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Why Set Goals for Player Development?

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As managers, we set goals so that employees are crystal clear on their priorities and how to allocate their time.

If you talk to your Hosts, you will find that they face a daily dilemma regarding how to divide their time between re-acting to guests who are on-property and proactively reaching out to players who could or should or would have been playing.

Especially if Executive Management voices the opinion that “Hosts should be on the gaming floor and not in their office on the phone”.

The Player Development Executives and Casino Hosts continue to have, an important role in providing superior customer service for the very best players when they are on-property.

We can think of this as ‘reactive’ behavior where the Player Development team react to the demands and desires of existing customers who have been identified as ‘valuable’ to the Casino and ‘coded’ to the Host by a Manager.

But the gaming industry has become extremely competitive, and so Executive Management also requires the Hosts to focus on strategies that will:

  • Attract and retain new valuable players,
  • Maintain and grow existing players, and
  • Re-activate players that have disappeared or declined.

In order to attract, maintain, grow, and re-activate players, the Hosts need to take a proactive approach to monitoring and influencing the behavior of their guests.

In particular, the Hosts need to find out who is not here but should be and reach out to those players to find out what is happening in their personal lives; are they unhappy with a service issue at your Casino, have their financial circumstances changed, or have they been attracted to the competition?

(You may need to invest in soft-skills training because not every Host that can successfully react to a customer standing in front of them, has the ability to proactively reach out via a ‘cold-call’ and find out, over the phone, why a guest has not played as often or with as high an ADT as before.)

The point is that we need the Player Development (PD) team to balance reactive customer service skills with proactive sales skills; and setting Host Goals is the way to drive this behavior.

By designing a set of goals that measure all of these different efforts and results, you create a framework that enables the Hosts to correctly spread their time and energies across this range of challenges.

In particular, it will help to balance time spent on the gaming floor reacting to guests who are here, with time spent in the office ‘developing’ players who are not here.

 

Click here for more Management Articles.

***

Available at Amazon. $21

Read this book, Casino Host Goals, and you will have a road-map for success as you create or improve your Player Development program, in the context of your Casino Marketing strategy. It belongs on the shelf of any Executive in Casino Management who wants to drive revenue from a strategic approach to PD. Just $21 from Amazon.

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Host Goals: Bonus and Recognition

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You will implement a financial bonus program for some of the goals, especially the goals that are designed to generate extra revenue from additional trips and play, but don’t rush into this approach.

Implement the goals without a financial bonus and monitor the situation for a quarter. You may find that either the Hosts find it impossible to meet the goals because you have set the bar too high, or that the Hosts achieve 200% of goal because you have set the bar too low. Once you are confident that you can predict the results then you can introduce financial bonuses.

You must put a cap on the bonus amount. Don’t offer x% of increased Theo without a limit on the amount! They can blow past the goal if you did not set it at a high enough level. And no-one wants to explain that large bonus check to the GM.

The Finance department can definitely help to design the bonus scheme by creating different ‘models’ or scenarios of what might happen, so ask the CFO for some help from the Finance team.

Bonus checks are important but they are not the only form of recognition. You might provide bonus checks for goals that drive revenue, and use other forms of positive feedback for goals such as ‘making regular contact with guests’. This can include a personal note, acknowledgement in a team meeting, or a free pizza lunch if the team meets their team goal for the month!

It is a good idea to design a staggered bonus scheme so the Host gets an increasing reward for being at 100%, 105%, 110% or more of the goal. (You might even provide a small bonus at 95% so they don’t give up.)

And you want to pay a team bonus, on at least one of the team goals, so the Hosts have a real incentive to work together and to lift each other’s performance.

 

Click here for more Management Articles.

***

Available at Amazon. $21

Read this book, Casino Host Goals, and you will have a road-map for success as you create or improve your Player Development program, in the context of your Casino Marketing strategy. It belongs on the shelf of any Executive in Casino Management who wants to drive revenue from a strategic approach to PD. Just $21 from Amazon.

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Do you want Host Goals?

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Why Set Goals?

As managers, we understand that the Player Development Executives and Casino Hosts have an important role in customer service for the very best players, but we also need the team to focus on strategies that will attract new valuable players, retain existing players, and reactivate players that have disappeared or declined.

By designing a set of goals that measure all of these different efforts and results, you create a framework that enables the PD team to correctly spread their time and energies across this range of challenges.

It’s a Lot of Work!

It takes a lot of work to introduce Host Goals. The Director of Player Development can take the lead but there needs to be collaboration across Player Development, Finance, HR, and IT. The GM should pay close attention and provide the final sign-off.

