Best Practice – what does it look like?

Max Lawrence, FIH and Director at Hospitality Assured shares his expertise around the importance of evaluating how your business compares with the most effective and profitable enterprises, and then using their most successful elements – the “best practice” in your business, can make a big difference.

The important thing is not to stop questioning.  Curiosity has its own reason for existing” Albert Einstein

Organisations at all stages of their life cycle need to adapt to new and changing circumstances.  In fact, the marketplace is changing at a faster pace then ever before.  Your customers are in contact with some of the world’s finest organisations. They experience their websites, retail units, their order/booking processes, returns policy, the human interaction and physical outcomes – how do you compare?  How do you stand up against organisations outside your industry as well as your direct competitors?  In a world of continuous improvement and total quality, customers have come to expect excellence.  Anything short of exceeding expectations puts a business at risk.  If you don’t perform customers will tell you, there were 55 million complaints about products and services in 2016 – up 3 million on 2015 and  increasing numbers are using social media to complain.  Why is this?  The rules have changed.  Consciously or subconsciously, fairly or unfairly customers now compare you with every supplier and service provider that they come into contact with.  So is your business FedEx fast, Disney friendly or Amazon efficient?  Applying best practice means learning from and through the experience and innovation of others to highlight areas where your business could improve.  Are you benchmarking against the market leaders and what ideas are you identifying that can be adapted and applied to your line of work that may not currently exist, ask yourself the question “How can I use this practice or a variation of it in my business?”  When Chrysler sent engineers out to a supermarket car park to observe families trying to load groceries into the side of their cars in a tight parking space they uncovered an opportunity, a latent need that their customers had never commented on.  They saw the need for a sliding door and a vehicle that was not quite so low to the ground and conceived the original mini van, why would Amazon an online bookseller invent a Kindle that was in direct competition with their business?

The modus operandi of the past can result in inefficiencies and tunnel vision leading to inappropriate decisions.  Evaluating how your operations compare with the most effective and profitable enterprises, and then using their most successful elements – the “best practice” in your business, can make a big difference.  In addition, do not forget the intangibles these are often mood changing and speak a universal language; they can shift a good mood to lousy mood, or vice-versa.

A best practice strategy can help your business to:

  • become more competitive
  • increase sales and develop new markets
  • reduce costs and become more efficient
  • improve the skills of your workforce
  • use technology more effectively
  • reduce waste and improve quality
  • respond more quickly to innovations in your sector
  • Improve customer interactions

All assessed business that go through a full Hospitality Assured assessment receive industry sector benchmarking against other accredited organisations.  If you are using the Net Promotor Score (NPS), why not start the benchmarking process by measure yourself against your sector average by using online comparison sites such as www. satmetrix.com

If you would like to find out more about the Hospitality Assured Benchmarking Tools & Techniques, we’re here to help: T 020 3813 4900 E hello@hospitalityassured.com


About the Author: Max Lawrence

Max, Director of Hospitality Assured, has extensive experience in business and hospitality management in both the United Kingdom and Europe, and has a passion for promoting quality and professional customer service in business operations, advising large and small businesses to never mistake silence for satisfaction.

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