Now on Amazon.com

My book is now available on Amazon.com

This is so cool. :)

X-cellent Guest Service on Amazon.com

The Book Is Ready

My book, X-cellent Guest Service, is now available.


This book contains all the information I presented at my X-cellent Guest Service seminars. It covers the information about Generation X as it applies to the hospitality industry and it gives suggestions and advice for improving guest service at your hotel or restaurant.

It even includes my secret three rules for any situation. These three rules will give anybody at your hotel or restaurant the guidelines and power to handle any situation that comes up in a way that will keep a happy customer without causing damage to the business. It was these three rules that helped me take a 30 year old hotel and restaurant from the mid 50% brand ranking to the top 5%, beating out many newly opened hotels of the same brand.

Follow the link below to order a copy of X-cellent Guest Service.
https://www.createspace.com/3331991

Change The Beliefs to Change The Behavior

To effect change, whether it is in business or in life, one of the key elements is to change a behavior. You want your staff to deliver better service to your customers you need to see to it that they behave in a manner that will be appreciated and desired by your current and potential customers. Your staff needs to act the right way, they need to speak the right way, they need to conduct themselves the right way, they need to present themselves the right way. It is all about their behavior when in contact with the customer.

What drives behavior? It is the beliefs a person have in their mind that influences their actions and the things in their world. Everything we see, touch, smell, and hear are all filtered through out brain by our beliefs and result in the actions and behaviors we manifest. Change the beliefs and the behavior will change along with it.

One of the best ways to train or teach is by repetition. Think of any new “thing” you had to learn at some point in your life. Riding a bike, or driving a car, you may have made a few mistakes along the learning process. But, as you found ways to complete the process, without the mistakes, you eventually achieved success. It took practice; it took repeated attempts before you finally did it. Then after doing it more and more it eventually became a habit. You could do it without thinking about all the little details involved, the details that you once made mistakes on when first learning how to do it.

We create our world based on the way we interpret the information coming into our brain. How be believe a thing to be true is how it will be for us. The law of attraction says that what we are mentally, and vibrationally, (consciously or unconsciously) in alignment with is what will manifest in our life. If you want to improve the customer service in your business, then your staff needs to be in alignment with that desire.

Now let’s put these together. Repetition and consistency in training your employees, or in dealing with colleagues is important because you want to change their beliefs. Once the belief system is changed and they are acting, or behaving, in alignment with this new belief, then all the desired goals connected to the new belief will be achieved.

So, consistency in training, or in dealing with employees or colleagues, is important because you want to change their belief systems. Once the belief is changed then all the goals will be achieved by virtue of the law of attraction.

She Couldn't be Bothered

Well it happened again, just as it does every six months or so. The screen in my electric razor got a hole in it. So, it is time to go to the nearest major superstore to buy new screens and blades for my razor.

The store I went to has a name that starts with a W and ends with a T. I went to the department with the razors and found the package I needed. It was in a locked case. I guess they need to keep the small packages that sell for nearly $30 locked up to prevent shoplifting. Anyway, I needed it so I could shave the next morning so I started to look for somebody in uniform to help me.

Luck seemed to be on my side that day because there was an employee in the very next aisle and she was just around the corner from the locked case. Wonderful, I must have a horseshoe in my pocket.

I politely excused myself for interrupting her shelf stocking and explained that I needed a package out of the razor case. Her reply was “This is pharmacy, that is health & beauty. You’ll need to find somebody else, somebody from health & beauty. Try by the back wall.” And she went back to her shelf stocking.

Well, I sort of lost my politeness after the way she treated me, the customer, with an attitude of indifference. She couldn’t care one way or the other if I got what I needed or not. Apparently it wasn’t her job to help customers find what they are shopping for. Her job was to stock the shelf and not be concerned about customers.

As I walked away, toward the back wall as I was instructed, I repeated the directions she provided to the friend who went to the store with me. I repeated the directions a bit louder than I needed to. I was actually upset and felt that my business with that store was not important. It was a 45 minute drive to get to the store, I really needed the razor parts, so I was not willing to just leave and shop elsewhere.

I did find a very nice lady who even asked about my health as she walked with me to unlock the case. After spending a minute with her I felt much better. The first woman, as part of her service to a customer, should have said she was sorry and she does not have the key for that case. It would have been better had she offered to find the person who does have the key. It would have taken her one and a half minutes at the most to find the nice lady and go back to stocking the shelf. And think how much better I would have felt about shopping at that store.

