Monitor Your Company’s Hospitality Commitment

Hospitality means different things to different buyers. Most foodservice professionals, when asked, will say they provide high hospitality levels to their clients. Yet, these same professionals probably couldn’t list the types of hospitality they are giving.

Hospitality is in everything you do with clients. It also is in everything that clients see, touch, hear and feel about your company. It just isn’t being “nice” to people. It is a total commitment from a your entire team towards anything and everything that touches the client and their guests.

Preplanning, discussions, checklists, procedures, scripts and rehearsal are all required to establish and continue a meaningful hospitality effort that affects your company in a positive manner. The answers to a few questions will help you understand what hospitality in catering involves:

·   Do prospects and clients get called back in a timely manner?

·   Does the staff look sharp from a buyer’s point of view?

·   Are the best people answering the phones?

·   Are valid qualification scripts being used, or are staff just winging it?

·   Do proposals get out in a timely manner?

·   Is helpful information being given to callers?

·   Do prospects feel that they are being “handled” or do they feel “loved”?

·   Are callers being talked “at” or are they listened to?

·   Is the team speaking proudly about the company at all times?

·   Is the facility clean?

·   Are clients receiving the exact same thank-you letter after their second event as they got after the first?

·   Do clients really feel that you are excited when they say, “yes” to buying?

·   Do all your clients get the same respect?

·   Do clients who buy more than others get more attention?

·   Do your best clients have a special or exclusive telephone number or other way to get in touch with you?

·   Are all thank-you letters typed or are some handwritten?

·   Do you take your best clients out to lunch?

·   Have you ever had a disagreement with a client or are you a “yes” seller?

·   What is company policy when “bad” letter, or call, is received from a client, do you hide it or discuss it openly?

·   Does the company have a procedure to turn over a shopper to another salesperson because the first salesperson wasn’t getting the proper responses?

·   Do individual team members get excited when a sale is made?

·   Are you promising less than you deliver?

·   How long does it take you to call a client after an event?

·   Do you keep asking your best buyers for their basic information each time they call, i.e address, phone, etc.?

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