For those who might not have heard the term, it’s one that applies to different sports such as gymnastics, diving, snowboarding but can be applied to most sports and industries. To ‘stick the landing’ means that you completed an activity with precision and accuracy. Note that in those sports a portion of your final score and evaluation DEPENDS on how you complete your movements and process at the end. You can have great form and correct technique, but if you mess up the ending all of your efforts can go to waste.

For example, I had an issue with an airline where after the call, someone had wrongly put in a note where my gift card wasn’t working. I called the airline to fix it and here's how the conversation went:

Airline: Oh there was a note there might have been an issue with the gift card but I can now see that the gift card was valid.

Me: So can I rebook the ticket using the same gift card?

Airline: Yes, but we need to get the pin number for that gift card in order to apply it.

Me: Umm that’s going to be a problem, When the site said my ticket was booked I threw out the gift card. I didn’t receive an email until last night that something was wrong, that’s why I’m calling this morning.

Airline: Unfortunately I need the gift card pin in order to apply it to this ticket, it will not allow me to reprocess the gift card without the pin.

Me: you know what? Just use my card and reprocess the full amount of the ticket, I am upset that I’m now out of my gift card because someone made a notation error.

The person apologized as best they could and reiterated the rules, and the call was ended. Now everyone understands that there are policies and procedures are in place, but what made me angry was the fact that 1) something had gone wrong, 2) the airline even admitted that the error was made on their end and 3) at no point made any efforts to rectify the issue before getting off the phone; another reason why “sticking the landing” is crucial, it's the last impression a guest/diner/hotel guest is left with.

Here's what’s also puzzling: I fired off a complaint to the automated inbox at 8:31am. They responded (by email) and issued a credit to my account at 10:28am, equal to the gift card amount roughly 2 hours later after me sending my complaint. Often for airline and other industry complaint issues, this is light-speed fast which had me thinking:

Wouldn’t it have been more effective to do this BEFORE I finished the call?
Were you pretty much waiting for me to reach out instead of taking the initiative?

At what point during our conversation does the mindset now become We can solve this problem, after he’s had to tell us what he’s upset about (and that we couldn’t figure it out for ourselves).
Yes, the problem was resolved, but the extra efforts that took to recover and resolve the problem only served to remind how badly ‘the landing’ ended, because it was contrasted by how quick and remarkably efficient the after-fact recovery was. In this interaction, the form could use some improvement, the technique was correct, but the whole thing finished with a terrible landing, which often can be a big factor in keeping your service efforts off the podium.

On a positive note, one my favorite memories involved another guest at a restaurant I used to work in. This was a guest who wasn’t a fan of her food but at the end of her service she was impressed at how attentive and caring her server was throughout the experience and vowed to return:

  • She wanted a small order of green beans to taste? We indulged her with a larger portion to enjoy on us.
  • She thought her food was cold coming out? We had something new remade for her, and offered her tastings of appetizers before her food came out.
  • She was checked in through her courses, to ensure everything came out as she expected and made sure we could get it right and/or make it right.

Our form wasn’t what we preferred, and technique left some things to be desired, but we fought to improve her experience and kept fighting through the end. We took care of her meal, but she walked away with the feeling that we were determined to ‘stick the landing’ and refused to settle for “maybe this isn’t our night”. I think about that fondly and carry that with me, because cliché still holds, it’s not how you start but how you finish that really matters.

When working with your teams, remind them that the ending, the landing’ is the last impression our guests encounter. Give them the opportunity to finish strong or empower them to keep fighting for that guest experience, you never know how much difference that makes when the final score or review is handed out.

Andrew Hopson