Consistency – the Key to Success
Consistency – the Key to Success
How about a truly awful experience? Give me a shout out if you’ve been mistreated, ignored or taken for granted. Where have you had an experience that brought you from a simmer, to a slow boil... and then to a frothing, steaming, spewing cauldron of frustration?
What’s that you say? You have both types of experience on a regular basis, often from the same company? Well, which one makes a greater impact and sticks with you longer, the gauzy sunshine or the raging volcano?
I think we all know the answer to that one. The sour taste of a poor experience is far more likely to overpower the sweetness of a "WOW"…and linger. Yet many companies still try to haphazardly swing for the fences, both in message and delivery, ignoring the negative impact of the whiff in exchange for the rare but intoxicating rush of the home run.
In keeping with the baseball analogy, it might help to illustrate my point by introducing you to the baseball statistic of Slugging Percentage, which measures how far a player makes it around the bases each at-bat. Let’s say Player A bats four times in a game, and hits a home run to go with three strikeouts; Player B bats four times in the same game and notches four singles. Both players have an identical slugging percentage of 1.000, indicating that on average they totaled one base per at bat. In reality? Player A brought his team closer to the end of an inning three times in the game, while Player B kept the inning going, each time.
And in baseball—like in business—you can stay at bat forever if you keep hitting singles. However, you will quickly find yourself playing defense if you focus all of your attention on one big hit at the expense of three feeble outs. And the hospitality industry is no exception. You aren’t going to keep your doors open by WOW-ing every fourth guest and whiffing with the other three. The recipient of the WOW may become a loyal guest, but certainly won’t occupy every room in the joint. Delivering consistently to all four guests? That keeps your RevPAR climbing and the metaphorical inning alive.
So what are the keys to consistency? How do you best set up your organization to keep the customer in his/her comfort zone with metronomic regularity?
I could lay out some consultant-speak, some frameworks and models for operational consistency and scalability, perhaps some Six Sigma Black Belt-derived words of wisdom. And they would be helpful.
Dreadfully dry and boring for the purposes of this article. But helpful.)
But all you really need to do is remember your last diet or exercise regimen or New Year’s resolution. There’s probably a common thread throughout the successful efforts and the opposite commonality within those that went down in flames. That thread is best illustrated by the conversation I had with a trainer the last time I embarked on a training regimen.
"What exercises," I asked innocently, "are the best for me?"
He replied after some deep thought. "The best exercises for you are whichever ones you are actually going to do."
Hmph.
So apparently I’m not going to transform myself into a rough, buff triathlon-running machine by training like Jack LaLanne one day and Jack Daniels the next. The key is figuring out what training like Rob Rush looks and feels like and doing that day in, day out.
(Or at least five times a week. Sometimes less if I’m traveling. But you know what I mean…)
The same lessons apply to you and your customer or guest experience. Ask yourself the same question that I asked my trainer - "what is the best experience for me to deliver." Make sure the answer is something that you are going to deliver, day in and day out.
Depending on your service sector, your clientele, average room rate or any number of other factors, your answer may very well be that the every day "WOW" is expected and what you are poised to deliver. Or it may just be a warm bed and a clean bathroom. Either way, you need to be prepared to create the operational and cultural infrastructure to connect on either promise consistently.
By no means is this article meant to downplay the impact of the WOW. In terms of creating a truly loyal, engaged guest, there is no substitute for the unexpected experience or gesture that saves the day or makes the moment. But the long-term strategy of providing a WOW experience is only effective if the investment, commitment and culture is in place to do it consistently. Though it sounds oxymoronic (or maybe just moronic!), in these instances, the WOW must become routine. Not for the guest receiving that special moment, but for the employees who are making it happen. If not, you’re right back to being the Dave Kingman of hospitality.
(Google him. Go ahead. Lots of homers. Waaaaaaaaay more strikeouts.)
So what’s the best experience for your guests? The one that you can deliver with consistency.
And if you misfire a few times, it isn’t the end of the world. Just make sure you’re a bit more consistent than your favorite baseball player. Even the best in the game make an out seven times out of 10. And that might be the standard-bearer for consistency in their ballpark.
Just not in yours.
Reprinted with permission from www.hotelexecutive.com
Consistency the Key to Success - To learn more about this author, visit Rob Rush's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
OK, let’s get down to the bottom of this. Please stand up and raise your hand if you’ve been "WOW-ed" lately. At the supermarket, dry cleaner, health club or hotel. Where have you had your socks knocked off…and then cleaned, pressed, folded and put away?
