Smooth The Path

Member Informed Strategy, Innovation & Marketing

  • Home
  • Speaking
    • Presentations
    • Upcoming Events
    • Happy Event Organizers
    • Happy Participants
  • Services
    • Clients
  • Resources
    • Associations of the Future
    • New Member Engagement Study
    • Association Industry Innovation Research Study
    • New Strategies for Member Onboarding, Engagement, and Retention E-book
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

November 13, 2018 By Amanda Kaiser

Your Members Need to See You Smile

I am on a flight from DFW to PHL which means today I had the opportunity to intact with many people. First, I meet the team of TSA folks who looked at my identification and processed me through security. No one smiled, they were concerned with the process. At the gate, I scanned my boarding pass, and the gate agent indicated I could proceed. She was so concerned with the transaction she did not smile either. As I boarded the airplane, a flight attendant was joking with another flight attendant, no smile for me. Once airborne, two flight attendants dispensed drinks. No smile, no chit-chat.

Now maybe TSA and airline employees are not allowed to smile at customers but, I don’t think this is the case. I think their job focuses on transactions. They are supposed to check IDs, they need to scan boarding passes, now they have to serve drinks. They are so focused on the transaction they ignore the experience. They forget the genuine smile, the kind hello, the warm welcome.

Volume is the problem you might be thinking. It is hard to welcome a few hundred or a thousand people throughout a day. Maybe and maybe that is emotionally draining for some people. But some organizations do it. Disney, Apple, and Chic-fil-A to name a few.

People love a warm welcome even if that warm welcome takes two seconds. Can you figure out how to focus more on welcoming new members and new attendees and less on the transaction?

Related:

  • Members want to be seen
  • Do not stop making those new member phone calls
  • Many associations are too passive with new members

Filed Under: Member Experience Tagged With: member culture, new member experience, new member onboarding, onboarding, orientation, smile, welcome, welcoming

Follow

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Sign up for member insights & association inspiration.

Work With Me

Recent Posts

Association Strategy
Association Marketing
Association Innovation
Association Leadership
Association Value
Member Experience

Member Engagement
Member Research
Member Insights
Conference
Membership

Member Research

Blog

About

Happy Clients

Speaking

Popular Presentations

Contact Us

More Resources

Copyright © 2021 Amanda Kaiser