ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - November 14, 2003
Well, the fall editions of the Year of
the Guest Workshops are behind us -- great events with great people. Some are
already reporting sales increases as a result of applying ideas they picked up.
We will be talking with a number of state restaurant associations about co-sponsoring
the program as a fundraiser for their education foundations. Let us know if we
should be talking to your state about it.
I am off for a week in Michigan to do a feasibility study for a new restaurant.
Keep The Big Picture In Mind
Every week I get to this point and wonder what I will write about. Usually,
all I have to do is go out to dinner and I usually have more material -- good
and bad -- than I could possibly use. Tonight it was a lesson in how not to handle
complaints.
The waitress was disconnected. It took forever to get a bottle of wine and then
our meals were horrendously late. Apparently they made a mistake with the pizza
my wife ordered and had to re-make it. While they were doing that, the rest of
the table's orders sat under the heat lamps becoming thoroughly toasted. (Something
similar happened the last time we were in this restaurant as well.)
The waitress knew she was blowing it, so stayed away and avoided eye contact as
much as possible. (Why do they do that?) She did call in the assistant manager
who came to the table, effusively apologized without listening to us and after
some bargaining, said she would comp one of the meals. As it turned out, she just
picked up one of the appetizers. We just paid and left ... most likely forever.
My point for today is that the manager's only approach to a guest in crisis was
to offer a comp, not to attempt to salvage the relationship. She was concerned
about how little she could give away tonight and totally lost sight of the value
of our business. The end result is that she is out not only the sale of the appetizer,
but our future patronage as well. Keep the larger picture in mind. It is usually
cheaper to save the guest than to save a buck.
Reinvention is Tough
If you haven't found that to be the case, then maybe you are not really
doing it. Many of you are pretty good at making improvements in your businesses,
but true reinvention is different. Improvement makes what you're already doing
a little better; reinvention is about doing very different things.
Reinvention grabs the attention of the marketplace and sets one apart from the
crowd. In a culture obsessed with the newest and best, reinvention is the path
to being noticed ... but reinvention is difficult and there are no guarantees.
Once you come to grips with that, you can move forward and look at all the areas
of your business that need reinvention, beginning with yourself.
Your thinking, your products, your processes and your practices should never become
set in stone. Perhaps the term "best practices" is dangerous. Perhaps
you should pursue "better practices" because today's best can be tomorrow's
mediocre method. Reinvention is about going beyond simply improving to truly innovating.
The focus of Super Summit 2004 is "Re-Inventing Your Business ... and Your
Life" and will be held at Disneyland in Anaheim, California on January 12-13.
It is not for everybody, but then again, not everybody will be thriving five years
from now. If you want to be one of the prosperous survivors, you want to be there.
Sign up now before the early registration discount expires on December 1.
Click here for more information on the Super Summit.
The Perpetual Question
What did you learn from your staff today?
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