The Difference That Makes The Difference In The SME Market

Back in the early 90’s, having been fortunate enough to have had some real success with turning around failing hospitality businesses, we found ourselves being headhunted by several of the major hospitality chains.

We were approached by someone in Whitbread to see if we could help raise the profit margins in a business that, on the face of it, was really successful. 

Turnover was growing year on year, it would fly through industry audits and yet profits year on year were in decline. The business definitely wasn’t reaching its full potential.

Always being people that enjoyed a challenge, we accepted their offer and the adventure started.

On the surface, this was a magnificent business, but on closer observation it became apparent that all was not right.

After a gentle few days easing into the new position, we were faced with our first weekend of trading; a time where sales really ramped up. It was our first opportunity to meet one of our new Assistant Managers, Martin.  We didn’t get to spend as much time with him as we would have liked that weekend because Martin's role had been established as being that of moving from table to table dealing with complaints!

That was all he did all weekend; appease people by using his charm, free drinks, free deserts, a free meal, or (if all else failed) a total refund. No wonder the profits were declining.

Complaints were mostly about the amount of time people had to wait for their meals and, at peak times, they escalated to include the quality of the food.

We called a team meeting to discover the team's thoughts on what was happening and to look at ways of overcoming the challenges. Upon speaking to the team, it became apparent that there was an underlying theme to everything they were saying. It all boiled down to one particular belief that I hear so often in just about every business I work with: “That’s the way it is in this industry, people come in and they try it on.”

For this team of people, the proof that it was true was that all they had ever witnessed was people complaining and because they complained they got a refund. So I asked the question, “Aren’t our customers right to ask for a refund? After all, we are not living up to our promises; a great meal served to their table within a set time and in a great atmosphere?” That is when limiting belief number two surfaced, “At peak times, it just can’t be done...we cannot deliver meals in that time because the kitchen can’t cope!”

The problem here is that they had become so used to being told, “It can’t be done,” that they believed it. Instead of looking for ways to overcome the problem, they had learned to live with it.

I see this happening, day in, day out, for a great many of the businesses owners that I come into contact with. They are stuck in a rut thinking, "That’s the way it is in my industry."

One of the best ways to overcome this challenge is to look for exceptions. Who in the industry is not accepting these limiting beliefs? What are they doing differently? What empowering beliefs do they hold?

That is usually met with a barrage of, “They are bigger than us and we don’t have their money, their people, their location, their luck etc.” A whole new set of limiting beliefs.

These limiting beliefs are not true.  Notice they are BELIEFS, not facts. They are just a set of excuses used to prevent change and the fact of the matter is you can OUTSERVE anybody; it’s a choice for you to make and when you make it, the difference to your business can be outstanding.

So, the difference that makes the difference for the SME market is outstanding service, and the brilliant thing is everybody can achieve it and it needn’t cost you a penny.

The fix in this particular restaurant was to show the team that it could be different, that we could meet our promises to the customers and when we did that, life at work would get whole lot more enjoyable. We showed them that they would be a happy team and that would have an effect on the customers too; a real win-win situation.

All it took was for me to call in a couple of favours from chefs that had worked for me in previous restaurants. The idea was that they would work with me for a weekend whilst the regular team of chefs came in and observed.

With a few systems in place, better preparation, the right people in the right places at the right time and a determination to get it right, the next weekend was a breeze. Complaints were down by over 90%, and the team had a new realisation that working the kitchen could be different at peak period; there was another way.

In the six months that followed, turnover vastly increased, complaints became a thing of the past, staff turnover was cut by over 80% and profits DOUBLED!

All it took was a decision and that decision was to OUTSERVE our competition and it can be the same for you in your business.

Question for you: “When are you going to make the decision?”