How to Provide Award-Winning Hospitality in Any Business

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You don't have to own a 5-star restaurant or hotel to provide award-winning service to your customers. Hospitality is a frame of mind, and although it may not be your default frame of mind, it can be learned.

Danny Meyer, a famed Manhattan restaurateur, wrote that hospitality means acting like you and your customer are on the same side. It's pretty simple when you think about it, yet so profound. How many negative customer interactions happened because you saw the other person as an opponent or an obstacle?

If you want the "Best Of" voters and committees to rush crystal awards to your office doorstep, follow these steps.

Reboot Your Mission Statement

One of the first things you should do is step back and re-examine your company's mission. When you founded your company, did you look primarily at the opportunity to make money? Now that you've been doing it for awhile, you have the perfect opportunity to take time and look at the transaction from the customer's side. You (hopefully) already know that your business has the capability to generate a profit; now ask yourself what you would want if you were on the other side of the counter. This may be more difficult than you think. Sometimes it is not easy to admit that you've been wrong all along, and in the case of some business owners, they have indeed been wrong. Take heart, however. You're reading this because you want to do better. If you see room for improvement, you now have the chance to incorporate those improvements into your business and make your past wrongs right.

Observe Award-Winning Service

This is the fun step. Go out and visit top-rated restaurants and/or hotels, or become a customer of a retail company that is heralded for their service (Zappos is an example). If this means taking a trip to the Bahamas and your budget allows you to do that, so be it! You'll learn over time that providing award-winning service is ultimately a joy, not a chore. In the end it creates freedom, not confinement. Enjoy what you receive from these companies; later, sit back and reflect on what made your interactions extraordinary. Once you've distilled that information, the logical next step is to determine how you can make your own customer interactions extraordinary. Examine every step of your process. In each step, ask yourself what could make life better for your customers?

Hire with an Eye to Service

Now that you're on a mission to provide award-winning service to your customers, you can hire with this in mind. Not only will you expect your new employees to be skilled in the qualifications your business requires, but you will also expect them to view hospitality as one of the most important aspects of their job. And what about existing employees? As you research ways to take your business to the next level, spend some quality time with the people who work for you and be honest with them. If you can afford it, take them with you on some of the explorations in the previous step. Your employees, too, can learn by experiencing amazing service. Once you've had the initial discussion, explain what service and hospitality mean to you, and allow your employees a chance to give input into the process. As your plan takes shape, you may need to be clear and firm with your existing employees.

Begin with the Very Next Customer

Finally, know that your mission to provide award-winning service does not need to wait for you any of the previous steps. The very next customer that calls, emails, or walks into your place of business is an opportunity for you to do better - immediately.  Sometimes all it takes is to be a little nicer, to be a little more courteous. Try to make a human connection with your customer. In fact, it can be as simple as asking them how their day is going.

Work to provide award-winning service, and even if the crystal awards never pile up on your mantle, your customers will know that you deserve the accolades. And how do customers give awards? They do so with their wallets, spending money on the goods and services that YOU provide.