  • The Finance department can help with modeling ‘what might happen to the bottom line’ if the Hosts meet their goals, and can also help with ‘what might it cost’ if you are going to add a bonus to the base salary for the team members.
  • HR can advise on the ‘softer side’ of how to communicate and roll-out the program in a positive way.
  • And you need to keep IT involved throughout the planning process to make sure that IT can provide daily reports that will let you, and each Host, know the ‘pace’ i.e. exactly where they stand against their goals. Do not underestimate the amount of reporting needed from IT (unless you pick a vendor!).

It Takes a Long Time!

It will take at least three months to define the goals and obtain sign off from the General Manager. In parallel, it can take six to nine months to pick a vendor, obtain approval for the contract, go through the Gaming Authority, and stand up the solution.

Don’t wait for the funding. If you are serious then you should immediately start to design your goals, and look around for consultants and vendors.

By the time the funding is available in January, you should have written your goals, decided on a vendor, chosen a trainer, and be ready to tell them ‘Yes!’. It will then take the first quarter to get through the gaming authority, stand up the solution, and train your team, so you will be up and running for the start of the second quarter.

If you hope to introduce goals at the start of next year, then you need to start now. It is almost too late! So do your homework and ensure the budget for next year includes consulting, training, a Host contact management system, and any expenses for IT

 

Click here for more Management Articles.

***

Available at Amazon. $21

Read this book, Casino Host Goals, and you will have a road-map for success as you create or improve your Player Development program, in the context of your Casino Marketing strategy. It belongs on the shelf of any Executive in Casino Management who wants to drive revenue from a strategic approach to PD. Just $21 from Amazon.

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5 Tips – Build a Better Plan for Next Year!

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It’s time to wrap up your plans and budget for next year.  Do you, like me, leave out something that has an impact on your spending patterns or your operations and you find yourself either adjusting or going without all year?  Or, is there the possibility that your capital won’t be approved and you’ll have to spend P&L dollars on maintaining something that should have been replaced? (I’m looking at you, card embosser…)

Obviously you’re going to submit and obtain approval before getting your plan and budget’s final incarnations.  You may, however be able to mitigate some of the pain that comes from surprises in the new year.  Try these tips for better planning.

Tip 1: Take a hard look at this year

For this exercise, you’ll have to be ruthless.  It may even be a bit painful, but it is essential to a successful planning process.  From a budget perspective, it is imperative to understand where your dollars were spent well and where they were not. From a business or marketing plan perspective, you need to know where there’s room for improvement and which things are working for you today.

What did you plan that didn’t work out in 2014?  Were there things you didn’t have the funds for despite your best intentions? How could you have improved cash flow, yield, labor, data, events, etc.?  What goals or strategies did you employ that just did not give you the results you anticipated?  What processes or events or promotions met, or even better, exceeded your expectations and should be incorporated in to your plans for next year?

Take what you learn from this exercise to build a framework for the upcoming year.  Avoid being accused of insanity by proactively deciding NOT to repeat the things you did this year and expecting a different result next year.

Tip 2: Get the interested parties together and hash things out

Sit down with the rest of your department and those departments whose budgets and plans are interdependent with yours and talk things through.  If your host team needs resources or new tools to identify or maintain contact with your players of opportunity, who better to ask about what they think?  If Food & Beverage wants to place steakhouse ads in the local newspaper, doesn’t marketing need to know that?  If Entertainment is planning a series of comedy shows, if the hotel is doing renovations, if slots is replacing a third of your machines…you see where this is going, right?  You can’t plan or budget in a vacuum and have the result be something you can actually stick to for an entire year.  Have a “big ole” meeting, have everyone put their ideas and plans on the table, and figure out how it all affects the other departments’ plans and cash flow.

Tip 2: Look at others’ plans for opportunities

Take what you’ve learned from the big meeting and determine what provides you with opportunities.  Is there going to be a big hotel refurbishment in your future?  Ask what they’re doing with items that can be re-purposed: some of the items could even be useful in a player giveaway or promotion, or you could have a big tag sale and drive revenue on a traditionally slow weekend after the renovation is done.  Is the slot department replacing under-performing machines?  What opportunities are there for events or promotions related to the arrival of the new machines?  Could you invite your best and most loyal players to cut a ribbon to open them up for play?  Surely there are lots of things in your peers’ plans that could provide you a chance to make a splash.  Learn about them now and incorporate them into your plans.

