Practice the 95/5 rule to wow customers & employees (review of Will Guidara's Unreasonable Hospitality with a bonus B-side)

You're getting an A-side and bonus B-side review of Will Guidara's Unreasonable Hospitality.

Sometimes I write two reviews of business books and only one gets filed with the Hamilton Spectator. Usually, the first review offers up way too much personal information that would either bore you or make you feel uncomfortable and possibly concerned. Or I write a review that has a high potential of becoming a career limiting move. If I'm lucky, I see the error of my ways. But not always. I once sung the praises of a book that panned 360 performance reviews and worked in my own opinion (anomyous reviews can be brutally unkind). On Monday morning following the weekend review, the HR department where I worked at the time announced that it was of course rolling out performance reviews for all admin staff. I used up one of my nine lives that morning in my meeting with the head of HR, my boss and the president.

But sometimes, there are two reviews because the book has more than one big and brilliant idea and the second idea won't fit inside a 700-word review.

Will Guidara's Unreasonable Hospitality is one of those books. So the A-side review is about the why and how of wowing your customers and employees in ways they don't expect and won't forget. And the B-side review is about the importance of sometimes delivering a feedback sandwich minus the Texas toast-sized slices of positive feedback.

A-side Review: Practice the 95/5 rule to wow and win customers and employees.

How’d you react if you were served a $2 hot dog at a MICHELIN starred restaurant?

It happened to four guests at Eleven Madison Park in the heart of New York City.

“They freaked out,” said Will Guidara, the restaurant’s former co-owner and author of Unreasonable Hospitality.

“I had given away thousands of dishes, and many, many thousands of dollars’ worth of food, and yet I can confidently say that nobody had ever responded the way that table responded to that hot dog. Before they left, each person at the table told me it was the highlight not only of the meal, but of their trip to New York. They’d be telling the story for the rest of their lives.”

Here’s why. Even though he was the general manager, Guidara routinely bussed tables and he’d eavesdropped on the foursome. They’d eaten everywhere and everything except a hot dog from a street vendor. Once their meal was done, they were off to the airport.

?“If you’d been in the dining room that day, you’d have seen an animated bulb appear over my head, like in a cartoon. I dropped the dirty dishes off in the kitchen and ran out to buy a hot dog from Abraham, who manned the Sabrett’s cart on our corner.”

Guidara brought the hot dog back to the kitchen and asked chef Daniel Humm to plate it. “He looked at me like I’d gone crazy. I was always trying to push the boundaries, but serving what New Yorkers call a dirty-water dog at a four star restaurant? I held my ground and told him to trust me – that it was important to me – and he finally agreed to cut the hot dog into four perfect pieces, adding a swoosh of mustard, a swoosh of ketchup and perfect quenelles of sauerkraut and relish to each plate.”

Guidara told the foursome he’d overheard their conversation and didn’t want them flying home with culinary regrets. Servers then brought out the artistically plated hot dog.

It’s wasn’t just $2 hotdogs delighting guests. When couples got engaged at Eleven Madison Park, they got complimentary glasses of champagne like every other restaurant. But the champagne was served in crystal flutes from Tiffany’s that went home with the newly engaged couples in robin’s-egg blue gift boxes.

Guidara introduced a Dreamweavers program with full-time staff to deliver improvisational and unreasonable hospitality on unsuspecting guests. That hospitality, together with exceptional food and service, would earn Eleven Madison Park three Michelin stars and top spot in the annual ranking of the world’s 50 best restaurants.

Every business is in the hospitality businesss and gifts are how you can stand out, says Guidara.

“Gifts to me are deeply meaningful, which is why I get so mad when a business gives me a cheap tote with a branded USB drive. Try harder! Do better!

“Gifts are a way to tell people you saw, heard and recognized them – that you cared enough to listen, and to do something with what you heard. A gift transforms an interaction, taking it from transactional to relational; there is no better way than a gift to demonstrate that someone is more than a customer or a line item on a spreadsheet. And the right one can help to extend your hospitality all the way into someone’s life.”

But what if you’re not a fine dining restaurant in the heart of New York City, serving meals that cost as much as month’s worth of groceries?

First, it’s the thought that counts more than the value of the gift.

You should also follow Guidara’s 95 / 5 rule. “Manage 95 per cent of your business down to the penny; spend the last five per cent foolishly. It sounds irresponsible; in fact, it’s anything but. Because that last five per cent has an outsize impact on the guest experience, it’s some of the smartest money you’ll ever spend.”

And be sure to shower some of that five per cent on your team. Give them more than they expect and they’ll do the same with your customers, clients and guests.

B-side Review: Don't hold back with your tough love feedback

I could've used some closed door thunder in my career.

There's no question I frustrated and flummoxed more than a few bosses and coworkers. But they were too kind, too busy or maybe too scared to deliver a serious and wholly deserved dressing-down.

Will Guidara says criticism's essential if you're serious about delivering consistently exceptional service. You need to let colleagues and direct reports know when they've messed up or mailed it in.

Will says employees receive tough feedback in one of three ways.

“Some people are totally pragmatic about criticism; correct them privately and without emotion, and they’ll receive the reproach in exactly the spirit in which it’s offered,” says Will.

“Other folks are sensitive to criticism. Those people are going to react, no matter what you say or how gently and diplomatically you say it, so you’d better spend some time planning exactly how you’re going to deliver the feedback.”

“Then there are the people who can’t or won’t hear what you’re saying unless it comes with a little thunder. If your reprimand is too mild or conversational, they won’t believe you’re serious. With these people, you’re going to have to get into it a little bit, even if that’s not your usual managerial style.”

Will says it's impossible to establish any standard of excellence for your team or organization without criticismAnd sometimes that criticism needs to be harsh. "A thoughtful approach to how you correct people must be part of your culture. It can't be 100 per cent sweetness and light.

“Managing staff boils down to two things: how you praise people and how you criticize them.

“Most of us have no difficulty at all in delivering praise, that’s the fun part of being a boss. But it’s hard to criticism someone. We all want to be liked and when you give someone a note about what they could be doing differently and better, you run the risk of losing their goodwill.

"There is no better way to show someone you care than by being willing to offer them a correction; it’s the purest expression of putting someone else’s needs above your own, which is what hospitality is all about. Praise is affirmation, but criticism is investment.”

Just criticize the behavior and not the person. Always praise in public and criticize in private. And never criticize with sarcasm. “It demeans the person who’s receiving the criticism, the message you’re delivering and frankly, you as well.”

Jay Robb serves as communications manager for McMaster University’s Faculty of Science, lives in Hamilton and has reviewed business books for the Hamilton Spectator since 1999.?