Customer service is doing small things that make a big difference to the customer. It doesn’t have to be extravagant displays of going out of your way to provide outstanding feats of service. All it takes to provide excellent customer service is kindness and showing you care about the customer. Just do a small thing that will make life just a tiny bit better for the customer. That’s it. Do that and you will be a service champion.

WOW Service

I had to say “wow” when this happened. I was traveling through Canada when I needed some money wired to me. My sister was kind enough to send the money I needed and she sent it by Western Union. While she was doing that it was my job to fin the nearest location to receive the money. I found one in a small drug store in a small town about 40 minute drive north of Calgary, I was heading that direction anyway.

The lady at the counter had a problem with the computer and printed the check incorrectly. She apologized and called another lady who works there for some help. This second lady was at home on her day off. She drove to the store to help figure out what to do. After about 20 minutes the owner came out to offer some help. They had to call Western Union to void the check and reprint a new one. The owner came over to apologize for the mistake. I told him I understood and then asked where I could cash the check. He looked at his watch and said the bank was closed by that time. He said he would cash it for me even though it was against store policy.

Do you see why I said “wow?” This kind of caring service is very rare these days. I suppose in a small community it is important to care about your customers because everybody needs to get along. Maybe it was because the people working in the store were, how shall I say, mature. They understand the old school standards of customer service. Something most of the younger crowd don’t understand without detailed training. Sadly, that training is not prevalent these days.

I made it a point to return to that store my next time through. They have a lifetime customer in me, too bad I don’t go through that area too often. If I lived there I would only shop at that store because they truly cared about their customer.

Attitude Makes a Huge Difference

When dealing with the public, as all hotels do, it can be difficult to maintain a good attitude. Yet we have all met somebody who just seems to be positive no matter what, or who, comes along. I think a key element to being positive no matter what, is to fill your mind with positive things. Don’t let negativity take hold of your mind. If your mind is trained to think positive on a regular basis, then when difficulties come around your brain will automatically look for the positive in any situation.

One of my favorite quotes about attitude:

“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)

Maybe that is one way to stay happy and positive when facing a difficult guest in your hotel. ☺

Hospitality

Hospitality is defined in one dictionary, Wordnet by Princeton University, in a way that I really like. It says hospitality is “kindness in welcoming guests or strangers.” For most of us, most of the time, the guests who come to our hotels are strangers to us. By using the one simple word, kindness, we find hospitality described in an easy to remember form that all of us can understand. We can approach any guest contact situation with kindness. I find that the word kindness evokes a pleasant and positive feeling for people when they hear it. To apply kindness to hospitality really helps anybody understand what is meant by hospitable service.

The overall environment to give our guests the best stay possible is one of kindness, cordial, and generous hospitality. An environment that is welcoming and informative with no problems. To avoid potential problems have information ready if the guest needs it, but don’t force the information on guests who don’t want it.

Generation X likes to gather information and if you can provide the information they are asking for, when they ask for it, then you become a hero to the Gen X guest. You take one more step to proving that you deserve their loyalty. Anticipating needs is the best way to reduce, or eliminate, problems before they occur.

Not too long ago I was in Portland, Oregon, to conduct a seminar at the Holiday Inn Portland Airport. The printer sent out the workbooks for the seminar one day later than I expected. So, at 10:00 o’clock the night before the seminar, I was in desperate need for a FedEx Kinko’s store to print some emergency copies of the seminar workbook. I asked at the front desk where I could find the Kinko’s and the desk clerk knew the location of the store. She then opened a file drawer and pulled out a piece of paper which she handed to me. It had exact, detailed directions to the Kinko’s store. It started with ‘turn left out of the hotel driveway…’ and it included distances between each turn. I drove to the Kinko’s store as if I had made the trip a hundred times before. That hotel anticipated my needs and prepared the information ahead of time to satisfy my need. That was something I did not expect. They exceeded my expectations by preparing for my needs.

For more information about Generation X and their hotel travel patterns, as well as some tips on coaching Gen X, my eBook is available for download.
http://www.freewebs.com/borderlandhosp/xcellentserviceebook.htm

Success Principles

I am currently reading The Success Principles by Jack Canfield and Janet Switzer. The first chapter gave me insight right from the get-go. Mr. Canfield says that in order for us to make our life better, to get to where we want to be, we need to take 100% responsibility for absolutely everything in our life. Everything we have, whether we like it or don’t like it, it is our responsibility, 100%, no exceptions.