Tip 3: Dream realistically

Every department head has a wish list.  Brainstorm everything you’d like to have, see, or do; then cull the list by priority without regard to expense.  Then, rank according to priority with a note about how much it costs, so you can come up with a realistic scenario.  Obviously, not everything on a wish list is going to come to pass, so while you’re spending time with your friends from the other departments, ask about their wish lists and see if there are some synergies that can be leveraged to help the entire property.  Is IT buying any new computers next year?  Let them know about your technology wish list so they can spec your equipment for a combined order with a bigger discount.

Tip 5: Expect the unexpected

Clearly, some of the things you plan for will come to pass just as you envisioned them.  Others, however, will morph into something you hadn’t anticipated.  Spend the time now planning for contingencies and you will be better prepared for the unknown when it occurs.  Might you have to choose between two of your pet projects because the revenue projections were too high?  Sure.  Could you find yourself in need of a technology solution due to a hiring freeze or lack of qualified job applicants? Absolutely.  Is there the possibility that a competitor will launch a campaign or promotion to which you will have to adjust?  You betcha!

Any (or all) of these events will be easier to handle in the heat of the moment if you have spent some time preparing for them in advance.  Happily, there is no better time to plan than while you are already planning.  Look at some of the things you may have eliminated in your early planning process and decide whether any of them could readily be put on a back burner to be deployed in case of a major shift in your market or competitive set.

Tip 5: Get buy-in from the stakeholders

This is a 360-degree exercise, but totally worth the time and energy you invest in it.  Once you’ve got a first draft submitted, ensuring that your plans are in alignment with those of your boss, the department, the property and your employees will go a long way to assuring that those plans  and strategies are successful in the end.  Have a meeting with your team(s) and share the vision with them.  Ask them for ideas or suggestions to streamline their daily tasks or processes.  (It’s a good idea to do this periodically even when you AREN’T planning for the year ahead, by the way.)

This brings the process full circle and provides you with an opportunity to verify that your plans and budgets are on the right track to help you and the property achieve all you hope to in the year ahead.

Did we leave out an indispensable step you can’t plan without?  Please share for the edification of all our readers.

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Critical Components of Casino Player Development

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Is your host team doing everything it should be to secure (as best they can) the loyalty of your patrons? There is quite possibly something more that can be done to ensure the continued visitation of your Players of Interest.

My experience, as well as the thoughts of many experts in the industry, have led me to believe that lots of hosts spend too much time on retaining players who have already demonstrated their loyalty to your casino. Many of your high frequency patrons know folks in every department and come in with treats and trinkets for lots of your associates. While they certainly need to be able to depend on your property’s premiere customer service team from time to time, it’s important to ensure that these players don’t take up too much of the of the host team’s time. Why? Because your property’s premiere customer service team should also be (1) finding out why good players have not visited recently and (2) getting new members of worth to return. In fact, there is probably more opportunity for increased revenue from the acquisition and reactivation functions your host team performs.

While competitors right-size, my money’s on spending time building relationships with your players of interest on an ongoing basis. Certainly every employee should be doing this whenever possible, this is a task perfectly aligned with what a PD team is supposed to do. These components of a successful Casino Player Development program are critical to its continued success. Ensuring that you hit all these points and hold your hosts accountable for them should result in continued profitability from your PD team.

Identification
Identifying these particular “players of interest” to your property is the fist step. Taking a somewhat granular look at your database will help you identify the new and at-risk players in your database who present the most opportunity for you in terms of long-term loyalty to your operation. It’s not difficult if you have the right tools and someone to ask the right questions. Where do our most profitable customers live? From where are our most promising new club members coming? When do the players of interest come to the casino? How often? Are there times when they don’t visit? Or do they sometimes come in and play less (or better yet, more)? Are there fight zones with competitors where profitable players are equidistant to you and another property? Are any of those patrons at risk of defection? What can you do to keep them from visiting the other casino? If they decide to stray, how will you get them back?

Planning
Once you know who you’re going after, decide on your plan. There will certainly be mail components and, if you’re really on your game, some form of digital marketing as well. But we’re talking about critical components of PD here. Ensuring that the hosts know who they need to reach out to and with what offer(s), if any, is the most critical component at this stage. The players of interest have been identified, and now the hosts have to do their stuff. Phone calls and handwritten notes and greeting cards and gift baskets delivered to hotel rooms, reservations at spas and golf tee times, steakhouse dinner parties and special gifts are all examples of critical components the hosts may bring to sweeten the deal to bring back even reluctant players of promising worth. Sometimes you have to be armed as though for battle, particularly in increasingly crowded regional gaming markets.

