People like to know people...makes them feel important and wanted. It's logical then that the most successful businesses invest heavily in relationships.
The experience of doing something is now less of a factor. A sales person isn't valuable if they don't have a network or the ability to develop one. A guest services employee is merely a placeholder if people don't naturally gravitate and want to relate to them.
because it helps you tell a story...gives you an opportunity to personalize...to express why you do something or why you feel a certain way. Blogging gives you a chance to extend resumes, websites, interviews or sales calls...gives you a chance to add flavor and personality to an otherwise two dimensional brand.
is that what people really want to know about you is in between the lines. They want the story that isn't obvious. They want the picture of you on top of the mountain or with your dog. They want to hear how you would react to a financial crisis or guest complaint. They want to read the last performance appraisal you wrote. They want to see what your passionate about...what makes you tick. How is a resume going to accomplish that?
I like Dan Schawbel's idea about using one word to describe your personal brand. I'd take it a step further...use a series of single words to capture your story.
My Brand...Story
My Story...
think
story
simple
photo
visual
remarkable
surprise
hospitality
meaningful
less
kids
airplane
camera
snow
design
care
relationship
It used to be tougher...meetings, memos, phone calls and lot's of time put into keeping the other side informed...just so you could keep from looking foolish. Now, there's hardly an excuse...technology makes it easy and fast. But, somehow, people still find ways to create the gaps...those companies eventually die.
Worried about the market chaos? The likelihood of travel cutbacks and reduced demand? I wouldn't be...not much you can do about it. What I would do however is lead a charge of flawless execution. Because that's what it's going to take to see you through.
Tough times are actually wonderful opportunities to build a business. While the competition is in cost cutting, hunker down, stay the course mode...you get better. You take some chances. You become even more fanatical about service. You demonstrate even more care for your employees and customers. And, you improve execution...of all of it. Meanwhile, your customers are worried, nervous, looking for value and safe harbor. Are they going to turn to someone with less staff, less hours and a marginalized product? Probably not. But, at the same time, people aren't going to change, take a chance, seek out something new either. Unless you give them reason to.
Now is precisely the time to try something new, add a new flavor, another ounce or make one more follow-up call. Now is the time to infuse more care and service into everything you do. Now is the time to do something...and do it well. That's what people are looking for.
Picked this great quote from an interview with Tom Fishburne over at Church of the Customer...
Robert Stephens, founder of Geek Squad: "Advertising is a tax you pay for unremarkable thinking."
Amen!
How about a Radio Flyer full of toys upon arrival...I wish they had this sort of thing when I was growing up...maybe they did and I wasn't lucky enough to stay in the right places.
Technology is great, especially when it helps you tell a story. And, the iPhone is really good at it...I think superior to my old Blackberry. One of the things I like to do is use my iPhone to show people pictures...it's like having a portable brochure or portfolio. I use it in the lobby, on a plane and even when I'm hosting a BBQ for my neighbors. I can imagine sales staff, concierge or anyone with an opportunity to spread the word using this tool.
I'll share other uses as I stumble onto them. Meanwhile, if you have any ideas, please pass them along.
At the outset, it's actually quite simple. The first question to ask...do the existing hotels lead a healthy life, are they enjoying high occupancies? And, are they profitable? If the answer is yes...proceed with a detailed project analysis, develop a meaningful concept, find a site and some money. If the answer is no (or, there aren't any hotels to start with), the market has a demand problem. And, that needs to be fixed first, before giving any thought to adding hotel rooms. In rare cases, the hotel development itself generates incremental demand. They did that in Austin by expanding the convention center and adding an 800 room Hilton to attract larger groups. They did it in Greenwood by adding the Alluvian Hotel, spa, cooking school and retail to a small town in the middle of the Mississippi Delta. It's also done with water parks and golf resorts. But, more often than not, demand problems are solved primarily with experiences incidental to the hotel component. And, that's a much tougher problem to solve because it demands risk taking, collaboration between people with differing world views, passion for new ideas, unpopular decision making and a willingness to place a higher importance on long term benefits...characteristics not often used to describe community based development. So, these efforts often get stuck...because there's no leadership and no commitment to being remarkable.
Sometimes, an argument is made that "new" will improve the neighborhood and everyone will benefit. New is always nice, but, that lasts maybe a year...then, you still have a demand problem. If the existing hotels are struggling, people aren't coming. And, if people aren't coming, there's a reason...or, two, or three.
Some of the things I look for when sizing up a market for hotel and tourism development:
I know there are many more...but, it's a start.
Do something meaningful. Do something spirited. Do something people want.
What's the value of a recruiter? Time (which equates to money). So, why is it that so many of them still have you do most of the work. Just today, I received an answer to a job order...in the form of a resume. Nothing else, just the resume. In this day and age, that's insulting. Anyone can farm resumes. What I'm looking for is someone that saves me time and serves up the perfect candidate...on a silver platter. That takes some work. That requires a thorough understanding of not just the job, but the company, the facility, the culture, peers, subordinates, corporate politics, etc, etc. Obviously, a strong recruiter/client relationship is paramount. You can't accomplish that over the phone or by reading the company website and mission statement. You need to hop on a plane, see the property and meet the people involved. You need to act interested. If a recruiter took the time and made an investment to interview my team in this way, I'd be happy to give them an exclusive.