This goes right along with the ancient Hawaiian system Ho’oponopono that Joe Vitale wrote about in his book Zero Limits. So, when I read the part about 100% responsibilities it was not a new concept to me. But, Mr. Canfield included a formula to help clarify the subject.

E + R = O

Event (E) plus our Response (R) = the Outcome (O).

The way we respond to any event will affect the outcome, or final results. How we react to any given event is what has brought us to the place we currently are. If we don’t like the way things have worked out so far… change the way we respond to things. This is the only way to change, or improve, the outcome.

If your habits continually bring about undesired results in your life, then to change the results you must change those habits. Remember the old saying about insanity being defined as continuing the same behavior and expecting a different result.

This also means no more blame. You can’t blame anybody or anything else for anything in your life that you don’t like. 100% responsibility really means 100% responsibility. You aren’t a victim anymore, you can’t demand others to feel sorry for you, you are responsible. I know this can be a tough pill to swallow. This may be a rude wake up call for some people, but it is the truth.

I can see so many ways this attitude will improve things. For example, if you are 100% responsible then there is no need to complain. It’s not anybody else’s responsibility so why complain about it? If you are not complaining, others may like to be around you more, it also helps to raise your own emotional state to a more positive place because you are not dwelling on the negatives by complaining.

Already I find excitement in this book. It will help to improve anybody’s life. I look forward to the changes and improvements in my life with the things I will learn and implement.

Thank you, Jack Canfield, for writing this book.

Service = Action

As I have posted before, Service is doing that which others need but are unable to do for them selves. Or it can be doing what other would rather not do for them selves. Either way, service is still doing something for another.

The key here is action. Service means to do something, and doing something requires action. To do means to act.

In my famous service rule, “Do whatever it takes to make the guest (or customer) happy” the key word is “Do.”

This word implies that action needs to be taken. This action is on the shoulders of the staff member who had the initial contact with the customer.

The idea is to do something so the guest does not need to wait for a manager to be tracked down. If the employee has the ability and knows what the best course of action might be, then let them take that action on their own behalf.

After all, most of the time they know what the manager will do, so let them do it and take care of the guest so the manager can do manager type things.

As long as the guest is happy, then proper service has been rendered. The right thing was done. The correct course of action was taken.

My Fish Story

Service is doing that which others need but are unable to do for them selves. Or it can be doing what other would rather not do for them selves. Either way, service is still doing something for another.

In the hotel industry it is the service that will separate you from the other hotels in your area as well as other hotels in the world. Could your hotel be known around the world for your service? Of course it could. Absolutely.

I mean if a small fish market in Seattle, Washington, could become world famous why not your small hotel? Last year I visited Pike’s Place Fish Market (yeah, the place where they throw the fish) even though I do not like fish. I am the only one in my family who wants to order a burger at Red Lobster. I never really had a liking for any form of seafood.

Anyway, I went to Pike’s Place specifically to see the world famous fish market and to experience the service, if only by association. I was surprised that it was smaller than I expected. All the stories made it sound so much bigger than it actually was.

Yet the stories about the kind of service they provide were no exaggeration. They really do make the customers feel great. They really do have fun in their work and that fun rubs off on the customers. They have a great time at work and the customers (and the observers) have a great time just being there.

If you have not read the book “Fish” I would recommend it. The book is fun, just like the place.

Another Attitude Quote

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind.” William James (1842 - 1910)

This is so true in my case. I have seen some of my worse situations suddenly turn around simply because I focused on positive thoughts. Look for the positive in every situation, even the devastating ones. I heard an interview with Dr. Joe Vitale and he said that ten years after a major, devastating event in your life, you can look back and see the positive that resulted from that situation when at the time you can’t see the positive. Then he went on to say why not look for the positive when the situation occurred? If you can see it ten years later, why not see it now? Take advantage of the fact that you can alter the attitudes of mind right away and skip over long periods of dread.

A poster one of my teachers had in the classroom in high school had the old saying on it, ‘when life gives you lemons make lemonade.” I remember that poster pretty clearly. It made sense to me at the time, but now it carries even greater meaning to me, now that I have the experience.