How about a truly awful experience? Give me a shout out if you’ve been mistreated, ignored or taken for granted. Where have you had an experience that brought you from a simmer, to a slow boil... and then to a frothing, steaming, spewing cauldron of frustration?
What’s that you say? You have both types of experience on a regular basis, often from the same company? Well, which one makes a greater impact and sticks with you longer, the gauzy sunshine or the raging volcano?
I think we all know the answer to that one. The sour taste of a poor experience is far more likely to overpower the sweetness of a "WOW"…and linger. Yet many companies still try to haphazardly swing for the fences, both in message and delivery, ignoring the negative impact of the whiff in exchange for the rare but intoxicating rush of the home run.
In keeping with the baseball analogy, it might help to illustrate my point by introducing you to the baseball statistic of Slugging Percentage, which measures how far a player makes it around the bases each at-bat. Let’s say Player A bats four times in a game, and hits a home run to go with three strikeouts; Player B bats four times in the same game and notches four singles. Both players have an identical slugging percentage of 1.000, indicating that on average they totaled one base per at bat. In reality? Player A brought his team closer to the end of an inning three times in the game, while Player B kept the inning going, each time.
And in baseball—like in business—you can stay at bat forever if you keep hitting singles. However, you will quickly find yourself playing defense if you focus all of your attention on one big hit at the expense of three feeble outs. And the hospitality industry is no exception. You aren’t going to keep your doors open by WOW-ing every fourth guest and whiffing with the other three. The recipient of the WOW may become a loyal guest, but certainly won’t occupy every room in the joint. Delivering consistently to all four guests? That keeps your RevPAR climbing and the metaphorical inning alive.
So what are the keys to consistency? How do you best set up your organization to keep the customer in his/her comfort zone with metronomic regularity?
I could lay out some consultant-speak, some frameworks and models for operational consistency and scalability, perhaps some Six Sigma Black Belt-derived words of wisdom. And they would be helpful.
Dreadfully dry and boring for the purposes of this article. But helpful.)
But all you really need to do is remember your last diet or exercise regimen or New Year’s resolution. There’s probably a common thread throughout the successful efforts and the opposite commonality within those that went down in flames. That thread is best illustrated by the conversation I had with a trainer the last time I embarked on a training regimen.
"What exercises," I asked innocently, "are the best for me?"
He replied after some deep thought. "The best exercises for you are whichever ones you are actually going to do."
Hmph.
So apparently I’m not going to transform myself into a rough, buff triathlon-running machine by training like Jack LaLanne one day and Jack Daniels the next. The key is figuring out what training like Rob Rush looks and feels like and doing that day in, day out.
(Or at least five times a week. Sometimes less if I’m traveling. But you know what I mean…)
The same lessons apply to you and your customer or guest experience. Ask yourself the same question that I asked my trainer - "what is the best experience for me to deliver." Make sure the answer is something that you are going to deliver, day in and day out.
Depending on your service sector, your clientele, average room rate or any number of other factors, your answer may very well be that the every day "WOW" is expected and what you are poised to deliver. Or it may just be a warm bed and a clean bathroom. Either way, you need to be prepared to create the operational and cultural infrastructure to connect on either promise consistently.
By no means is this article meant to downplay the impact of the WOW. In terms of creating a truly loyal, engaged guest, there is no substitute for the unexpected experience or gesture that saves the day or makes the moment. But the long-term strategy of providing a WOW experience is only effective if the investment, commitment and culture is in place to do it consistently. Though it sounds oxymoronic (or maybe just moronic!), in these instances, the WOW must become routine. Not for the guest receiving that special moment, but for the employees who are making it happen. If not, you’re right back to being the Dave Kingman of hospitality.
(Google him. Go ahead. Lots of homers. Waaaaaaaaay more strikeouts.)
So what’s the best experience for your guests? The one that you can deliver with consistency.
And if you misfire a few times, it isn’t the end of the world. Just make sure you’re a bit more consistent than your favorite baseball player. Even the best in the game make an out seven times out of 10. And that might be the standard-bearer for consistency in their ballpark.
Just not in yours.
Reprinted with permission from www.hotelexecutive.com
Consistency the Key to Success - To learn more about this author, visit Rob Rush's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
|||
Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
|||
Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Rob's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Article Marketing Performance Improvement Plan JV Considerations Get Ready for The Recovery Your Life Your Legacy |
|
 | ||
 |
Fortune Hunters
CBC Entrepreneur TV | |
 |
Top 50 Niche Blogs 2009
Top 50 Niche Blogs 2009 | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
