Points of Profit NewsÓ

Points of Profit News-the newsletter that 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 real and lasting profits and help develop your managers into leaders. 

April 30, 2002

Issue 24

Ron Yudd, Editor, www.ronyudd.com

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Welcome to our spring issue of Points of Profit News. Also, welcome to our new subscribers. Thanks for joining us in our restaurant and foodservice adventure.

Thought of the Month. This month’s thought is about a recent series in Nation’s Restaurant News. The series is entitled “A Day in the Life…” Track down a copy of the April 15^th issue of NRN to get a quick look at the behind the scenes people who have chosen careers in our industry. Editor Robin Allen and her team present this series to “allow us a moment to step back and look at the aspects of the business that provide the foundation of the industry: the sweat, blood, care and concern, creativity and initiative that foodservice is so well known for”---Thanks Ms. Allen-Great series! The behind the scenes workers and leaders featured in these great stories are industry heroes simply because of what they do day in and day out.

Bonus-Thought of the Month-Many of you heard of the devastating tornados that swept through Maryland a few days ago. Interesting to note that the first people to arrive after the rescue workers were volunteers from the local SYSCO Inc. group, working to supply needed food items to those that lost their homes and businesses. Once again we see the behind the scenes people in our industry stepping up to the plate and helping out when needed. Nicely done---SYSCO!

For those of you that are just joining us-previous issues of the Points of Profit NewsÓ can be found on our website on the resources page at www.ronyudd.com.

“50 Points of Profit Audio Album”

The Fifty Steps to Build Lasting Profitability in Your Business

An audio album that explores 25 Points of Profit in the Back of the House and 25 Points of Profit in the Front of the House and gives you the tools to enhance your profitability. Keep in mind that the sales from all our professional growth audio tools goes to support our Leadership Cares Foundation’s initiatives. Go to www.leadershipcares.org and see two press releases about our activities. Learn about our full line of audio tools by clicking on www.ronyudd.com/products.php

On the Front Lines of Service

We’ve been exploring the Five C’s of customer service over the last several months. We agreed that these five things had to be in place as the foundation for any successful business. The five C’s of customer service are:

Comfort-Consistency-Confidence-Convenience-Courtesy

This month’s focus is convenience. This is called the “have it your way” concept of customer service. Restaurants learn early in their life, often times painfully, about not letting their guests have it their way. We often hear complaints where the guests are told, “you can’t split the checks because the computer won’t let us”. In business today if you don’t make things convenient for your patrons you simply won’t see them again. We recommend a review of your policies to see if they are “convenience” friendly? Are the policies—guest driven or house driven? It’s always interesting to discover where some of the house driven policies originated. Check your policies to confirm that they exist to serve the guest and enhance the convenience you offer.

Next month we’ll take a look at courtesy. In today’s world, simple courtesy can pay huge dividends in the area of repeat business.

Building Leadership Skills

We are continuing our look at Hands on Leadership that we started several months ago. We talked about the value of getting involved and jumping in to help the staff during prime time. We observed that going “hands on” created an atmosphere where teamwork could take hold and flourish.

This month we’ll take a deeper look at “hands on” leadership. Follow through is one of those “hands on” skills that can make a big difference in profitability and efficiency. Often times managers will start things and then get distracted by something that seems more urgent or something they enjoy doing more than the task they started. They lose interest, forget or even hope it goes away. Here are some tips to teach focus and instill the importance of follow through in managers you are developing.

• Create a picture of what the completed project should look like. Many young managers are visual learners and will be able to work on something to completion if they know what the final vision should actually looks like.
• Have the manager create a checklist that becomes a roadmap of how the project or task will be completed.
• Assist the manager in breaking down the big project into smaller mini-tasks. Thus the mission doesn’t feel too overwhelming and possibly fall by the way side.
• Create a “check in” time each day for a review of the assigned task and progress.
• Create a deliverable date for the completion of the “picture” and then coach the manager as they work through the calendar toward completion.
• Celebrate the victory---Take a moment to enjoy and praise the manager if and when the mission is fully completed.

There is much more to this concept of “hands on leadership”---problem solving, learning to prioritize and are just a couple of examples of “hands on” leadership. We’ll explore these and other concepts in coming issues of Points of Profit News.

Profitability Plus

More on last month’s Point of Profit involving how to develop a relationship and partnership with your purveyors and vendors. Three other things that you should really consider in this process are:

1. Realize we are really in business together with our vendors. The smart operator is always seeking ways to collaborate for mutual success.

2. Some vendors have resources that they share with their customers that help their customers build business, open new markets and grow.

3. Some purveyors have the expertise in areas of your business that you may not be aware of. They can help with marketing ideas, menu development, plate presentations, special-event assistance and on and on.

There are purveyors out there right now that meet and even exceed the above criteria. Be a good consumer and happy shopping!

Do you have a Coach? Take a look at our One-on-One Success Coaching Programs. Increase the chances that you will reach your personal and professional goals. Check out this popular way to stay on course for building personal and professional success. Click on www.ronyudd.com/1on1.php. We have three levels of personal coaching services available. Email for information and to schedule a free ½ hour tele-coaching session that will help you get to the next level in your career and improve your effectiveness in your business. coach@ronyudd.com.

Take Home Idea of the Month

The National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago is less than three weeks away and it brings to mind my first Show over 20 years ago. My boss at the time went out of his way to make it a very special time for me. He rewarded my work for that year with a plane ticket and money for a couple of nights in Chicago to go to the big Show. He told me to learn, have fun and bring one workable idea back with me for our operation. I’ll never forget that first experience—walking the floor and meeting people from all over. It was a very special time and a great experience. Think about whom in your business you could send to the NRA Show or even a local show. It’s kind of funny but even after all these years I am still thanking my old boss. Matter of fact he was one of the original subscribers to this newsletter. Thanks again Jay---I’ll always appreciate the fact that you believed in me and gave me that very first trip to Chicago!

One “take home idea” as a reminder----let us know what your doing on our mentoring challenge. This is the year of mentoring a young person on your staff with the goal of sharing your wisdom and experience. Remember young people are not our future---we are their future.

Web Site of the Month-This month’s web site of the month is www.restaurantcareernetwork.com, a great site for those seeking careers in our industry and a wonderful place for employers to begin their search for the best and brightest. Take a look at their Career Center and explore the Interviewing Tips section. Learn how to interview and also how to be interviewed—great material!

Points of Profit Leadership Inc. helps companies develop their managers into leaders. We are a “one stop shop” for resources and tools for enhancing customer service levels, increasing profitability and developing leadership within your operation.

Points of Profit News is an online means of sharing information of interest to the restaurant and hospitality community. You are encouraged to send questions, make observations and share items of interest. E-mail your ideas, thoughts and contributions along with your name, address and phone number to: ron@ronyudd.com

Ron Yudd is a recognized expert on developing profit strategies and customer service solutions. Ron provides his clients with the tools for their success. He accomplishes this through keynotes, seminars, workshops, facilitation, consulting and personal coaching. His keynotes 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 customer service and enhance the profitability of their operations. He combines a motivating style with practical “take home” ideas. You can reach him at www.ronyudd.com or email him at ron@ronyudd.com. His office number is 301-540-5791. Copyright 2002 by Ron Yudd.