Thoughts About Attitude

I found this quote about attitude, “I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.” Martha Washington (1732 - 1802)

The way she points out that it is not the circumstances that determine whether we are feeling happiness or misery; it is disposition that dictates how we feel about the situation. The way we view things and how we decide within ourselves to feel and react to the situation is what makes us happy or sad, angry or elated, good or bad. It is amazing how much our mind, our thoughts, can effect the world around us. Most of the time, the outer world and the way we view it is being created by unconscious thoughts. Once a person can learn to fill the mind with positive thoughts, the rest of the world around them becomes a more positive place.

Martha sounds like she was a pretty smart lady. Just look at what her positive outlook did for her husband’s career.

Business is Booming

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, hotel sales is expected to be up 52% over last year globally, as reported in the Hotel Investor Sentiment Survey from Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels. In the first six months of 2007 global hotel transactions is already at $56 billion, compared to the $72.5 billion in the full year of 2006.

I hope the industry doesn't get complacent about business and allow service to lack. Almost sounds like history repeating.

Service or service?

A service is an action taken by one person to ease the life of others. That’s the way I look at it. Some services are good and others are not so good. I think the difference between the good and the not so good is the quality of the service we receive.

The other day I was at the gas station filling up the car. At this particular station they serve the customer meaning they pump the gas for you. As I sat in the car waiting for the pump to finish, the attendant picked up the squeegee and proceeded to clean the windshield. He got the window wet and began to scrape it off with the rubber blade. As he went lower and lower he moved very quickly. When he got the bottom h just grazed past the wiper blades, leaving dirty water at the bottom of the glass. He then walked around the car to the other side and just wet the six inches or so where he could not reach during his first attempt. Then he scraped the water off again, but this time in a downward motion. Again, he left dirty water at the bottom of the windshield.

I had streaks on the windshield going across the majority of the glass and streaks going down about six inches from the edge on the passenger side. I also had a concentration of dirt and smudge right against the wiper blades. I think I would have been better off without the windshield cleaning that particular day.

The attendant was providing a service by cleaning the windshield. What he was lacking was the quality of the service. Sure it is nice to have the windshield clean, but if the job can’t be done with a sense of quality, there really is no point in even trying.

When we are providing a service, no matter what that service may be, it is highly important that we have a sense of quality with the service. Without quality the job will be noticed more than if we add quality. Think about it. If the gas station attendant had cleaned the windshield properly, do you think I would have written about it here?

How To Make A Great First Impression

In business and in life we have multiple opportunities to make a first impression, but we never have a second chance to make a first impression.

In the business of hospitality life we must make our first impression hundreds of times each week and in some cases you may have that many in just one day. There is one simple, easy to do activity you can utilize that will ensure the greatest impression you can make the first time as well as the second, third, and even the sixteenth time.

This simple activity is to smile. That’s it, smile. A genuine, sincere, and friendly smile, not one of those painted on cursory smile. Those fake smiles are transparent and could backfire with the opposite affect.

A great first impression is a must in the service industry. A sincere smile is the easiest and the most valuable thing you can do when serving a guest.

As the Chinese proverb says “a man without a smiling face must not open a shop.” In order to be successful you need to smile.

Bad Service, Again

Just the other day I had lunch at a major brand name restaurant chain. Every city I have been to has had one of these restaurants. They are everywhere.

This particular one had some major problems with the service staff, and especially my server. She did fine with the welcome, she took the drink orders, and she took the meal orders just fine and go the orders right. The problem came when the meal was delivered. We sat there for a few minutes without and cutlery or napkins. My friend had a burger and started eating right away. I had a salad as my side dish and didn’t feel like eating it with my fingers. I probably would have if I had a napkin to clean the salad dressing off my fingers.

I finally flagged down another server, not the one assigned to our station; she was very energetic and promised to get us the cutlery. A moment later a third server appeared in the area sort of looking around in a daze like she was searching for something. Just as she reached our table she turned toward the front and literally hollered to ask “where?” After she got the reply she looked at us and said “Oh.” Then she set don one set of cutlery. My friend was more than half way through his meal so I went ahead and used the cutlery and ate my meal. When we finished we had to share the one napkin. I used one end and he used the other end.

