide how the brand responds to each scenario. What does an early arrival experience look like while their room is being finished? How do you explain why you charge what you do without sounding defensive or causing offense? When can you push a little and have some fun with a guest? Then role-play those situations with your staff until they can handle them with ease. That's the difference between a team that truly lives out the brand and a team that just gets the job done.

Train for creative confidence, not a script

Role-playing is important for skill-building, but the goal is not a script for your staff. Scripts turn staff into robots, and guests can spot a script from across the lobby. 

The goal is creative confidence. 

Your people should understand the brand well enough to deliver it in their own words, and with their own actions, so it stays fresh for them and genuine for whoever's in front of them.

That’s how the Symphonic Effect works. Each player brings their own touch, but everyone plays from the same score. When everyone plays together, the experience finally matches the promise.

The opposite is a property where every staff member invents their own standard. The experience changes from shift to shift, and the good version depends on who happens to be working. When even one section of the orchestra falls out of tune, that's the note guests remember.

Your staff is delivering your brand every day, whether or not anyone trains them to do it well. Leave them guessing, and they're the threat inside your building. Hand them the score, and they become the reason your guests pay a premium. 

Keep reading: Your staff is where the brand gets delivered. For why that brand is worth the investment in the first place, read You Can't Out-Amenity the Property Down the Street. Brand Is How You Earn the Premium.