The announcement from Boris this week regarding further restrictions for pubs and restaurants has delivered yet another blow to a sector already struggling to recover. With sales across the Eating Out market falling 87% in the second quarter of 2020, equivalent to £30bn in lost revenue the need businesses to adapt and innovative to remain competitive has never been greater.
Business Leaders need to act boldly and innovate quickly to ensure they deliver an experience and service relevant to their customers. How can business leaders learn from elite sporting teams, relentless in their pursuit of excellence they analyse every aspect of their performance to identify marginal gains that give them the competitive edge to secure a win. The “will it make the boat go faster” process that inspired Ben-Hunts Journey to Olympic Gold for the men’s Rowing Eight at Sydney in 2000 is an approach that can support leaders and teams identifying areas that will provide the step change in performance needed to ride out these challenging times.
Pano, CEO of Pret is a great example of a leader not afraid to take some bold decisions to ensure the longevity of the business, in a recent interview with the Guardian newspaper he shared that Covid had provided the licence to rip up the rule book, ditching Pret's corporate mantra of “follow the sky Scrapers” to “follow the people”. This led to the recent launch of a monthly coffee subscription which 16,500 people signed up to in the first week. Delivery a previous no go for Pret is now being fully embraced and has grown from 0.4% to 6% of their total business and set to grow further with the development of a new evening offer aimed at delivery.
It is important leaders are spending time “on” their business rather than being lost “in” them to develop the competitive edge needed for survival in these fast changing and challenging times. Many leaders may be feeling lost and alone at the moment,
Boost Consultancy
explores the key elements that will help businesses develop the competitive edge needed to survive.
EXPERIENCE IS EVERYTHING
Delivering a great experience for your customer has never been more important, providing customer service that is professional and engaging and seamlessly incorporates the new guidelines without compromising quality is key. Giving attention to your brand aesthetics and tone of voice when signposting customers will help create something that meets expectations and provides familiarity that will reassure and build trust. Making the increased cleaning and hygiene measures visible to the customer and having an effective process for capturing track and trace as guests arrive allows customers to relax and enjoy the experience.
MATCH FIT
In recessionary times ensuring your business model is lean and fit will help ensure you can weather the turbulent trading conditions. Reviewing every aspect of your business model giving consideration to every process and how it serves the customer and enhances the experience will highlight opportunities to improve efficiencies and optimise performance. Be honest about your current context and develop an open, curious and questioning mindset as this will support the discovery of new opportunities to optimise performance. Be forensic in your approach, examine every aspect of the P&L to identify where costs can be removed or reduced without impacting the quality or service. Getting your business fit and in shape will allow you to be agile and flexible and respond quickly as changes happen.
VALUES MATTER
Peter Drucker famously said "Culture eats strategy for breakfast", having a sustainable business model that incorporates a social as well as environmental agenda is key to building a strong business. Developing a values based culture that considers the needs of all stakeholders will serve you well at this time. Using your core values to guide important decisions and changes and making sure you can communicate how they align to your principles and values will build trust. Having business values that are woven into the culture of your organisation cultivates trust from both your customers and employees. There is a call for more sustainable and responsible businesses with a clear purpose that is about more than just driving profits. The approach your businesses takes to handling difficult decisions, such as redundancies and the support and care they demonstrate to those affected will be a key decider for your success or demise.
BOLD AND BRAVE
They say fortune favours the bold, the times we find ourselves in require leaders to think of differently, finding innovative solutions and identifying new opportunities that will drive the success of their business. One CEO spoke about Covid having required them to line up and shoot all the sacred cows in their business that had previously limited creativity and new ways of thinking . Removing these barriers freed them from previous limitations and generated new and exciting ways to serve the changing needs of their customers.
ANTENNA UP RADAR ON
In the onboarding process at The Ritz Carlton they train the importance for employees to have their “Antenna up Radar on” they encourage them to actively seek out opportunities to delight customers and deliver outstanding service that improves business performance. This is a great mantra for businesses to adopt, keeping focused and in tune with changing behaviours of existing and new customers will ensure relevancy and responsiveness. True hospitality is the ability to connect and engage at an emotional level and businesses able to do this will be the ones to succeed. Delivering a great customer experience is a top priority, customers want to escape the negative narrative and find positive and uplifting places to spend their time. Getting your team focused on creating an environment that provides an oasis will make customers want to return.
Surviving the ongoing challenges presented by Covid 19 requires your best performance to develop a business model that is healthy and sustainable. We will sadly experience more casualties over the next few months with more businesses closing their doors, I am hopeful that the hospitality businesses able to adapt and pivot effectively will not only survive but thrive as new opportunities are created to drive performance. So how fit is your business and what more could you do to improve its health?
If you would like to know more or want to arrange a free health check for your business then please get in touch to see how we can help at
enquiries@boost- consultancy.co.uk.