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Don’t you wish that every encounter with a service provider, your own clients and everyone's employees would give you the feeling that best practices have won the day. The words have been a buzz phrase in manufacturing America for years, but I think it has a much broader value. Think about it. Other than loving relationships, good weather and a few dollars in the bank, what else is there?
This morning, my lady and I decided to have breakfast at a well-known Beverly Hills restaurant, looking for satisfying food and a nice place to relax over the morning newspaper. Well, it went beyond breakfast and took on the mantle of being a clear lesson in what best practices can mean. At 8am on a Sunday, the normally bustling restaurant was 90 percent vacant, so we had an easy choice of a table by a window that brought great morning light for reading and allowed another favorite pastime, people watching on the streets of America's favorite brand-name city. |
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So, we sat at a table for two that was closely joined with another two-top to make a table for four. In our case that allowed room for the newspapers and side dishes. After a pleasant encounter with our waiter, a second person came along to separate the adjoining table from ours saying that it would be needed for seating another twosome. "Excuse me, but the place is nearly empty and the table isn't needed right now is it?" was the question from my lady Andrea. Well, the discussion escalated up to the restaurant manager who was charming and agreeable that we could use the neighboring table as long as there was no breakfast crowd requiring all their space. While the cranky employee had obviously skipped the "how to be gracious in all things" section of the training manual, the manager’s handling of the situation showed why he'd earned the job. Best practices would have dictated that the errant and officious server would have simply put us on notice that the extra table might be needed at some time while we were there, and if so, we'd be required to relinquish it.
I ordered the pancakes with "organic Vermont Maple Syrup." The cakes arrived fluffy and hot with butter and syrup on the side, but both those condiments were refrigerator cold! Would you make pancakes at your house and then throw ice cold syrup and butter on them? Best practices would be room temperature butter for quick spreading and warm syrup to be compatible with the hot cakes. You see, I believe that all it takes is simple consciousness to get into the best practices zone. Ask yourself what would please you and then proceed to deliver that experience at every encounter. If you'd like a comfortable atmosphere, fresh napkins, a clean table and hot food at breakfast, then those people who are paying and hopefully tipping might like that too. Simple thinking can equal best practices.
Several incidents like the breakfast story have me beginning to think that service is the new luxury. The previous evening, we'd been to a 50th birthday celebration at a local country club where the staff was dispensing smart hospitality at every turn. We were wished a good time so often by parking valets, hostesses and servers that we began to think it was our party! In any business, but especially service businesses, best practices don't necessarily require you to spend $100,000 on the latest piece of equipment, but instead to invest the time in rigorous training and setting a culture of consciousness among all employees who have customer contact. All the consultants and studies in the world won’t get you to the next level in your business without your willingness and commitment to best practices at every level. You don’t need a Harvard business school degree to have a feel for doing the right thing---just common sense will do it most of the time. Remember that people will pay for a wonderful experience and that is the easiest way for you to see you revenues climb—and make more friends in the process.
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