Large Header




Pizza Insight
CEO Project

Sure-Fire Staff Selection System
Contact Us
EFFORTLESS, INC.
PO Box 280
Gig Harbor, WA 98335 USA
(800) 767-1055
(253) 858-9255
Quick Links
 EHC #558
 Insights for the Professionally Curious
 October 10, 2008 
One of my more difficult weekly tasks is to decide what information I am going to leave OUT of the Complimentary Edition of the EHC. It's not that I don't love you all, just that the folks who are paying for my weekly rants deserve to get their money's worth ... even if that money only averages out to 75 cents an issue. So I apologize for the necessary surgery ... and hope you may eventually decide your business is worth another forty bucks a year!
Good Morning!

We finally walked in the house last Saturday night around 11pm Pacific Time after about a 28-hour day! Our bags liked it so much in Europe that they decided to stay longer (the airline called at 4:30 Monday morning to say they were dropping them off!) and I think my brain finally arrived late Tuesday afternoon. Such is the glamorous life of the world traveler.

I have spent most of the week trying to sort through the accumulated mail, catch up on a ton of e-mail, and find my balance again ... but I have to hurry. I leave again tomorrow for a week of training sessions for a hotel group in Mexico! It could be worse.

When I get back from that trip, it will be time to re-focus on the evolution of the Six Star project and the Birthday Bash in New Orleans. There are a lot of balls in the juggle these days ... but there are worse problems than being busy!


Bill Marvin
The Restaurant Doctor

Watch Your Words
Be Aware of "Elderspeak"
The Baby Boomers are getting older and, thankfully, we are all living longer, so you are likely to see more gray heads in the years ahead. That shift in market composition also calls for a shift in your understanding and approach to older diners.

For reasons I don't pretend to understand, we tend to use terms of endearment when speaking to seniors. Not only does it irritate them, but studies show it damages their health.

Professionals call it "Elderspeak," that sweetly belittling form of address that has always rankled older people -- talking to their companion rather than to them about their order or thinking you need to talk to seniors slowly or in a louder voice. How many waitresses have you seen who address every elderly person as "dear?"

People think they're being nice, but seniors find it disrespectful and insulting. That would be enough reason to consciously steer clear of the practice, but now studies are finding that the insults can have health consequences, especially if people mutely accept the attitudes behind them.

Researchers say those little insults and annoyances can lead to more negative images of aging, and those who have more negative images of aging have worse functional health over time, including lower survival rates. Contributing to THAT situation, however innocently, is not very hospitable!

This might make a good topic for your next staff meeting.
Six Star Hospitality(tm)
Rethinking Restaurants

The competitive climate (and guests' expectations) have changed. Not too long ago, it was enough to just get the job done properly. But the competitive advantage for independent operators is hospitality and true hospitality comes from a state of mind, not a checklist.

The key to success in this new era lies in reaching a deeper of understanding people and how they work together to create a climate where the guest feels well-served, the staff and managers are happy and the needs of the company are also satisfied.

Over the years, franchise organizations and a few exceptional individual restaurateurs have developed approaches that produce consistent results for their own operations ... but no one has taken up the "impossible" challenge to revolutionize the way independent restaurants at all levels operate in the real world.

Because hospitality is clearly a "people business," any true breakthrough must ... yet few operators ever receive any real education about what makes people tick. In fact, there was no such training ... and no support system to give context to its implementation ... until now.

The Six Star Hospitality Program will provide the understanding and structure necessary to deliver a consistent experience of high level hospitality while answering the most important questions the industry has to ask:
  • Can it really be done?
  • Can it be tailored to suit any type of restaurant?
  • Can it be delivered at an easily affordable cost?
The answer to all these questions is a resounding yes.

(more next week)

The Six Star project is taking on a life of its own. I appreciate the 280+ operators who have helped the cause by responding to the general survey. Have I heard from you yet? It's never too late to share your thoughts.

The program designers will need to invent ways to do things that have always seemed impossible ... so what would you like to see invented while they are at it? The next few EHC surveys will take each element of the Six Star program and ask you to go WAY outside the box of what you think is possible.

Essentially we want you to complete this sentence: "Wouldn't it be cool if ______" Go crazy! Be unreasonable! We want to know the resources you wish you had at hand if your wildest dreams could come true. Then we'll see how close we can come to giving them to you.
The October Survey
Community Connection

Most independent operators are fixated on marketing, believing that all they need to succeed is to get more people through the door. That is important, of course, but people only come back because they want to ... because you have become their favorite restaurant.

Achieving this goal is more the result of continued connection than of endless marketing hype. Part of that connection is personal and part of it comes from maintaining contact and awareness with past and potential guests in a way that makes them inclined to patronize you more often..

This month's survey outlines what we already intend to create ... and asks for your ideas to help us see even more radical applications. The program designers will need to invent ways to do things that have always seemed impossible ... so we want a "wish list" of the resources you would like to have at hand if your wildest dreams could come true ... then let's see how close we can come to giving it to you.

If you wanted to be part of the Six Star development process, this is the way to do it right now. I can't ask you to field test something until we have created it!

As usual, I will send copies of the survey results to everyone who participates. In the meantime, you can download copies of all past EHC surveys -- including the massive WOW Ideas collections.

Click here to add your thoughts to this month's survey.

Here's What You're Passing Up To Save 75 Cents!
In This Week's EHC Special Edition ...

  • If You're Dead, Lie Down - a slice of reality on knowing when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em ... and why
  • The Flavor Bible - a new "uncookbook" that will allow you spice up your menu and fully utilize scrap of every edible in the restaurant ... without a recipe or a chef
  • What Did You Learn From Your Staff Today? - how to get three pages of marketing ideas over a cup of coffee!
  • Special Offers on Management Resources - while I am still in that business
Solve the problem of what to talk about in your next staff meeting. Upgrade to the EHC Special Edition and get it all!
Copyright ©2008 William Marvin. All rights reserved.

This e-mail is sent by William Marvin, Effortless, Inc., PO Box 280, Gig Harbor, WA 98335 USA, e-mail:bill@restaurantdoctor.com, website at www.restaurantdoctor.com. Past editions of EHC are archived on the website.

The Electronic House Call is sent only to subscribers who have requested it. If a copy of this was forwarded to you by a friend and you would like to receive it directly, you can subscribe on the website. You can take your name off the subscription list by clicking on the "SafeUnsubscribe" link at the bottom of the page. You can update your e-mail address, name, spelling and interest categories by clicking on the "Update Profile/Email Address" link at the bottom of the page.

Copyright Notice: The EHC may be copied and re-transmitted by electronic mail, and individual copies of a particular EHC e-mail transcript may be printed, provided that such copying, re-transmission, printing, or other use is not for profit or other commercial purpose.

Material from EHC may NOT be reproduced on the World Wide Web or in broadcast media, print media, or other media without express written permission. Please contact Effortless, Inc. at 253-858-9255 or bill@restaurantdoctor.com to submit a request. Any copying, re-transmission, distribution, printing, or other use of EHC material must set forth the following credit line, in full, at the conclusion of the portion of EHC that is used: "Copyright ©2007 William Marvin. Reprinted with permission." William Marvin and Effortless, Inc. may withdraw or modify this grant of permission at any time.

Privacy Statement: The e-mail addresses that make up the EHC distribution list are confidential; Effortless, Inc. does not furnish these addresses to any other entity in any form or for any purpose. Effortless, Inc. directly distributes the EHC only to users who have subscribed either by e-mail, or via our home page. Once you remove your address from the distribution list, no record of your address remains in the database. Addresses that are returned three times as undeliverable will be dropped from the list.