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!

I have been in Mexico all week, helping the executives, managers and food service supervisors of a hotel chain see an easier way to deliver even more responsive hospitality. (Yeah, I know ... tough life!) I share a few insights on my visit below.

Next week I head to beautiful Anderson, Texas to spend a few days with my long-time friend and mentor, "Coach" Don Smith. Don has been one of the people who has helped shape my understanding of our industry and I am so looking forward to talking over the Six Star project with him and getting his input and suggestions.

Looking at the other ball in the juggle right now, Joel and I have shifted the emphasis of the Birthday Bash in New Orleans in light of the disturbing financial situation we find ourselves in. It now has a decidedly more self defense orientation, focusing on how you can outwit, outsell and outlast the competition.

As people feel less secure, they will spend less on purchases they feel they can live without and restaurant meals may well be on that list. Our focus at the Bash is to make sure you are the last "little luxury" they hold on to. The cartoon below capsulizes the strategy perfectly.



Bill Marvin
The Restaurant Doctor

Watch Your Words
Be Aware of "Elderspeak"
Outrunning The Bear
Sometimes it IS about survival
There will be casualties in the months ahead. Our focus at the Birthday Bash is to help assure that you are not one of them.

Join us in New Orleans on November 17-18 and learn how to outwit, outsell (outrun!) and outlast your competition as the economy takes its inevitable toll.
Sharpening The Axe
You Don't Have To Be Bad To Get Better

I have had the rare privilege to spend the week in Cabo San Lucas with the key staff of the Pueblo Bonito hotel group. Our host property, the Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach Hotel, is a spectacular resort with great amenities and a staff who is genuinely eager to please. Needless to say I have been impressed.

When I arrived, there were so many things being done right -- and I mean really right -- that I secretly wondered why such an exemplary business would invest the money to bring in 70 of their key players from all over Mexico and fly me down for a week to work with them, especially in the face of a major economic slowdown in their primary market?

Why would such a well-run company make an investment like that? Precisely because they are such a well-run company.

I have seen it happen over and over again. When times get tight, the training budget is one of the first sacrifices that companies offer to the financial gods ... but Pueblo Bonito has declared their training to be untouchable. It is the one element of the operation their beancounters cannot mess with.

They understand that in the hospitality business, particularly in a markets as highly competitive as Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, their competitive point of difference is hospitality itself. They also understand that their ability to consistently deliver the true hospitality experience requires an investment in the development of their people.

The bear seems to be getting bigger and faster every day and time will tell if Pueblo Bonito will eventually get caught, but they will definitely outrun every other hotel in their markets ... and I predict that will be enough to assure their prosperity well into the future.
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 ...

  • Cool Idea Of The Week - a simple amenity that will help you create a positive point of difference between you and every other restaurant in your market.
  • Play a Bigger Game - how (and why) you will get more from your staff just by changing your thinking about what you do for a living
  • What Did You Learn From Your Staff Today? - how one manager learned an important lesson from her crew.
  • 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.