As the industry marketing leader Bill Stenger puts it, “Unless the experience of the skier is a positive one, all the advertising and marketing funds expended are of no value.”
Recognizing this, USIA’s marketing and education committees are launching a Quality Assurance Program (QAP) which has been developed for them by Sno-engineering, a consulting firm headquartered in Littleton, N.H. The origin of the concept was a series of seminars given by the late Jim Branch of Sno-e called “Paying Attention to Detail.”
The QAP program will consist of several approaches. One basic tool is an incognito resort visit by a trained evaluator for the purpose of gathering information on how a customer is treated. The spot check list calls for observation of everything from parking lot to signage to lift loading to bathrooms to ski school — over 300 focuses.
The inaugural audit — one of several trial runs this season — was at Cannon Mt., in New Hampshire. Says Phil Gravink, director of skiing for the area, “We were provided with an abundance of important information that can be frequently overlooked when managers get too familiar with their operations. It is well worth the cost to have a professional look at your operation.”
The reports of the quality audits are, of course, completely confidential and the property of the area. The purpose is not to embarrass a manager by pointing at warts, but rather to assist a manager in providing the sort of guest services that will make the area more successful and profitable.
Another tool is the ski area self-audit. A manual is being prepared that will help an area conduct its own systematic evaluation, rather than using the trained outside evaluators.
In addition to the various auditing programs, QAP will be developing other mechanisms for helping the ski area industry raise and sustain quality. Seminars are being planned, for instance; also speakers from other industries with enviable track records in guest services will be lined up.
Videos are being planned as well as employee training programs and programs for evaluators. All of this is being announced at the USIA convention in Orlando, Fla., when a video explaining the program will be aired at a seminar on quality improvement.
Sno-engineering’s president, Tim Beck, has assigned Coleman C. “Cam” Kicklighter and Richard Tapply to head up QAP. “This is an attempt at a total industry commitment to quality enhancement,” said Beck.