Acquisition
As a baseline, new players need to make 3 trips in order for a casino to recoup its reinvestment and turn that new player into a profitable one. Ideally, the patron will return twice more within 30 days. While an aggressive new player incentive and generous mail offers combine to increase the odds that a new patron will return, for those who play to a higher level there is nothing as effective as a personal “touch” from a casino host to provide an incentive to come back right away. In this capacity, the host becomes the new player’s “touchpoint,” or his “inside man,” so to speak. When the host offers to make a reservation or some other consideration for the player, he feels important and is more likely to return to the casino whose host made him feel this way. A personal connection is certainly a host’s strength, and this connection begins the journey by which a player can find his “home” casino. The patron may well return sooner than he might have if he’d only received a mailer.

Reactivation
For players who have gone quiet and haven’t returned in a while, a host may be the most effective method for getting that return trip. While a robust mail program targeted at reactivation can have a great response rate, having the hosts call the top levels of guests in that mailing can certainly provide a profitable boost to the results. Some of the players who receive your Where have you been? mailer will appreciate the opportunity to tell someone why they haven’t returned, as many of them are just looking for a reason to feel valued enough by your property to come back. A host can deliver the personalized experience that these players (rightly) feel they deserve. I’ve seen players who remember a host (“Oh, Bobby! Hi!”) return within two weeks of a “personal” call…at a rate of about 30%. (The host I’m referencing marveled at how effective simply calling and asking how people were doing really was in getting them to make a visit to see him.)

Retention
While I believe that many hosts spend too much time in this role, it’s still a vital part of the work they do to ensure your property has patrons coming through the doors with regularity. Divided equally, a host should spend roughly 30% of his or her time in contact with familiar faces, guests you know you’ll see on a predictable basis, and recognizing when those patrons are off their visitation and/or play pattern. As always, balance is key…and retention is a function that is necessary to maintain your expected levels of activity and revenue from these dependable patrons.

Analysis
Sometimes you’ll have to change direction, as markets change and people move on for one reason or another. New challenges will always be ahead, so having the ability to spot trends and apply the principles of preemptive reactivation, particularly when paired up with a robust view of your database, all combine to provide you with the ability to find a new path almost as quickly as your favorite GPS app. See what happens, keep identifying patrons who deserve host attention for whatever reason, and look for ways to stay ahead of the game using analytics.

Tracking
It’s important that you have a clear view of your host team’s productivity. When you assign new or inactive patrons to your hosts for contact, you may want to include a qualifier for the hosts to achieve before they can “claim” the patrons in question. Perhaps you will set a threshold for theo and a number of return visits so the hosts can have the players coded and see the benefits (extra theo toward my goal!) of bringing those players back. See who they’re contacting, what the conversion rate is, and how much they’re adding to your overall reinvestment in the way of comps and other freebies. Review this information at least once a week. Daily is better. Use your tracking data to keep each individual host on track throughout the goal period.

Measurement
Now that you’ve honed your identification and targeting skills, it’s time to see how well your plans have worked. The tools you use to locate your players of interest should be of use in determining your success rate as well. How many new players in which areas did we convert to our monthly mail program? Are they visiting us with regularity, and is there a pattern in the play that indicates we may be able to get more of their gaming wallet? What offers move them? Which ones do they ignore? Will something else work?

And repeat. If you’re not sure you have the resources to pull off the identification, analysis or measurement components, let us know. Harvest Trends is continuously refining its tools for casino marketers…we may have just what you need.

Did I forget anything? Are there critical components in your PD program that we didn’t list here? Please sound off in the comments below.

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Events (& Tips!) for Casino Hosts

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When you’re looking at your player list trying to come up with ways to engage your patrons and get them to make a return trip soon, planning something with a broad appeal might seem like the way to go. But in reality, many players whose patronage warrants invitations to exclusive events are looking for a little special treatment. There’s not likely to be any single event you can do which will appeal to everyone you’d like to reactivate, for example. (Think of the invitees as the individuals they really are, and you’ll quickly see why.) This means that having a variety of event types in your repertoire is a good idea. Here are few to consider.

The Friendly Competition Team up with another host at your property and decide what sort of competition you want to have. Ham it up and go with armwrestling or a video game showdown; cheese it up with a craft-making competition or an online silly selfie contest; heck, you could even do a spelling bee. Involve the whole host team or even invite others. Feeling bold? Team up with players. Whatever you decide, make it something compelling to watch. Then set the stakes for the contest. You could have the “loser” host shave his head (set the shave date in the future and maybe drive two trips). How about a parade through the casino for the winner, complete with loud music, balloons, and a handout of some kind for the guests on their route? Again, make the stakes and the spectacle worth watching. You can do prizes for patrons in attendance if you like, too.

