October 30, 2008  
   
  

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Points of Profit News 
  
Points of Profit News-Promotes service excellence, leadership building and enhanced profits in the restaurant and hospitality industry. This monthly resource provides quick tips, tools and solutions you can use right away to instill a passion for service in your business, build lasting profits and develop your managers into leaders. 
Thought of the Month

This Month's Thought of the Month I ended up in the State Street Diner in Ithaca NY this past week while  traveling. It's a 24 hours a day hang out for Cornell University students and townies. Our server told us up front---if she messes up the order "it's because I've been working a twenty hour shift and I'm just about to hit the wall" Not comforting news as I was deciding what to have for breakfast. The meal turned out fine and the service was actually very good! It got me thinking about servers and how hard they work and how often we ask them to work a double or even a triple......and then we wonder why we can't attract and keep good people. Next time we ask a server to stay over and work a second or third shift---maybe we should think about why we had to ask them in the first place.           

Quick Clicks:

Great Ideas for Slow Times-Article: http://restaurant-hospitality.com/features/going_gets_tough_0908/

Fresh Start for Building Profits-Article: http://www.ronyudd.com/building_restuarant_profits.htm

It's also the perfect time for a 200 Points of Profit Analysis of your operation. Request for Service Form

     
   

The "Creating Excellence" Audio CD and Workbook 

The Steps to Build a Lasting and Effective Organization

For details, testimonials and how to order click on: Creating Excellence Audio CD and Workbook 

Learn the secrets of how to create a framework for excellence. Discover why great companies are always "under construction" and always working hard to compete against themselves. Learn why it's so critical to "walk the path" your guest takes. This 75 minute audio CD and 40 page companion workbook are packed with ideas to immediately implement in your business or organization. You will learn the 3 things every guest wants and the 12 tools every leader needs to create and build excellence. 

The "Creating Excellence" program is also available as a leader lead seminar customized for your team! Click: Request for Service Form and tell us how we can serve you and your team!

              

On the Front Lines of Service

This Month's On the Front Lines of Service: More about Letting Your Front Line Players Really Be In Charge! 

Letting your servers really be in charge of taking care of their guests not only helps build their gratuity but more importantly builds your reputation of being committed to service excellence.    

Letting Others Be in Charge Simply Means That You:

  • Train your staff well to begin with so you can let them loose with confidence!
  • Let your staff know that you trust them to make the right decisions. 
  • Remind your staff to let you know when and how they’ve solved a problem. This helps reduce repeating the  mistakes.
  • Celebrate when you don’t have to send a manager to swoop in on a four top to be the service hero!

Getting Started: Look at how you currently respond to guest comments or complaints. Relate the concept of “Being in Charge” to your serving staff as a gratuity building exercise and let them go. Remind yourself that they will make mistakes along the way—but think about how your staff will feel about their jobs and the role they play in the success of your business.   

Service Quote of the Month: "Servers that are really in charge of their station will be your highest sellers and will stay with you the longest". Sounds like a pretty good formula for success! 

Building Leadership Skills

This month on leadership: Real Succession Planning-The Nuts and Bolts of Your Company's Future

One of the most difficult things we face as an industry is effective succession planning to ensure a flow of genuine talent through our units. Here are five things to consider at the leadership level as your organization implements its plan.
  • Identify the top ten technical skills and the top ten life skills you want your future GMs and leaders to master. This critical task should be done by collecting input from all levels of the organization. This list of skills will really define what it means to be a successful manager at ............. (you fill in the blank).
  • Create a written, super specific, and time-lined path for your up and coming supervisors and managers to follow in order to learn and master those identified skills.
  • Teach accountability from the "Get Go"-Place the burden on the shoulders of the developing managers and remind them it is their responsibility to work on practicing and mastering the skills.
  • Area Directors and GMs must act as mentors to help assistants learn and master the skills.  
  • Commit from the very top to "live" the plan. The Training Director, Area Directors, VPs and CEO each time they address the team (in writing as well as in person) always use the commitment to the plan as a springboard to frame every company discussion. This will help create focus for your entire team. Everyone will be on the same page as you develop future leaders! 
Points of Profit 

This Month's Point of Profit: Be a Waste Detective and Train Other Waste Detectives 

if I had a nickel and dime for every time I said "we are in a nickel and dime business"--I'd have lots of nickels and dimes. Being a waste detective in your operation will actually help you make lots of nickels and dimes. It really is the little things that add up in the tight margin business that we are in.: 

Share these with your managers and challenge them to create an army of waste detectives on their staff:  

  • Wasteful practices actually reduce the hours available to schedule employees
  • Waste is not just a back of the house problem! It's everywhere! #1-Side Stands-check them out.
  • Create a Catch of the Week-Reward your staff for uncovering and eliminating a wasteful practice.

Keep in Mind: "The more eyes that are searching for wasteful practices the less waste there will be"  

     

 

              Reach the Next Level of Success-Go for It!   

One-on-One Business Coaching 

Click on One-on-One Business Coaching to explore our customized one-on-one coaching program for owners, managers and executives. Whether you need guidance on just-in-time operational goals for your business, personal career goals or want to genuinely succeed at reaching your personal goals this program is for you. We have two levels of coaching services available to fit your schedule and your budget!  

 

LeadershipCares

First Call for Sponsors and Supporters: This year's ThanksgivingCares Basket Program will be our 11th year!!! We really need your help this time around---it's a tough year! Check out details and learn how you and your organization can help by clicking on: http://www.leadershipcares.org/programs/thanksgivingcares.html

Leaders Wanted-We need caring leaders for LeadershipCares 2009: Email us at ron@leadershipcares.org  

Take Home Idea of the Month 
Personal Success-Career Building Tips  

We're offering our Seven Tips for Career Building Success in upcoming issues. Here's the fourth of seven tips to consider: 

Tip Four: Read One and One-Each month (no excuses) read one book for pleasure and one book for professional development. This is a technique that we have been promoting for a long time. Making this a habit will really help stimulate your thought processes on and off the job. Many times you'll find these areas of you life overlap.   

Web Site of the Month
This month's website: Gearing up for some catering this holiday season. The site is a great resource for what's going on in the big world of catering. Enjoy the clicks: http://www.catering-services-directory.com/articles.aspx

Points of Profit Leadership, Inc. 
  Points of Profit Leadership Inc. is the one stop shop for resources and tools for enhancing customer service levels, increasing profitability and developing leadership within your operation.
 


Ron Yudd is a recognized expert on developing profit strategies and guest service solutions. Ron provides his clients with the tools for their success. He accomplishes this through personal coaching, seminars, workshops, keynotes, facilitation and consulting. His workshops and seminars- Leadership Legacy, Leadership for the Bottom Line, No One Escapes Customer Service and Mentoring Today for Leaders Tomorrow have helped business operators focus in on building leadership skills, improve guest service and enhance the profitability of their operations. He combines a motivating style with practical “take home” ideas. You can reach him at http://www.ronyudd.com/ or via email at ron@ronyudd.com. His office number is 301-540-5791.
     

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Copyright 2008 by Ron Yudd