HOSPITALITYDOCTOR.COM
Max Hitchins - The Hospitality Doctor
I am a pilot. Some years ago I flew an aeroplane around the the coastline of Australia. I took two years developing a plan and a strategy is case something went wrong or conditions changed along the way. I have carried this kind of thinking throughout my business career. I suggest you think about doingsomethingsimilar. I believe whatever size your business is you need a marketing
poorly trained or uncaring staff member can destroy all the good work done by you and the rest of your staff. Once you have the above in place you can then move on to the following: •Getting staff onboard: As indicated above, the most important factor to consider is how to get your entire staff ‘on board’ and ‘on the same page’ for your promotions. •Staff meetings: Regular staff meetings to discuss your marketing plans and the results of same, are essential. •Ownership: Giving ‘ownership’ to the staff of all or parts of the marketing for various ideas or parts of it, is an excellent idea. •Database: A never ending task of increasing the membership of your database is essential to the futures successes. The question you need to pose to yourself and your staff is: “How can we capture the names of everyone who enters or premises?” •Birthday Club: Perhaps the easiest and most successful way to get people to join your database is to begin a birthday Club. Explain to your staff “If we offered everyone just $1 if they joined our birthday club, we probably would get zero takers. But if we offered everyone $100, we would probably get everyone. So, is there an amount somewhere in-between that would work?” •Collaboration 1: Do any of your ‘regulars’ own a business nearby? If so, talk to them about giving a ‘freebee’ to your database members as their birthday rolls around
strategy. But before planning your strategy, you need to look at the culture within your organization. Have you trained your team in the basics? i.e. Telephone procedures; smiling at customers; greeting customers; stopping to check up on your customers; asking if customers have enjoyed their food or drinks; having a quick service in presenting the bill; saying ‘thanks for coming’, ‘good-bye’, ‘good-night’ or ‘please come again’. This should all be in your staff manual. Every staff member should be ‘taken through’ the manual and told what is expected of them by yourself or a senior manager. Remember, a chain is only as strong as its’ weakest link. One
THA HOSPITALITY—REVIEW: APRIL 2021 | 34
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker