Tips to Grow Your Business Through Unreasonable Hospitality | Buffini
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Extraordinary hospitality is one of the most powerful competitive advantages in business. In a recent “It’s a Good Life” podcast, world-renowned restauranteur Will Guidara told Brian Buffini how creating bespoke experiences for his customers transformed his New York City restaurant into the best in the world. He explained how any business can grow and succeed by adopting the same philosophy and practices.
Know the difference between hospitality and service.
Will says that service means fulfilling the base-level promise; hospitality is how you make people feel when you provide that service. Whether it’s through eye contact, minute attention to detail or humor, you have to take the time and be present enough to do both the little and the big things that make people feel seen. In short, service is a part of the product; hospitality is everything that’s built on that.
Invest in relationships.
Many business owners are concerned with what Warren Buffet called the “moat”- the thing about their product or brand that they believe will keep others from surpassing them. The truth is, history has proven that someone will likely always build a better product or create a stronger brand. The only true advantage that exists in the long term comes from providing great hospitality and from consistently and generously investing in relationships. As Will says, relationships take a long time to build but, if you build them in the right way, they will take a long time to erode.
Utilize the 95:5 rule
Will governs his business with the 95:5 rule. This means that, for 95% of the time, he watches every penny fastidiously – there is no cost too small to pour over. Once he does that though, he believes he has earned the right to spend the last 5% on ‘foolish’ dollars that ultimately do some of the heaviest lifting and result in the kind of memories that last a lifetime.
This principle applies to investing in customers, but it also applies to creating unique and memorable experiences for colleagues like the annual holiday party, for example. If you’re conservative with your spending 95% of the time, you can make a real impact with that last 5% and do the kinds of things that people will never forget. But you need to earn the right to spend money in that way.
Any business can succeed by being more intentional and creative to build meaningful relationships with those they serve. To learn more, listen to the latest episode of “It’s a Good Life”.
