One of the biggest crocks perpetuated on the service sector of the economy is the idea of TQM. Total Quality Management is exactly what you do not want in a service business.
The point of TQM is the elimination of variance, a noble and worthy idea especially in a manufacturing environment where you can use your statistical process control to measure and count until you turn blue. But in hospitality (and what business is not hospitality?) you want variance. In a service businesses, variance is good!
Why? Because every customer is different! No two of us are exactly alike. We all want something just a little different than the other guy. (Unless you are a teenager. This special, God-love-'em group is exempt from this discussion as most have not yet achieved full humanhood.)
The instant that you begin insisting that every customer be greeted and treated alike is the instant to recognize that you are out of the people business.
Allowing and encouraging employees to bring their personalities to the sales and service process introduces the possibility that your business will develop an attractive personality that will, in turn, attract customers and cause them to stay.
While hiding in Phoenix to work on a new book we took a writing break to exercise and dip in the hotel pool. There we met Jennette and Carl from LaJolla. Jennette said she was involved in "high end retailing of gently worn designer clothing." (For those who are culturally slow, she said that she sells expensive used clothes. Got it?)
Jennette used to sell at traditional boutiques but has since gone into the "gently worn" segment of the industry. Instead of selling extremely expensive clothes to women with too much time and money, she now sells very expensive used clothing to women with too much time and not quite so much money. She told us that, much to her surprise, most of her customers had followed her to her new calling.
Why be surprised? They never were buying from a particular store as much as they were buying from Jennette.
Haven't you noticed that when hairstylists change salons, within a week the customer base turns over as well? Why would you think that any other business would be all that different?
When a car salesperson moves, so does the customer base. This is also true for waitresses and waiters, practically anywhere customers have an easy choice.
Customers choose where they shop based on the personality of the store. And the personality of the store is nothing more than the combined personality of the people who work there tempered by the way they are managed.
We like to reminisce about the good old days of Ma and Pa businesses. Anyone who grew up in the '50s and '60s has a fond memory of a corner store run by a sweet old couple, the kind of folks who would slip you a piece of penny candy or let you come back later to pay for the milk if you came up a little short in cash.
What we don't recall are the stores run by little old couples who would cut your heart out for leaning on the counter glass. Think hard and you will realize that just because a business is a Ma and Pa business, there is no guarantee that the service will be warm and friendly. It's truly a matter of personality no matter how large or small the business.
POS Point: Every business is a Ma and Pa business.
Even the big box discounters are Ma and Pa businesses. Somebody's Ma and somebody's Pa is in charge. And they may be as sweet as the old couple who ran the corner store in your neighborhood. They could also be mean as snakes. Whatever the case, their personality is the personality of the store or business.
POS Point: The biggest issue in all of business is not quality, it's not price. It's personality.
What kind of personality does your shop have? When customers do business with you, do they feel all warm and tingly inside? Do they feel like trusted and respected members of the family? Or are they ignored by the help and insulted by your policies?
It's the personality of your business that attracts and keeps customers.
