By Bill Finley
You spoke, and Keeneland listened.
Keeneland management wanted to know what it could do to continually improve the experience of attending the sales, and conducted extensive surveys and focus groups starting late last year that asked customers for honest feedback. From operational aspects of the sale, to the types of food served in the Limestone Café, the respondents weren't shy about sharing their opinions. Which is exactly what Keeneland wanted.
“Once we had the output from the surveys, we met as a team, and quite honestly, we kept going back to our race meetings for inspiration,” said Christa Marrillia, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Keeneland. “Keeneland is applauded for delivering world-class hospitality every April and October. Why not take the tools from our `Race-Meet Playbook' and apply it to our sale?”
So, starting with the September sale, management rolled out a number of improvements and new offerings, all of which were implemented with the customer feedback in mind. Marillia stressed that continuous improvement is the approach Keeneland has taken, which will be evident again this November, with new surprises in store.
“The good news about our sales customers is they like to tell us what they think,” said Marrillia. “We were able to act swiftly on many of the suggestions, and people saw the results in September. There are also long-range initiatives that we are planning. Everything was built on that foundation of listening to our customers, and using the talents of the full team here at Keeneland to execute our plan.”
Many of the enhancements have come in the area of food service. The Keeneland team understood that people wanted more variety and they wanted to be able eat in close proximity to the sales pavilion.
“We really collaborated with our Executive Chef Marc Therrien, and his talented culinary team, to rethink the food service offerings for our sales customers. In September, we had everything from hand-rolled sushi, to vegan and gluten-free options, rotating food specials as well as the new Saddling Paddock Chalet. We received rave reviews and guests will continue to see enhancements in November and beyond.”
“The Saddling Paddock Chalet was perhaps the biggest crowd pleaser for September, not only because of Chef Marc and team's fabulous buffet, but the convenient location for our customers–just steps from the pavilion. You can quite literally look out the window and see the weather vane.”
A new addition to this year's November sale will be the “Book One Brunch,” which will be held in the back walking ring beginning at 11 a.m. in advance of Book 1. The kick-off will include complimentary drinks like champagne and bloody marys, as well as hot grab-and-go brunch offerings.
Another frequent suggestion from sellers was the need to offer an exclusive area for top buyers when they needed an area to get away from the hustle and bustle of the sales pavilion and conduct business. Keeneland responded by opening up the Sycamore, a high-end lounge on the ground floor of the Paddock Chalet.
“Our customers recognize that these top buyers come in from all over the world and they want to have an area to relax and be pampered a bit. The beautifully appointed Sycamore offers exclusive amenities to these discerning guests when they need a quiet place to relax or conduct business.”
The little things have not been overlooked. Keeneland decided to put its crew of green-jacketed goodwill ambassadors to work at the sales to greet customers and welcome them with a smile. In September, they also brought in things like a soft serve ice cream truck, complimentary Chick-fil-A chicken biscuits, snow cones and Keeneland's signature brown butter popcorn to treat customers on the sales grounds.
“In the marketing world we love using the phrase 'surprise and delight,'” Marrillia said. “There are some challenges when you are surprising and delighting such a large audience. We're offering over 4,500 horses here and we have thousands of people on our grounds, so you have to think big on ways to deliver the unexpected. We decided to treat our customers with simple acts of kindness, if you will, to surprise and delight. There was one day when we had free soft-serve ice cream. Maybe some people don't expect a Mister Softee truck out of Keeneland, but it's a way that we can say thank you to all the people who are out here working really hard to conduct this sale.”
Keeneland's customers have also been given the chance to take a deep breath after the Breeders' Cup. Customers voiced that they needed more time to examine horses because having the sale so close to the Breeders' Cup was a problem. Keeneland listened and made the decision to move the sale at the end of September. The November Sale will now start on a Wednesday rather than the traditional Tuesday.
It's not that people were complaining about the Keeneland sales. The improvements are the results of a company-wide philosophy that you can always find ways to better the customer experience.
“That's just the way we are wired,” Marrillia said. “We refuse to rest and be satisfied with doing a good-enough job. We can always do better. We have our antenna up constantly. That's what the customers expect out of Keeneland and that's the expectation we have for the Keeneland team.”
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