VIP/Executive Roundtable Guests love to interact with executives when they can. High-end guests feel as though their patronage should give them a seat at the table, so why not give them one? Light hors d’ouvres, light cocktails, and round tables surrounded by comfortable seating set the stage for a dialogue that will make your players feel important and provide insights to your executives. (Especially effective if Ops Execs participate!) Just remember, make no promises and always be sincere.

Paint & Sip Appeal to the artistic and/or wine lovers on your player list and do a fun, reasonably- priced relationship-building event. The host should be painting and sipping too for the record, to share in the experience and give everyone the same opportunity for praise and encouragement. A friend of mine did one of these and felt as though this event would work again and again. Handpick small groups and keep the atmosphere mellow.

Spa Day/Massage Therapy Do you have players who own their own businesses or who are raising kids? These folks migh not take adequate time to recharge unless encouraged to do so, so provide them a good reason. If your property doesn’t already have a spa, talk with those around you and work out an equitable way to provide the service to your patrons. Setting up on property is preferable, but you could add a fun element if you have to “road trip” your guests to an off-property pampering.

Hometown/Region Celebration This could take many forms, but is based on bringing in patrons from a particular geographical area while appealing to hometown pride. Invite only those from your target area and encourage them to bring a friend if they like. Feature decorations that emphasize the unique qualities of the area, serve local favorite foods, play music about or from the region…you get the idea.

Plus, Bonus Tips! To make every event a success, there are a few things to consider throughout the process:

  • Harness the power of social media. Tweet, post, blog, stream, and share before, during, and after to maximize engagement. Tag your guests! (If you haven’t already, consider – within company rules, of course – setting up profiles for use only with guests to share directly with them… keeping your personal accounts “private”)
  • Ask for feedback. Give your guests a score card or link to an onlie survey asking what they thought or for ideas for future events to ensure you’re hitting all the high spots. I’ll bet you will get some great stuff from this!
  • Include others. Ask co-workers to team up with you, invite the chef to talk about the food, have executives stop in, and encourage patrons to invite friends when appropriate. Many years ago, we invited one of our patrons (who also owned a nursery) to do a VIP presentation on preparing your garden for winter. We got lots of brownie points for that one!
  • Build relationships. Use people’s names, show appreciation, introduce guests to one another, and share the stories that keep them laughing. This will pay dividends in the form of stronger bonds between co-workers and yourself, between guests and associates, and among the guests themselves.
  • Get creative! Anyone who’s been in or around the casino business for very long knows that we recycle a lot of the same events. (Or do a “tribute” to competitor’s successful event.) Come up with ways to keep things fresh: do a fun theme, switch up the details (think middle 25 scores win the tournament), or combine elements from more than one event.
  • Remember to have fun! Ultimately, your guests return to your property because it’s an entertainment experience. Don’t let them see you sweat if things go awry, resolve that the show must go on, and have fun with it. No matter what.
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Are your hosts really hosts?

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Are they?  Really?  One of our most popular blog posts is “6 Tasks You Shouldn’t Find in a Casino Host Job Description.”  It is popular because hosts being hosts doesn’t happen as often as you’d think.  How do I know?  I’ve lived it.

When I got my first casino job, as a host, I was often very busy, but not driving revenue for the property.  That wasn’t the role of a host in those days (in many regional markets, anyway).  I was what my boss at the time called “Mr. Mikey,” meaning I drew names and announced promotional winners as often as every hour some days.  I handed out paper drawing entries.  I worked at the Plateau Players Club.  I ran slot tournaments and paid the winners.  I ferried comp slips around and I chatted with people at slot machines.  I didn’t do a lot to drive revenue in the sense you think of today.

Years later, when I became responsible for a host team of my own, the scope of their responsibilities began to shift to what you expect is the norm.  Instead of sitting at a table handling Blackjack tournament registrations, the hosts were being asked to drive  revenue in conjunction with the marketing machine, utilizing the personal touch.  It was difficult to prioritize the activities of the team to enable them to be successful in this new role without finding a way to shift some responsibilities elsewhere.  Ultimately, it took two additional people to do the promotions and events tasks that the hosts had been handling, but the revenue the team drove more than made up for the extra labor cost.

