I am a big fan a “Mad Men” BBC Four and liked when the fictional advertising agency, set in the 60’s, won a contract with Hilton Hotels. In one episode Don Draper the creative partner in the business is given the job of finding the essence of Hilton by staying a number of their hotels. He was impressed by their service as was I recently.

I was in Shanghai in November on business and stayed at the Hilton Hotel and was very impressed by the customer care. I have stayed in many Hilton Hotels in the UK, North America, South Africa and Europe but none surpass the service and attitude of the their Shanghai establishment. I realise that salary costs may be less expensive in China so a hotel can afford more helpers per guest, but the standard of care and the attention to detail of the Hilton team were spectacular. Hilton is a good brand and much the same professional standard is to be found the world over, but in Shanghai they have gone beyond professional to genuinely caring for their customers. I stayed in the hotel for a week and enjoyed really good service which remained unobtrusive and indeed on occasions anticipated my needs before I did.

This got me thinking as Hilton will use the same CRM application, training, organisational structures using a global template but clearly the real customer experience comes from people with the right attitude and a willingness to really put the customer first. How much strategic thought goes on in your business about staff attitude and how to really create a culture that is customer centric? More invested in people and less on applications seems a novel approach.