Passion Promotes Profit

For years I’ve been saying profit is the applause you get by taking care of your customers and creating a motivating environment for your people. The greatest leaders know this and work hard to build and maintain cultures that inspire employees — so employees in turn can inspire devoted customers.

That sounds good in theory, and it works in the real world. Consider the case of Joshie the Giraffe, told in May by Chris Hurn in the Huffington Post. After returning from a vacation at the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island, Fla., Hurn’s son discovered he’d left behind Joshie, his beloved stuffed giraffe. Doing his best to console his distraught son, Hurn assured him Joshie was fine and had merely extended his vacation at the Ritz.

Luckily, Hurn received a call that night from the Ritz-Carlton letting him know Joshie had been found and was safe in the hands of the hotel’s loss prevention team. Hurn confessed that he’d fabricated a story about Joshie’s extended vacation, and asked if the staff would be willing to take a photo of Joshie lounging by the pool.

Two days later Joshie arrived home in a package that not only included Ritz-Carlton goodies like a Frisbee and football, but a binder documenting Joshie’s holiday: photos of Joshie in sunglasses lounging by the pool, relaxing with cucumber slices over his eyes as he enjoyed a massage at the spa, driving a golf cart to the beach, cavorting with other stuffed animals and manning the security monitors in the control room. Joshie had even been issued a Ritz-Carlton badge and had been made an honorary loss prevention team member.

“It goes without saying that the Ritz-Carlton can count on my family to be repeat customers,” Hurn said.

Keeping in mind that it costs six to seven times more to gain a new customer than to retain an existing one, Hurn’s loyalty alone justified the expenses related to Joshie’s extended vacation.

Joshie’s story didn’t happen by accident. It was the outcome of a leadership decision to empower employees to use their creativity and up to $2,000 to solve customer problems. It’s a story that perfectly exemplifies how the right kind of leadership can inspire employee passion, which in turn drives customer loyalty and devotion.