Interestingly, balancing a host’s priorities is a more common challenge in 2014 than you might expect.   Today, there are hosts who sit at a desk and return “Why didn’t I get coupons?” calls or enter hotel reservations into the computer system.  Hosts give away cars and do jackpot announcements.  Hosts get called to resolve service issues for players who aren’t likely to ever be hosted.  They “pit clerk” so they can make an informed comp decision.  But they’re not driving revenue.  Not like they should. Your hosts should have a fairly narrow focus.

Even if there are extraneous tasks that the property really needs them to handle, anything that keeps the hosts from connecting with (and driving more play from) your best players should be kept to a minimum.  If you are short-staffed at the Players Club, talk to your counterparts about cross-training some of their part-timers as back-up club reps instead of using a host.   If you don’t have a dedicated promotions team, rotate marketing staff to minimize the impact of drawings and giveaways when it’s likely to be prime casino floor hunting time. If those aren’t viable options, talk to HR for help with a long-term solution instead of relying on the hosts to do tasks that really don’t help them achieve their revenue-driving potential.

Long story short, the hosts ought to be spending the vast majority of their time focused on communicating with and driving visits from your best players.  Identify the players, whether at risk, new with potential, or recently lost. Produce a snapshot of their worth, then show your boss the number.  Let him know how much higher that number can be if the hosts can be protected from distractions.  Work together with your boss and team leaders in other operational departments to establish some boundaries to enable the hosts to focus on their work.  Set the goals, monitor them relentlessly, keep the team on track, and move the needle.

More than ever, your Player Development team can have an impact on your property’s bottom line.  It’s not necessary to increase your reinvestment (in many cases) to retain most of your very best players.  It is, however, necessary to differentiate yourself from your competitors in some way to give you the edge when your guests are deciding where to wind down next time they want to play.  It’s Player Development’s role to provide your best guests with a resource to clear the way to an enjoyable and rewarding casino experience.  Doing this well with as many of your best players as possible is beneficial to the bottom line.

Your hosts need to be free to provide their personalized service to as many of your players of highest worth as possible.  In order to make it happen, you have to get everyone on board with the notion that they are hosts.  They’re not Managers on Duty, not Customer Service ambassadors, not promotion attendants or pit clerks.  Hosts.  On the floor.  On the phone.   Driving revenue.

Then they can move the needle.

 

This post is brought to you by Harvest Trends. We specialize in Player Development (PD). Please take a look at PowerHost, a comprehensive way to drive revenue from your team of Casino Hosts and Player Development Executives. Or contact Paul Cutler at 561.860.2621 or pcutler@harvesttrends.com.  Paul will overnight you an informative package along with pricing.

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What’s YOUR number?

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No, I’m not asking for your phone number.  I’m asking if you know what your target market for PD really is?  When’s the last time you ran the numbers to see where your sweet spot is in terms of opportunity to drive additional revenue with some effective host telemarketing and service?

If you know the sweet spot, do you know how many players you have who could easily be reactivated and made more loyal by “siccing” a host on them to drive another trip per month (or more)?

Got that one too?  Okay, how much additional revenue will they potentially bring to the bottom line?  What’s your profitability on them? What are you spending to drive those players back in?  Direct mail offers, points, promotions, events, giveaways, plus host comps? 15%, 20%, or more?

If the answer to any of those questions was an honest, “I don’t know” or even an “I think so,” you have left money on the table.

Here’s another way to look at it:  Let’s say your property’s average ADT is $75.  That includes the people who come regularly and play a little, the folks who come in rarely and play a lot, and everyone in between.  But you know most of your revenue comes from players whose daily worth is, let’s say, $300 or more.  How many of those players are already receiving offers from you but don’t come in more than once per month?  If there are thousands of these guests in your database (…and let’s be honest; there probably are), why wouldn’t you want to know who they are and set someone on the task of making contact to bring them back to your property for an incremental visit?  At $300 a pop, you’d have a minimum of $30,000 in increased topline revenue by bringing back only 100 of them.  Easy money.

You’ll want to structure this program so you can measure it, of course.  Identify the players who have the most potential to put some dollars into play, determine to whom you will assign them for contact, how long you’ll maintain a higher level of contact, and what must be achieved for the host to have “activated” that player.  Set targets based on what you expect the hosts to accomplish, then track progress regularly to keep the hosts pacing for achievement and everyone else in the loop.

