Besides our sweet meeting space, sparkspace also loves facilitating our world-class team building programs. They're fun, active, and really practical. And while we put our distinctive sparkspace spin on everything we do, sometimes other facilitators use similar stuff.

One morning, a guest asked if we had any masking tape. (We do.) When we got it for him, he asked if we could mark out squares on the floor for him with the tape. (We did.) About half way through, he began setting up some other materials that looked suspiciously like DropZone, one of our amazing one-hour sparklers. With a little investigation, it turned out he was running something pretty close (though not nearly as fun and cool, of course).

So we offered him Hula Hoops. You see, what he was trying to do was create boundaries with the masking tape. When we run the activity, we use Hula Hoops. They're easier to manipulate, take less time to set up and tear down, and just work better. Sure, we could have given him the cold shoulder given that he was providing a service we charge money for, but what good would that be? He walked through our doors, so he's our customer. It's that simple.

Why this is one of our favorite sparks:
Imagine the CEO of Pepsi is in a restaurant, and orders a Coke. That's crazy! We're so conditioned to be cutthroat and to fight competition with everything we've got, but it's usually just a hassle that doesn't end up changing things. At sparkspace, we don't get finicky, we just treat everyone in our space like a guest. Who cares if they're from another conference center or another teambuilding company? When you're here, we're here for you. When your company thinks like this, you know customer service has truly become your number one goal.

        

Sometimes plans change for our guests a month, week or even day before their meeting and they have no other option but to postpone their event. We typically take a series of steps with the client when a cancellation occurs. First and foremost, we assure them that it is OK. We then explain that they can either reschedule immediately or if they don’t have a new date picked out yet, we can send them a voucher which they can apply to another meeting at a later date. This is where the road typically ends for us.
 
However, recently one client canceled at the last minute and he even felt obligated to explain why he wouldn’t be able to go forward with his meeting -- his wife was having emergency surgery. Of course we offered sympathy over the phone to this client and went into our regular process of offering him the option of rescheduling or receiving a voucher. After the phone call was over, though, our team felt like we should step it up in this case and do something extra for him since he was just hit with some heavy news. We decided to send him flowers the next day (the kind with the smiley face balloon attached of course) to show him that the sparkspace team was still thinking about him and his family!

Why this is one of our favorite sparks:
This is a great example of going above and beyond. We saw an opportunity to do something extra for someone and acted on it immediately.  Random acts of kindness are always a win-win situation. Our client was shown some major appreciation and we felt pretty darn good too!

        

During a marketing effort, sparkspace tried a few different tactics that would best get the word out on the sweet promotions we were running, but at the same time not lose what we believe about customer service. We didn’t want to be the pesky sales person, but we had great promotions that needed to be brought to our clients’ attention.
 
We began with making phone calls to our clients, but rather than bug them at work and take them away from their busy days, we reconfigured our approach. We decided that sending an email would allow for people to look over the material when they had time, while also being able to forward it to their friends and colleagues.  As opposed to doing a mass email blast, we still wanted to send quality with our product, so we entered each of the individuals names before sending the emails out. 
 
Why this is one of our favorite sparks:
At sparkspace we never want to do anything that would go against our values and this marketing situation was no different.  We chose to personalize these emails because it’s important to us to take that extra step in always giving our clients excellent customer service. The sweetest sound to anyone is the sound of their own name, so we gave them that little gift.

        

One of our favorite icebreakers is called Thumball. It's basically a plush mini soccer ball with interesting questions on each panel. Someone tosses it to you, and you answer which ever question is under your thumb. You might tell a little bit about your hometown, or your ideal car; that sort of thing.

A group came in for a pair of our 1-hour sparklers. Just before we began, they asked if we would be using the Thumball, because the last time they were here they absolutely loved it. So, our Chief Imagination Officer Mark told them it wasn't planned, but that they could have it to keep. The reaction was somewhere between free ice cream and a snow day.

Why this is one of our favorite sparks:
While we're big proponents of sparks that require no money and don't involve just giving people things, this was too good to pass up. The Tumbball retails for about 12 bucks. We're not sure what the dollars to excitement exchange rate is these days, but we're willing to bet we got a good deal. Great service starts with being willing to reach out and provide your customers with an unexpected experience.

        

On the list of goals at sparkspace, customer service is number one. It's also numbers two, three, and four. That's why we started our 100sparks project to begin with. When the weather turned chilly, our guests started showing up in very warm (and very stylish!) coats to defend themselves against the harsh Ohio winter. Throughout the space we have two or three coat racks for that very reason. This is a big hit; no one wants to be in a meeting all day and constantly chasing their coat around the chair.

Recently, though, we've gone one step further. When a guest comes in, we smile and politely ask "Can I get your coat for you?" This is a BIG HIT. When a guest's experience at sparkspace begins with white glove service, the rest is just icing. Really thick, really deep icing. With sprinkles.

Why this is one of our favorite sparks:
Lots of places have coat racks, and it's a great way to serve their guests. But there's a significant difference between the convenience of hanging up your coat, and the pleasure of being taken care of. And that's what it's all about at sparkspace: taking great care of guests, and making them feel special.

