I was privileged to hear Danny Meyer in a small group setting. If you don’t know who Danny is, you would do yourself a great favor to read his bio “Setting the Table” or looking him up on Wikipedia.
Danny is known as a world class restaurateur. For ten years the top two “favorite restaurants” in NYC were his. That’s one and two out of 22,000. If you asked Danny, what business he is in, he would say “hospitality” with the add-on of serving great food and exquisite wines. He is famous for saying, “I can teach anyone to make a cocktail, but I can’t teach them hospitality. I hire nice people and train them on the rest.”
So how does this relate to executive coaching and what you do for a living, and how you run your business, department, yourself? Plenty. In fact, I personally have taken this so to heart. I’d say it is what most distinguishes me from most of my executive coach competitors.
Let’s look at what Danny calls HQ — Hospitality Quotient. We both believe that in any business you need to have quality. The product, whether it’s accounting, financial advice, technology solutions, or executive coaching, has to work and do what you promised it would. The only surprises in quality should be that it exceeds the expectations of the purchaser or works so well, it’s not even thought about.
In addition to quality is service. Is the product delivered to you as you expected — on time, as ordered, and in the condition you wanted? In a restaurant, that’s seating you at your reservation time, setting the table with clean, properly placed flatware, and meeting your dietary requests. I’m sure you can think of equivalents in your work. Looking for bad examples think of your experiences with cable TV.
Quality + Service = Performance. Performance is important but it is not what sets you apart. With the greater checks and balances technology provides, the missteps in quality and service are less obvious and often a non-issue. We expect Google to search, the ATM to have cash, and your tablet just to be “on.” In our present and future economy, these factors will not make you exceptional; they will strictly have you sitting with your competitors.
Hospitality changes the monologue of service and quality to a dialogue. It asks, “How does this experience make the person feel when they get the service and see quality?” My doctor’s office staff gives me quality service. They take my information, process my insurance, gives me my prescriptions. Do I think they care? Absolutely not. There is zero caring as to how I feel or whom I am. There is no hospitality. I never leave the place thinking I was heard or that I obtained anything but bare essentials. No one anticipated my needs. And that might be okay some of the time but it doesn’t make me refer them.
Danny Meyer would measure hospitality by asking the receiver, “Do you sense the deliverer is on your side?” “Do they want the best for you?” Does the waiter actually care if you enjoyed the meal or just clear the plate of half-eaten food? This is a completely different conversation, isn’t it? In a coaching business, it can be as simple as a comfortable professional environment in which to talk, or checking in with a client before they contact you.
Ask yourself these simple hospitality questions?
What is it that I deliver — an RFP, an analysis, sales, or a new marketing perspective? Be clear on this.
Then, how do I want the receiver to feel during and after our interaction, and what have I done to get them there? It’s a financial advisor laying out in great detail, yet in an easy to understand format, a performance record and investment strategy that conveys, “I am watching out for you and growing your resources, I am doing it in a transparent way, and I think you’re smart and savvy enough to understand it.” That customer leaves with the feeling of confidence, security, and it reinforces their original decision to hire the person.
Another aspect of hospitality is context. Does your website reflect who you are or is it someone else’s template? Does your voicemail elicit the response you want? I’m always shocked and a bit angered when a person’s message says “I’ll get back to you at MY earliest convenience.” What! Now it’s about when YOU want to call me back. On the other hand, I always assure callers, “I WILL get back to you” and I do.
Finally, hospitality has a sense of community. If we are measured by the company we keep, then who is seen or heard using our talents, services, or intellect? Do people want to be a part of what you do and those you do it with? Does your business foster involvement or isolation? Would you want to belong to your club?
Hospitality is a mindset and a set of behaviors. Receive it and you leave with a warm feeling and are quick to tell others. You tolerate the inevitable mistake because you know the giver has your best interest in mind, even if something went wrong. There is expressed pleasure at your pleasure and a lack of competitiveness because you both want the same thing. It’s a message Danny shares with thousands of customers and many, many people in his industry who pay him to let them in on his secrets.
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