Jon Dale

Service or hospitality?

"It's absolutely irresponsible for anyone in a high touch business not to know who their customer is today."
- Danny Meyer, CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group

I recently heard Danny Meyers, a successful NYC restaurateur, say that the difference between service and hospitality is like the difference between an off the rack suit and a custom made suit. He described how his restaurants have been able to use technology solutions like OpenTable to know who their customers are and when they'll be dining. His team then uses that information to do more than just provide service, they custom design a hospitality experience for their guests.

I believe that Danny's advice is relevant far beyond the traditionally "high touch" businesses. Whether you're an auto-mechanic, an author, a hotelier, a clothing company, or a coffee shop...the technology you need is readily available to connect you directly with your end customer so you can provide a customized "hospitality" experience. If you don't, one of your competitors will...and then you lose.

Just providing service isn't enough...if you want to be remarkable you have to provide an experience.

It looks like we're all in the hospitality business now.

The cost of spam

There are two ways to look at the cost of spam.

Costs me nothing to ask and a few will say yes, so its worth it.

or

Every conversation is a journey. Each interaction builds on the prior interaction. Every time you touch someone in the outside world it costs you something and it costs them something.

How you answer the question will effect everything.

And while we're talking about spam...if you didn't send out that "e-newsletter" of yours, how many people would miss it enough to call you and ask where it was? If people don't miss it when its gone, I'd argue you don't really have a true permission asset. I don't care if your privacy statement gave you permission to send me email.  A true fan would be mad if they found out they'd been left out of a timely and relevant communication. 

What would it take for people to actually look forward to seeing your email in their inbox?