        

For some unknown and suspiciously inconsistent reason, our email wasn't getting out today. You know, one of those situations where you send 10 emails and two get through. Anyway, a client was waiting on a rental agreement and our email just wasn't cooperating. After calling and verifying the address, our Director of Guest Happiness was at a loss.  "Send it through GMail" one of our teammates said. "Huh?" "Send it through GMail. Since it's web based, our server can't goof it up."

Turns out they were right. The client got their info (although they might have been a little confused by the email address) and our server finally quit acting up (It probably noticed how replaceable it was).

Why this is one of our favorite sparks:
When it comes to taking care of customers, the key is to never stop trying. When the client wasn't getting our email, our team called to double check the address. When that didn't work, they didn't quit. Instead, they got creative, and found a simple, but important solution to the problem. At sparkspace, we'll move mountains for our clients. We'll also use GMail if that's what's needed.

        

Many groups arrive for meetings that were set up by an absent teammate (most often a very hard-working admin). Usually this isn't an issue; everyone's on the same page and things run smooth as silk. But every once in a while, a group shows up and things aren't as they expected. Since the answer to any guest question is yes (if at all possible), we just roll up our sleeves and make it happen.

Recently, a group arrived and was escorted to their room. The room was set-up classroom-style for a rousing and important lecture. Unfortunately, one guest told us, they were doing group work all day, and they needed a more collaborative table arrangement. This is when the sparkspace team is at its best; without hesitation, computers were shut, emails were put on hold, and everyone got to work. In about seven and a half minutes the room was transformed into the practical and comfortable seating arrangement the guest had requested.

Why this is one of our favorite sparks:
One thing the sparkspace team has is synergy. No matter what the situation, when its time to go to work and help each other out, we do it. While this makes for a great team dynamic, its actually a customer service. Think about what this scene might have looked like if one person was struggling to put up tables and rearrange chairs all by themselves. Instead, we shifted our focus from ourselves to our customers (both internal and external) and got the job done.

        

At sparkspace, we love our catering. sparkspace catering is the tops, especially the Two Kinds of Chicken. It's awesome. But sometimes you're in the mood for Chipotle. Or Boston's, or any other of about 100 restaurants in the Arena District. We get that, so we keep menus on hand for the group that wants to take care of their own lunch.

Recently, we've had a few groups ask if we could arrange Chipotle for them. "Of Course!" The trick here is that Chipotle has a great ordering system whereby you can fax in an order and pick it up when it's ready. So what did we do? We put the order form in the menu file of course! When we get asked about ordering Chipotle, we whip this paper out and say "Heck yeah we can, just fill this guy out and we'll do the rest." After a quick fax, a phone call to make sure the order was received, and a trip across the way, we return with a box full of goodness.

Needless to say, it's more than just the salsa that spices up the lives of our guests.

Why this is one of our favorite sparks:
While we love our catering (did I tell you about Two Kinds of Chicken?), we know that sometimes you just gotta feed that craving. Why shouldn't we make it as simple as possible for our guests? We live to serve and if that means a quick jog to Chipotle, well then it's just another excuse to get some exercise and pick up some barbacoa to go.

        

The elevator in our building opens directly into our lobby. Most people take about half a second to get acclimated to the bright and vibrant energy we emit. After a friendly hello and a welcome smile, we direct them to their meeting and all is well.

Recently, the doors opened up, and a guest popped off and headed toward the meeting rooms without hesitation. "Must be a regular" we thought. But after getting 3/4 of the way to their room, they stopped dead in their tracks. Turning around, the guest excitedly said "You've grown!" It was true, about a year and a half ago we had expanded from three rooms to five, so that we can offer our amazing customer service to as many people as we could. Clearly, this guest had visited before (as evidenced by their beeline for the old entrance) and hadn't seen our space since the expansion.

Responding to their excitement, one of our team members replied "Would you like to see the new rooms?" Now, a client who talks about sparkspace growing the same way they would about their niece or nephew is not going to pass on an offer like that. For the next 15 minutes, our team member and guest talked about how great sparkspace is, and how it's so happy and vibrant, and how it's even better now that it's bigger, and a lot more. In fact, we're pretty sure the guest sat in every seat in the space, just so they could say they had.

Why this was our favorite spark today:
At sparkspace, we try really, really hard to make each guest's time here exceptional. Sometimes this means they don't even notice us as we refill their snacks. Sometimes this means they can't thank us enough for helping them carry a box to their car. But our absolute favorite is when our guests think of us like family. This guest was not only excited about the changes, they were happy for us and our success. That kind of loyalty and customer satisfaction is priceless.

        

Recently, a friend told us about discount coupons that you can download at http://www.restaurant.com. Some of the restaurants featured are in the Arena District just steps away from our location.

One day, one of our meetings was headed out for lunch. We asked where they were headed. They replied they were going to Teds Montana Grill, which is one of the restaurants featured on restaurant.com. We told them to hang on for a minute, printed a $15 off coupon for them and sent them off to lunch extremely happy.

Why this is one of our favorite sparks:
By taking a moment to engage our guests, we were able to provide some real value to them. To make this happen, we also had to be aware of some of the resources available to us. It's a great reminder that we should always keep looking and always keep learning about what's in our area and what our guests are interested in. Makes it a whole lot easier to make those kind of great connections.