Shifts Happens!? When You Create Greater Wallet Share in your Hospitality Organization
James D. Feldman, CSP, CITE, CPIM
?? AI & Innovation in Hospitality | Customer Experience & Engagement Expert | CSP Speaker | Extraordinary Advisor | Author | Helping Hotels, Resorts & Restaurants Maximize Revenue & Guest, Customer, Employee Satisfaction
Creative ideas are what turns hospitality organizations into market leaders. These hospitality organizations see the result first and then build a path to achieve those results.
Unfortunately, in most hospitality organizations today, neither creativity nor innovation exists. The hospitality environment for many organizations fails to foster creative or innovative ideas, which results in lost profits and opportunities every day. However, creativity and guest innovation are key elements that propel businesses to the top. Without either, your hospitality organization comes in second at best, and no one remembers number two. While being number one certainly doesn’t guarantee continued success, it is better than being forgotten and with so many dollars in their wallets, the question is how to get more of their dollars?
Answer these quick questions to learn if your hospitality organization lacks creativity and innovation.
·?????Are your profits stagnant or slowly rising at best?
·?????Are your guests satisfied, but not very loyal?
·?????Do your employees lack the enthusiasm to think of new ideas?
·?????If employees offer new ideas, are they often told, “we don’t do that here?”
·?????Are you offering the same rewards and services as you were five years ago?
Any answer of “yes” indicates that your hospitality organization may not be around for the long term.?The popular TV commercial asks. “What’s In Your Wallet?” You may ask a similar question, “How much is left in your wallet?”
To revitalize your hospitality organization and keep it from extinction, follow the guidelines below.
Shift?#1 Foster a Climate That’s Open to Innovation and Creativity
Innovation is the ability to come up with ideas and solutions to pressing problems. It is the process of producing something that
1) has value
2) did not exist before.
Creativity is the ability to take that new idea and make it valuable in your customers’ eyes. Realize that every problem has a solution, although the solution may not be in plain sight. To make the solution more apparent, remove “standard operating procedures” whenever possible and inspire creative thinking throughout the organization. Use novel approaches, strive for dramatic results, and reach for the highest goal possible. Reward business associates for finding the “innovative solution” and for “thinking creatively.”
As you encourage your people to display innovation and creativity, be prepared for mistakes. Acknowledge the mistakes, learn from them, and then try again. When people know that mistakes are part of the process, they’ll be more open to take risks and think in new directions. Remember, failure and innovation are related. Success only comes when you learn from failure.
Shift #2 Become Number One With Your Guests
The more satisfied your Guests are, the more business you’ll have in the future. And it is not about winning. It is about being recognized and treated as a VIP. Realize that the only commodity your Guests know is you. Since you are the catalyst providing the solution to their problem, you are accountable for fulfilling their needs. As a result, you need to invest time in keeping the channels of communication open
When communicating, be sure to listen more than you talk. Ask questions that solicit more than a “yes” or “no” response, and then truly listen to Guests’ responses.
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Checking into the hotel or signing up for the loyalty program is really one of the most important contacts your Guests have with your hospitality organization. Yet most organizations relegate it to the “most poorly trained” and most inept person on their staff. Understand Guests’ needs, and then provide a solution that works. Also, thank your Guests for their business on a regular basis. A simple “Thank you. Are you happy with the hospitality experience?” works wonders. The ability to communicate effectively could be the greatest innovation you have in your organization, as it’s something few people have mastered.?
Shift #3 Create a Partnership with Guests
All business transactions are based on someone delivering a promise to fulfill a specific desire or need. Hospitality organizations that spend millions of dollars promoting their products or services only to make the guest wait on hold or must redial numerous times to lodge complaints, get upgrades, or make any other reasonable request erode the partnership. Everything must be done in real-time.
To create a true partnership with Guests, become a problem solver. Guests like it when the hospitality organizations they work with function as thinkers. Become your Guests’ best solution and they’ll stay with you for the long term. Show your guests how they can earn rewards quicker, surprise them with an offer of a massage or bottled water so they feel better, explain ‘how to obtain VIP status easier’ instead of the ‘why we can’t give you an upgrade.” Show them how you can save them money or time instead of simply letting them lose more time and money.
Make the experience one in which Guests realize their lives would be better with your organization rather than your competition. Never let an upgrade request go unanswered. Never let a guest leave unhappy. Everything else supports that premise.?I have never been able to understand why the airlines have empty seats in first class, movies are sold rather than provided, and even free meals are now being sold and most hospitality marketers understand that faulty logic yet can’t apply it to their own business model. Instead, simply use them a reward for everyone at one time or another. How? Give an upgrade certificate after three stays. Upgrade anyone that stays for more than 3 days. Partner with airlines or car rentals and create a package that gives upgrades in each category. People often care about winning more than what they win.
Shift #4 Create a Partnership with Employees
Asking people to be creative and then shooting down their ideas creates a rift in your organization. Instead, show people that bringing their imagination on the journey is welcome.?Information wealth flows directly from innovation, not optimization. Wealth, of any kind, is not gained by perfecting the known, but by seizing the unknown. Therefore, we must all become successive producers of ideas, concepts, and innovations. We must try them out to see if they work; if not, we will lose out to our competitors.
???????????Remember that the more offbeat, the more diverse, the more eccentric, and the more unusual, the better we learn and the more we retain. So, allow so-called “mavericks” and their ideas into your organization, as they will likely offer a new perspective to the same old routine. Partner with these people, as we all need to stretch ourselves and innovate in everything we do.
As you examine their dramatic and new approaches, remove constraints, limitations, and regimens. Listen to your employees as you would your Guests. Their insights will likely make your hospitality organization better at what it does…increase your wallet share from each Guest.
Innovative companies attract innovative employees.?When word gets around that you're innovating you'll attract the best employees from other organizations and THEIR best customers.
Shift #5 Implement Next-Generation Approaches
???????????Doing any form of business is a form of innovation. The quest for knowledge opens the door to opportunity and helps us understand each other and provide what is best for each of us, personally and professionally. To succeed at this level, your Hospitality organization must support innovation and creativity. Doing so will free your employees from the “we always did it this way” syndrome. Constantly redesign your Hospitality organization’s rules to be flexible and to show that you, as a Hospitality organization, value worthy ideas, no matter what the source. Only then will you increase your profit potential and become a memorable market leader that delivers results.?Your guest is there for a reason…to relax. Don’t make them feel stressed.
About the Author:
James is the NOWIST? He helps identify what can be done NOW to discover new opportunities using existing resources.
He has 40+ years of marketing experience. He and his organizations have worked with hundreds of companies trying to grow their business, increase profits, and discover opportunities using existing resources.?Performance improvement from your Guests requires a new approach to problem-solving. Jim and his TEAM have a proven success record that will benefit your Hospitality organization.?
Consultants write reports…we deliver results.?
For more information on all the services offered by his organization go to www.jfainc.com