Hi Jakob!
Audiences always engage more when they view the CEO as a real person, not just a company announcement giver. You can see this on your own LinkedIn - your best performing posts recently are the ones where you show up personally, your Qiddiya visit, your response to the Middle East situation.
I wanted to keep that momentum going for you, so here are three posts drawn entirely from your conversation on The 1% Edge podcast. Your experiences in your own words.
Post #1
People come for the roller coaster… the water slide. They come back because of how we made them feel. The best proof of this I've ever found didn't come from a theme park at all.
It came from a dog food company.
A customer called Chewy to cancel their subscription. Their dog had just died. They forgot to stop the delivery.
Chewy said: "Keep the dog food. Give it to somebody who might have a dog who can use it."
Then they refunded the money.
Several days later, they sent flowers.
"We're so sorry about hearing that you lost your dog."
No one needs to do that.
Where's the return on investment on that one?
You go above and beyond in investing into a relationship and the pay off happens long term.
The customer feels appreciated. The customer feels seen. There's empathy.
Sooner or later, that family will get another dog and I guarantee you, they will go back to Chewy.
This is the long game.
Post #2
I once worked at the second largest theme park in Europe. 6-million guests. Family-owned.
The owner taught me everything I know about what actually brings guests back - and he did it over a dropped pizza.
A guest bought a pizza. Walked to the cash desk. Paid. Walked to their table.
The pizza dropped.
It was ultimately the responsibility of the customer. He had dropped it.
The owner walked over and said: "Let me get you a new one."
He didn't need to do that.
But by investing into that relationship (by giving him another pizza) that guest was so satisfied that he said, "Wow, what a nice gesture."
And he told everybody else about it.
This is what good relationship building looks like. A good sales strategy without being salesy.
No one will come because of nice toilets.
But they might come back because of the way you make them feel.
Post #3
When COVID hit, I needed to get the 30 biggest players in our industry into one room. Virtually. Across time zones and competing markets. I did it in six weeks. Not because of any mandate.
Because of relationships.
We got everyone around that table to discuss one question: what can we do to practice safe operations?
Within six weeks, we had a fantastic document. We took it to authorities around the world and said: "We can operate safely."
The fact that I could get everyone around that table speaks for the importance and the power of relationships.
This is an industry where we all believe that rising tides lift all boats.
If somebody has a good experience at this amusement park, they are more likely to come to my amusement park as well.
If they feel unsafe somewhere else in this industry, they are less likely to come to me.
We don't see each other as competitors. We see each other as community.
And none of that works if we don't have a relationship.
8,000 members. 50,000 individuals. 100 countries.
Not one of them picks up the phone because of a transaction.
It is not just a transaction. It is actually caring. It is empathy. It is understanding what they are into and ultimately taking care of them as their friend.
This association is more than 100 years old.
I see myself as its creator for this chapter - and my job is to hand it off to the next creator in a better state than I received it.
Turning entertainment founders and investors into personal brands that attract clients, investment, talent and deal flow @ Loge Noir