Even if you have to spend a little money to motivate either the hosts or the players, it’s money well spent as long as you keep an eye to profitability.   Include your targets for guest activation/reactivation in a bonus plan so the hosts can earn a little more by driving revenue.  To keep your reinvestment in line, make sure the hosts understand what offers the guest already has before adding cost-intensive incentives on top of everything else. Obviously there will be times a guest’s play warrants a little something more…and good hosts will know the difference and when the offer is appropriate.  Setting the bonus plan up to be based on net revenue (whether theo or actual) is another good safeguard.

In many cases, simply making contact with the guest will get them to make a trip.  Part of the reason host service is a coveted benefit is due to their ability to make arrangements on behalf of the guest and save them time and effort in the process.  Think about it: wouldn’t you rather do business with an establishment who had provided you with a concierge to anticipate your needs and set everything up for you whenever you were coming in?  You’d know even before you got there that someone will be happy to see you.  It doesn’t get any better than that.

Knowing your numbers will enable you to spend the necessary time coaching your hosts to more effectively drive revenue without spending unnecessary reinvestment dollars on your behalf.  Phone calls are the most effective method of reaching and motivating players, so you’ll need time to observe their telemarketing efforts and provide feedback for refinement. Having an understanding of the numbers related to the team’s pacing toward goal achievement on a regular basis will allow you to provide specific direction, training, and praise to keep them on track.

You’ll need to continue asking questions about the numbers, even after you’ve got a handle on all the ones I asked you about at the beginning of this post.  I’m (obviously) a proponent of daily feedback, because it allows you to make changes in real time based on what just happened.  This is an elite group of guests (if not in their behavior) and they are exceptional at least in their potential to the success of your PD team and your property.   Use the analysis to tell you where to focus. Use the time you save by targeting to make sure your team is doing the job well.  Use the numbers to determine the trajectory and demonstrate the success of the PD team.

 

 

Uncategorized

Ethical Scenarios for Casino Player Development

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In these blogs, we have covered a lot of ground: things hosts should do, things they shouldn’t do, how to evaluate them, how to set and measure goals, and we have gone into some depth on a few of these topics.  One important aspect of a host’s job, however, is one we’ve only briefly touched.  It is especially important that hosts keep in mind the effects of their decisions and the ethical implications thereof.  This post is designed to be interactive, so please comment with your responses.

Let’s pretend for the purposes of this post that I am a successful casino host.  I work at a property that has thus far been blissfully free of growing competitive stresses, though some of my players occasionally travel to Las Vegas for an extended gambling vacay.  I’ve been at my property for just over 5 years, and I’ve developed some solid relationships with many of my high-worth guests.  I am not allowed to accept cash tips, but guests may give me gifts of a reasonable value.   In the following scenarios, what should I do?

  1. One of my players has been indicted for embezzling a significant amount of money from the banking company for which he worked (until the indictment, anyway).  He continues to visit and play, even coming in more often now than he used to since he’s got more free time these days.  As his host, what is my responsibility to him and to the property?
  2. I have an older player who sometimes invites other guests to come to her room (in my on-property hotel) to assist her with getting in and out of the shower.  Because she obviously trusts these players, she is heartbroken and sobbing when she comes to find me on the gaming floor to tell me that someone has stolen $300 in cash from her purse.  I immediately suspect the latest of her “assistants,” but she begs me not to say anything to that lady.  What is my best move in this situation?
  3. My best friend is a hotel supervisor at my casino, and she calls me over to stand behind the desk so she can make an emergency trip to the ladies’ room.  I know how to check people in and issue card keys, so when someone approaches the desk, I assist the guest, who tips me $50 with a wink upon check-in.  Rapidly, I go through the options available to me: upgrade to the last host room (it’s a suite), upgrade to a room with a better view, say “thanks” and put the cash in my pocket, hold the tip to give to my BFF, or explain that I’m just filling in and suggest that the tip should be given to someone else since I can’t accept it.  Which choice should I make?
  4. One of my players was delighted with the anniversary amenity I had waiting for her and her husband in their hotel room last week.  She was so delighted that she sent me a thank you card containing a $100 bill.  The guest sent the card to my home address.  I’m not sure where she got it, as I’d never give a guest my address…What should I do with the cash?
  5. I believe that one of my players makes his money illegally.  I don’t know any details, but I have heard other table games players (and dealers) gossip about him.  Speculation on the sources of his income runs from gunrunning to illegal drug sales to house-flipping to a sizable inheritance.  He doesn’t seem to have a regular job, he travels a bit, and he always has lots of cash and a fancy “new” car almost every month…so I know something isn’t typical about how he earns his living.  What is my responsibility to the player and/or my property in this case?
  6. I overheard a conversation between one of my co-workers and his wife last night.  He was on his company cell phone, shouting at her in the back-of-the-house hallway.  Visibly upset, he returned to the office not long after and began making guest calls.  One of his guests must have known he was upset, because next thing I know, he’s spilling the story to a guest on the office phone.  What should I do about this?
  7. One of my favorite players is moving (permanently) to her lake house about 4 hours’ drive from my property.  She has extended to me and my family an open invitation to come and visit her sometime.  She’s not likely to make many visits after the move, since she is reluctant to drive such a distance alone.  She doesn’t have much family and considers me one of her closest friends.  Is it okay if I accept her invitation?

