“Service is what you do, but hospitality is how you make people feel.” Whoa! When Danny Meyer, world-renowned restaurateur, said that, I had an aha moment.

Organization leaders spend a lot of time mapping out customer service in our companies, don’t we? Voyage Consulting Group, a small business, has a customer touchpoint list with more than 100 items on it. Bigger companies probably have double or maybe triple that number. We all list the touchpoints and spend hours every year on how to improve each one.

With a similar mindset, companies track employee interaction with customers. If an employee is on the phone too long with a complaining customer, for example, he gets dinged. If he gets three dings, he might be forced to undergo get invited to extra training. It doesn’t matter why the agent was on the phone so long; the time expectation rules.

If you think about Mr. Meyer’s quote, you see what’s insufficient about the touchpoint analysis and service analytics, right?

Deliberate attention to touchpoints is terrific, but it’s not the same thing as hospitality. Call time can be better influenced by hospitality than by forced time limits.

In this video, Mr. Meyer shares the difference between service and hospitality, along with how to hire for hospitality, and how to compete based on it.

Mr. Meyer says the secret is in becoming a favorite. Being a favorite requires something beyond service and checking the boxes of product quality. It’s about hospitality and how your company makes people feel. The best way to become a favorite is to give employees a high purpose than a paycheck and invite them to create a personalized experience for your customers. It turns out, that’s the secret to retaining employees and customers.

Enjoy the video. Let me know about any aha moments it brings for you.

Kelly