‘Understand going in, that to receive at all is a gift’

grat-i-tude: the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful, feeling of thankfulness and appreciation.

We are constantly caught up in retrieving, gathering up that which we feel we have earned or entitled to receive based upon our actions, previous results or status reached; either way we find ourselves on the wrong side of the equation. We cannot get by asking alone, we get by doing and being ‘that’ which will attract what we want.

We have all heard the adage that you attract more bees with honey than vinegar? Well the same is true in the hospitality industry. To attract a client or potential one, we first need to become that client, put ourselves in their shoes. What guest "experience" are they trying to provide? From a guest’s perspective: why are they there and what will make their stay more memorable? Will they feel special or just another line on a corporate P&L sheet? When all of us within the service industry can answer those questions about ourselves and about our clients, we will be primed to attract that which we long for, a membership mentality that brings with it an increasing amount of market capture and a process which fosters and strengthens the bond within our current portfolio.

Be mindful though, often we hast in our efforts to acquire and we forget the last ingredient (it really should be the first, the platform if you will upon which all else is built) that of gratitude. Be thankful that we are even in the game. An err of gratitude and thankfulness will attract more than we can possibly imagine because our guests (clients/members) will take with them the best of who and what we are, a much better calling card than anything we might be able to dream up in a marketing campaign. If we are truly successful at passing on our genuine appreciation for their business, then we both win; however, if we are doing so with the thought of prosperity first, then our successes, be they financial, ethical, spiritual or moral will lack luster at the end of the day.

Be thankful for the client in front of you, the one you are working with at the moment; they are the most important one, all others take second chair. For as powerful a calling card gratitude can be, hast and lack of appreciation for what already exists or has just been birthed can move your success rate in the opposite direction, just as one bad comment can grow like a cancer. Take care of those that have already chosen to be with you; find out why, take the time necessary to be genuinely interested in their answers, develop the necessary process needed to gather the info you need; in the long run it is worth gold.

Finally, let your guests, clients, members know you appreciate their business. You do not need to spend part of your captured profit, nor do you necessarily need to allocate a line item in the expense column for this, just be genuinely grateful for their election to be with you. Gratitude: Be it, teach it, attract it and hire to it. If an employee by nature is not grateful, it is highly unlikely they will soon become so for the sake of the company if they do not wish it for themselves.

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