Empowering Customer-Facing Employees: Learnings from the Casino Industry

One essential tactic used by the gaming industry to encourage players to increase their handle is to offer complimentary room upgrades, show tickets, and upscale dinners, as well as other comps, such as product discounts. Sales force members on the floor, at the front desk, or in group meeting contract discussions often must decide on the spot whether to comp a guest and how much to offer. Although casinos have a general framework to guide employees in their comping decisions, sales managers are also called on to provide training and guidance for their sales force. Based on the outcomes from operational exception reports, this study compares the outcomes of two different approaches to sales force empowerment. One approach is relatively tight, point-by-point analysis of staff members’ comping decisions, and the other is a looser, more general approach that touches on essential knowledge regarding the outcomes of comping. The resulting model found that the looser approach fostered greater staff learning and generally stronger financial results. In sum, this study of the casino industry suggests that the way to empower and monitor your customer-facing employees is to let them try an activity and learn from the results.

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