Good Servuction? You will need a good definition of Homus Organizativus and Mental States!

Apprentices of Touristology always ask me: Jordi! What does Homus Organizativus mean? Well, it’s the way we define people (employees, collaborators customers…) ready to integrate into our organization (I have to repeat, once more, that in Tourism the organization is the chain of value? That we have to provide good Servuction from the beginning to the end of the trip?).

We talked about Homus Organizativus here. Sometimes I see my Touristologists (the apprentices’ ones) having difficulties developing  good examples about this essential figure in Touristology!

When we are dealing with Servuction I always remind my Touristologists that quality in service is a subjective concept, which depends on segments’ perception. For that reason, it is always important to segment properly.

The other day, a bunch of Austrian, Dutch, German and Finnish Touristologists (I love to give international classes!)  gave a perfect and well structured presentation (below you can see the picture!) in which they define the following segment: Golden Age people with mobility problems staying in a hotel in order to recover for some health issues.

Once you have the segment, you need to find out which are the most important drivers of complaints AND satisfaction for this segment. Let’s give an example of each one. Shall we?

If the lift is not working this can be a small problem for the average customer, but this can be “The” defect for the segment we are talking about. It can be the reason they never return and the main feature they highlight of our hotel when they explain their experience to their friends.

On the other hand, if when they arrive at the room we provide a tablet and a trainer that teaches them how to use the device in order to have a video conference with their grandsons, this can be the thing that they will remember.

So, now that we have the segment and we know the cues to promote and the ones to avoid, it’s time to design the kind of Servuction that will match our goal.  Here we can be helped by our old friends Homus organizativus and mental states, what else?

We have to give him/her the task of verifying if the lift is working.

Associated with this task comes a responsibility, something positive and negative that will happen to him/her related to the right or wrong execution of the task.  Please, avoid saying more money or you will be fired!!! Be creative, Touristologist!

How do we know if He/She carried out the task, properly? We need a variable of control (it can be a number of customer’s complaints for this reason. It can be a software that inform us when the lift is not working and for how long…) we also need the average and standard deviation of this number.

We need a communication protocol. For instance, the software we talked about previously, send a SMS to the employee reporting about any incidents, then the employee has the authority to ask a mechanic (internal or external) to repair the lift.

What about mental states? How can we make every employee / collaborator / customer involved in the mantra “lift always working”?

For instance, if you (the customer) warn us (using a mobile applications, for instance) that the  lift is not working you will get points in OUR loyalty program for something you like (customized rewards and versions of ME, remember?). As I always say “Help them to help you!”

So, Segment properly, learn what is the most annoying and the most gratifying experience for them, then avoid the former and provide the latter. Finally, if something goes wrong always possible in Servuction apply the art and science of Service Recovery. What better way to achieve all that than with Homus Organizativus and mental states?

Difficult to do? Not at all! It’s just a matter of common sense (the least common of the senses) and motivated and properly trained employees /collaborators and Customers.

Can you provide more examples Touristologists? If you really are a Touristologists, it will be very easy. Servuction is in your DNA. You are Touristologists, the best minds working in the best sector ever!!!