The problems were: (1) our server did not come back to the table and check on us after the meal was served, (2) there was a lack of effective communication among the staff, and (3) there was no pride in doing a good job (this was apparent when the empty able next to us was never cleaned the entire time we were there).

This is one of the very few times I have left a tip under 10%. So many things were so bad I just couldn’t justify my normal 18-20%.

It is so easy for servers to increase their tips by implementing some basic, common sense to there routine. One of the best ways is to imagine yourself as the customer. Think of what you would like and do that for your customers.

There is an eBook that I would recommend to restaurant servers. It is one of the best resources I have ever read for tips on increasing tips.

http://www.gratuity-ingenuity.com/

Service Inclludes Safety

There was a garage fire down the street last night and it reminded me that safety is something every hospitality professional should be constantly aware of. Part of my three rules for every situation talks about the image of the hotel. Making sure your hotel is as safe as it can be will go a long way in the image your hotel has with your guests as well as the local fire marshal.

If an incident should occur, having the proper safety procedures and practices in place will not only help keep guests and staff safe, but it will also help with insurance claims and the official fire investigation. Keep records of all safety procedures, have your emergency manual updated, perform regular fires drills and document them.

Keeping your hotel safe should be common sense. It is the ultimate service you can provide for your guests.

Some of the causes of hotel fires I have heard about are lint in the dryers in laundry, HVAC units not properly cleaned or maintained, and improper electrical wiring (don't let maintenance use household extension cords).

The fire down the street took out the detached garage, storage room, and travel trailer. The owner is a lawyer and stored his files in the storage room. Yesterday he was getting his trailer ready for a family vacation. Nobody was hurt, even his dogs got out ok. The house suffered exterior damage with the siding melting off.

Offer to Fill ALL the Drinks

I joined a friend for lunch today and we ate at Montana's Steak House. Good place with great food. My favorites are the brisket and the roasted chicken. They have a very good country rice side dish.

Anyway, for our drinks I ordered an ice water with lemon (the lemon usually cuts the chlorine taste in city water) and my friend had a beer. Normally he has coffee, which is what made me think of this post. When we have eaten out before the server always checks back to see if he needed more coffee. This is normal practice, keep the coffee cup full as often as possible.

Today our server asked me if I wanted a refill of my ice water. It struck me then that I usually have to ask for more water. It doesn't seem to be automatic for servers to offer water refills as much as they do for coffee, cola, lemonade, or a drink from the bar. They always offer refills for every drink except for those drinking water. The fact she offered made me want to give her a slightly larger than average tip.

So, servers, when you offer to refill drinks remember that the people who choose to drink water will also want a refill. They may decide to have water because they can not drink the other beverages that are available. Keep in mind that water is a drink too. Plus, if you keep up on the water as well as the other beverages, you can increase your tips. Since there is no charge for water, you are making free money if you impress the water drinkers.

Lacking Service

It happened again. Of course it really isn't any big surprise. Service is so bad in so many places that it is what people expect, no matter where they go.

Today I had a small snack and a bottle of water at a nice little place in town. I had a book with me to just sit in a quiet corner and read. That was not a problem, the place was quiet and the chair was quite comfortable. The service, on the other hand, was lacking. I stood there for over five minutes before the girl working even bothered to look at me and say she would be with me in a moment. I know it as five minutes because I have a habit of looking at my watch. Comes from years of watching and timing my own staff. She could see me, I watched her make up three fancy drinks for customers waiting outside the drive through window. If I had a piece of paper to wad up I could have gently tossed it and it would have made contact. I say this without fear of exaggeration. I would never do that, she was that close to me that I could have.

When she did notice me she rang up my purchase and walked away to do some other work. No 'thank you', no 'have a nice day', just turned away.

With service so bad in so many places it really doesn't take very much to stand out. Little, simple, easy things can make all the difference you need to be the best in your guest's (customer's) eyes. So, why not do it?

Will Maguire

Hospitality is Kindness

An online dictionary, Wordnet by Princeton University, gives a definition for hospitality that I like. Hospitality is “kindness in welcoming guests or strangers.” For most of us, most of the time, the guests who come to our hotels are strangers to us. By using the one simple word, kindness, we find hospitality described in an easy to remember form that all of us can understand. We can approach any guest contact situation with kindness. I find that the word kindness evokes a pleasant and positive feeling for people when they hear it. To apply kindness to hospitality really helps anybody understand what is meant by hospitable service.