Many hosts encounter similar situations to these, and it isn’t always easy to know what one should do.  Your feedback might help a casino host to make a better decision, so don’t be shy.  Choose one scenario or reply to them all…but use the number of each so we know which scenario to which your answer(s) refer(s).

Ready?  Set?  GO!

Casino Host Culture, Uncategorized

What Kind of Culture is Best for Casino Hosts?

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It takes a special kind of “people person” to be a good Casino Host.  The backgrounds of today’s hosts are quite varied, but the thing they all have in common is that they are delighted to be in the company of others.  A host has the ability to make each of his players feel as though they are the most important person in the world.  Hosts can make “no” sound like “I’d really like to…”  And they need a particular kind of environment in order to thrive and do their best work.

Like employees in any sort of job, hosts expect to be compensated for the work they do.  Hosts should be paid a salary commensurate with carrying a company phone that is likely to ring at all hours of the day and night.  Casino hosts have to cater to some very demanding guests, but because the guests are worth it, most hosts pride themselves on satisfying those “difficult” players.  But again, just like any other employee, hosts require more than just a paycheck in order to do the job to the best of their ability.

Think about the primary tool in a Casino Host’s toolkit: the relationship.  It is more powerful than a comp, brings players to the casino more reliably than the direct mail program, and trumps new or updated competitors in the long run as long as it’s been properly built.  Interestingly, a strong relationship with a team leader should be part of a host’s compensation.

The relationship a Casino Host has with his or her team leader will, in many cases, directly affect the host’s level of engagement with his or her assigned players.  In a recent blog post on Harvard Business Review, the author suggests that engaged employees feel “loved,” and that the more “love” an employee feels drives a higher level of engagement in the job.  The post clarifies that the love in question is “companionate love,” derived from a feeling of connection and warmth in the employer/employee relationship.

“You mean we have to hold hands and sing Kum By Yah in a circle at our host meetings?”  As entertaining as that might be to watch (contact me before you do this; I want to have you record it and send me the video file!), what I am proposing goes deeper.  I am suggesting that team leaders invest some emotional capital in the hosts to help them flourish.

Any good Player Development professional will confirm that the relationships hosts (or any casino associate, for that matter) build with the property’s players build loyalty and help a casino hold on to their share of the gamer’s wallet.  Strong host/player relationships can prevent a player from defecting to a competitor over a disappointment or other negative experience.  Doesn’t it stand to reason then, that the relationship between an employee and his or her team leader would have a commensurate effect on the employee’s performance and direct engagement with the job?

Here are some ways to build that companionate love without crossing the necessary boundaries of a workplace relationship.  Spend some time with the members of your team during the workday.  Learn about them: family ties, personal motivators, challenges and frustrations, hobbies and interests, background experience, and growth aspirations.  Share some of your own workplace experiences with the members of your team so they see you more as a fallible person instead of just as a “boss.”   Ask them for feedback on your leadership style.  Demonstrate their importance to the property’s success and implement their ideas whenever you can.  Lavishly praise their accomplishments and provide candid and fair assessments of their performance when improvement is needed.  Observe their performance first hand and discuss your observations.  Talk WITH them and not just TO them, just like you should with your guests.  Generate a dialogue.  Build strong working relationships to ensure they each feel a connection with you.

Not the warm and fuzzy type?  Don’t fake it.  They’ll know.  Just be genuine.  Step outside your comfort zone for them.  Make the effort.  It will make a difference.

How will you know it’s working?  When the members of your team feel comfortable coming to you with their concerns and speak freely, you’ve arrived.  If someone isn’t doing the best job possible, and you approach them to discuss it, defensiveness melts away during the conversation.  If it’s real, you’ll both know.  And your team will thrive.

By all means, share your own experiences with us.  Tell us what you’ve done that worked or what you’ll do to build that kind of relationship with your team.