Business View Magazine - October 2016 167
there to support the most important part of its mis-
sion: customer service. “Where I am focusing a lot of
energy, today, and where I think our focus will really
separate us, is how do we better service our clients
on a day-to-day basis? How do we improve our client
interactions, every day? And how do we adopt technol-
ogy to increase satisfaction with those folks, whether
they are attendees in our venue or clients who signed
contracts with us?”
Regarding the Center’s clients, Hayes addresses his
own questions by pointing out how the Center has re-
cently improved its ability to better interact with the
meeting planners who book space at the Salt Palace,
sometimes years in advance. “We have launched, just
within the last few months, a new program that puts
our event managers in our venue in a much earlier and
more frequent contact with our clients,” he explains.
“In years past, we contracted out events, years out,
and our event managers typically engaged that client
inside twelve months. We’ve stopped that process
and we’re starting to engage our clients on a regular
basis as soon as they are contracted – whether with
updates or facility changes or planning programs – so
they’re getting constant information from us as soon
as they’ve signed that contract. All documents and or-
der forms will actually be uploaded on Google Drive,
giving clients direct access and the ability to work in
a “live” document with their Event Manager. This new
process eliminates the need for emailing attachments,
printing, or faxing documents. Plus, it increases effi-
ciencies and communication while decreasing the
chance of errors. We think that using these tools in
this way, and engaging our clients this way, is going to
set us apart.”
Finally, Hayes talks about how the Center continually
finds ways in which to solicit employee input in an ef-
fort to better serve its constituents. “We engage our
employees at decision-making levels,” he states. “We
have employee-led committees that establish what the
values are for our organization: Service for Success,
Outreach to our Community, Awareness of Safety,
and Responsibility to our Environment. And it’s those
values that we consider when we’re making choices,
when we’re looking to the future, and when we con-
sider how to improve our operation and make it better.
And that is something of great importance and some-
thing that, I think, may be unique in our industry.”
Over a hundred years ago, the first Salt Palace in Salt
Lake City was unique for its time. Today, the Salt Place
Convention Center has taken not only its progenitor’s
name, but also its unique characteristics of amuse-
ment, industry, and service to the community.
PREFERRED VENDOR
Centennial Management Group
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