A Customer Experience in Bogota

A Real World Lesson in Customer Experience Management in Bogota

This past June I accompanied three other CRMGurus to Bogotá, Colombia where we were to speak to about 200 delegates at a CRM/CEM conference.

W ended up with a practical lesson and case study in Customer Experience Management in the town of Chia, a small town about 30 kilometers outside of Bogotá.
This is the home of Andres Carne de Res which means Andres meat of the cattle.

I am tempted to say that Andres Carne de Res is a restaurant, but that would be understating the case: Andres Carne de Res is an EXPEERIENCE.

The entrance is a not impressive collection of unpainted buildings (which I later learned can hold 1,800 diners) with a bunch of people milling around the entrance in the sound of Latin American music. We enter a semi-darkened room, the walls festooned with indefinable objets dart.

At that moment a troupe of musicians (or are they actors?) marches by in various costumes: a cleaning lady dancing with a mop; a ballerina in finery; a mime; two elegant black gentlemen bearing signs; and several other odd people playing guitars. The ballerina pauses to dance and flirt with one of us.

We order juice drinks from exotic local fruits and snacks. Te drinks come in coconut shells cut in half with ice. The snacks are not unlike nachos.

The crowd is boisterous but non-threatening to us obviously North Americans—in fact we are greeted with smiles everywhere.

The serving personnel are young and attractive—we are informed that most of them attend Bogotá’s top university.

Uur host and guide—Rafael Rodriguez, introduced us to the owner of this establishment, Andres himself, who insisted we have a drink and chat. He carried with him a leather-covered note pad which he used every day to jot down improvements for the staff to improve customer service and experiences. His charming assistant said hr 25 years worth of notes which he uses to guide to his managers once per week.

I explained that my son was attending hotel and restaurant school in Amsterdam and was seeking student assignments. An invitation was immediate.

My son may go to Bogotá. I am returning for lesson # 2.

Jay Curry, Senior Consultant
THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE FACTORY