Next, I expect a recruiter to fill in the gaps...the things I can't see on a resume. I expect to know why someone wants to change jobs, what motivates them, where they want to live and why. I expect to know what remarkable things a person has done in their life and why I should trust them. I expect to see, hear and experience what this person is like...before I ever talk with them on the phone. Yes, every management candidate should have an on-line presence, website, blog, etc. If a candidate doesn't have a package like this, it's the recruiter's responsibility to guide them there. Too much to ask? Obviously, I don't think so. Without a recruiter, my team has to prospect leads and uncover all of these answers, over and over until we get lucky. So, the value of a good recruiter is tremendous, worth every penny...if they do this scope of work. But, simply send me a resume? Sorry, sell that to someone else.
What are you doing to move your organization forward? What are the people around you doing? What about the candidate being considered to join your company...what did she do at her last company to get them ahead? No matter when or how often you ask, it's always the most important thing to know....what are we doing?
Try implementing a 5 things report to get everyone focused on the idea of measurable progress. List the 5 things you're doing right now that will measurably move the organization forward...to get it a step closer to achieving overarching objectives like building an audience of loyal raving fans, reducing waste by 5% or improving employee retention. Release a new list regularly, on whatever schedule feels right...weekly seems to work well for most. Start handing yours out to your boss, peers and subordinates. Don't ask for theirs. After awhile, you'll get some in return. Hopefully, you'll start a shift in the culture of participation and measuring progress.
I wonder why we still send people through queues? In a day and age where time is so short, no one likes to stand in line, wait on hold or talk with people who can't solve their problem. So, why do we insist on forcing customers to a home page, to an operator or customer service desk when the specialist they need is elsewhere...and now easily accessible?
We used to send people through a funnel to count them, space them, slow them down and to ensure that everyone eventually ended up in the right place. We had to generalize because there wasn't an effective and efficient way of anticipating special needs and directing traffic. The by product of the degeneralization process was well trained but often unhappy customers. Now, mobile phones, computers and PDA's let us do all of the measuring and channeling in a fraction of the time, which makes people happy. They've also raised the expectation bar significantly...peer to peer is fast becoming the norm...direct interaction with exactly the right person, right away is the standard.
So, why do I still have an office number when your chances are better to reach me via mobile phone? Why have an admin who answers the phone when voice mail accomplishes the same result? How often does an admin offer to transfer you to voice mail? Why do we send everyone to the home page, when separate landing pages (or micro home pages) make more sense? Why route all incoming calls to the hotel operator, when virtually every specialist could have their own number?
If someone needs a concierge, list their names and numbers on the website to make it easy to find just the right one (show if they're on duty). Need a sales person or the GM? Put it on the website. Want to book a meeting? Don't go the home page...go to www.yourhotelsales.com to see a list of the people that can give you an answer.
I realize there are instances when you can't know in advance what someone is looking for...so a generalist steps in to direct traffic. But, probably 8-9 times out of 10, we can be smarter than that...if we set-up the most anticipated one on one connections and spread the word how to get there.
Interested in learning how to do 100 push ups? Don't go to any old fitness website, go to hundredpushups.com
Interested in learning how to ride a unicycle? Go here.
Send people directly where they want to go...getting there is not always half the fun.
This is how I draw org charts, especially when recruiting people. I intentionally draw attention to a person's universe...who affects them vs. Who reports to whom. Now I have a more clear picture of who needs to interview, line of questioning, etc. This format also leaves little question about who's most important.
A lot. That's common sense. But, caring is hard to measure and doesn't always pay off right away. That's why it's often overlooked, underfunded and underutilized as a marketing tactic. Instead companies hang on to things like rebates...a scheme with the opposite effect of building a relationship, which is what caring does.
In general, everything you do as a marketer falls into two categories...activities which build audiences of loyal raving fans....like care. And, activities which go for the quick, one time strike with little or no regard for future interaction or repeat patronage...like rebates. Care is more expensive up front, requires far more creativity and is harder to plan and execute. But, it always pays. A rebate strategy is cheaper, looks nicer on the surface and takes a lot less work. But, it relies almost purely on chance and carries a significant risk of annoying the audience in the process.
Rebate strategies place a low value on a customer's time, requiring them to prospect and "work" for value...easy for the company, hard for the customer. Those lucky to make it though are rewarded. Care is completely transparent and leaves no doubt that the company carries the workload to make things easy and better for the customer.
Companies employing rebate strategies often look at the short-term opportunities and forget about the long-term damage...the lasting negative image of the annoyance factor. Caring companies see the value of doing something meaningful and endure up-front long hours and expense to create a life long asset.
My last post, the photo of the Try Our Specials sign, demonstrates a subtle rebate tactic. It's easier to put up a sign that you can buy pre-made, that you never need to worry about changing and to make people walk in to find out what you're up to than to create a program and presentation that shows how much work you put into it. On the other hand, I've seen restaurant chalk boards and server menu elaborations which left me wondering "how did they do that?" But, it never left me wondering why.
People place a value on care, more these days with free time so short and the annoyance factor so high. They want companies to care enough not to make them fill out a form, not to stand in line, not to keep them on hold, not to have to enter their account number three times for one transaction, not to make them wait six weeks for a discount.
If you care, they'll be your friend, and they'll even pay you more.
