the visitors. It may seem so basic it doesn’t need mentioning, but if you’re not mentioning it, how else can you be certain your staff doesn't say something inadvertently inappropriate? Culture and hospitality can’t be bought or outsourced. Even if you hire an experienced visitor services manager and populate your staff with nice and competent people, the ultimate responsibility for creating and maintaining a positive culture rests with you. Culture begins with treating everyone — guests and fellow employees — with respect. That means you as the owner have to publically model that behavior. No amount of motivational posters will compensate if you’re known to treat customers, competitors or employees with disrespect. The next level is enthusiasm. You may be highly enthusiastic about your business, but think of it this way: You have a distillery, your staff members have a job. Enthusiasm underlies employee engagement and translates into visitor excitement — but it doesn’t come spontaneously when you sign a paycheck. Enthusiasm requires constant work and attention. It isn’t automatic, but it is infectious. An enthusiastic employee is proud to promote your products and would never forget to offer a tasting to a visiting spirits writer or any other guest. Respect and enthusiasm produce care. Because customers form an emotional relationship with your brand, hospitality can bond your visitors to your brand...and a lack of it may repel them from it. In his best-selling book Setting the Table, serial restaurateur Danny Meyer says “service is the technical delivery of a product. Hospitality is how the delivery of that product makes its recipient feel.” Your staff must care about how the other employees and the guests feel. Beyond that is details. A strong and clear culture also leads to employee self-management. A culture where every staff member cares about both the company and the visitors will be readily apparent upon entry, but so to will be the converse. A distillery where culture is an afterthought will be obvious to the visitor and might be marked by a lack of greeting, cigarette butts littering the entryway, and halfeaten lunches in plain view. Morale matters. But also remember that hospitality isn’t an end goal unto itself. “I had a great time” is meaningless if the visitor doesn’t ever buy your products or promote your brand.
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SYSTEMS FOR SERVICES Like spirits production, delivery of a quality guest experience requires an understanding of the process and explicit systems to ensure success. Developing systems starts with identifying the areas of responsibility of your visitors services program. Typically, these are outward-facing communication (phone, email, possibly some social media), reception/greeting guests, tour and tasting experiences, and gift shop. Visitors service systems are built with the day as the primary unit of time. Each day should include an opening meeting, a review of that day’s events and bookings, responsibility assignment delegation, and any updates on distillery or portfolio changes. Failure to have an all-hands review can result in failure to have someone where they’re supposed to be at a given time,like a distiller or other key person not present for a scheduled interview. Each department within the visitors program will also need their own operational guidelines and checklists. For example, reception staff will need instructions for answering calls, taking reservations, greeting guests, etc. Gift shop employees will need instructions for using the register, handling cash, restocking, tracking inventory and closing. Specifically for your tour and tasting staff, you’ll need a ‘script’ covering each stop along the tour path, starting with gathering the tour group and closing with a thankyou. Each stop will consist of key communication points which clarify and reinforce your brand message and differentiate your brand in the marketplace. Tour staff will also need a daily checklist covering setup and cleanup plus detailing props, spirits, or other items needed. Without an explicit written reference, don’t be surprised if a tour guide brings a group into the tasting room only to find there are no tasting cups! If that happens, everything about your company and brand will look amateurish. Consider compiling all visitors program system documents into a single “Visitors Program Bible.” In addition to the operational instructions and checklists, include reference information with directions to your distillery, all forms of contact information and answers to common questions about your distillery and your products. Finally, construct a “sensitive topics” list which explicitly delinates acceptable versus Once you’re clear on your off-limits topics, and includes what to do if a culture and systems, you’ll guest asks a question the staff member doesn’t need to communicate them know the answer. In an effort to be helpful to to your staff. All of the guests, staff may spill sensitive information, branding, messaging, product be derogatory towards competitors or their information, KPIs, bookings, products, commit the company to obligations system changes, and other impossible to meet, or even outright lie if infrastructure necessitate they’ve never been instructed not to do so. constant communication. Just like in a traditional manufacturing “The greatest problem environment, systems compensate for human in communication is the limitations of memory and communication. illusion that it has been Systems also enable prioritization and help accomplished.” compensate for the difficulties of a chaotic — George Bernard Shaw environment with guests coming and going
COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE!
and ensure nothing gets missed. And as your company grows, your visitors program systems will need to evolve with it.
Communication cannot occur without effort on your part, and the best way to ensure sufficient
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