As a business owner or manager in a fast-paced industry like hospitality, you have an unparalleled dedication to your brand and the experience it delivers. You work weekends, late nights, early mornings (often back-to-back), and have to be a Jack or Jill of all trades for true success, which really comes down to one main component: consistency. But, do you want to know a secret? Consistency is really just another form of communication – with yourself, with others, and with your business. So, as someone who wants to have it all but realizes they can’t possibly do it all themselves, a communication coach (like me!) is your new best friend. Let me tell you why.
There are so many coaches, consultants, advisors, agency owners, etc. that it’s hard to discern the difference among them, if any. Knowing the right fit for your business is the biggest decision to make for success. Hiring a coach when you expect someone to do all the work for you, or paying a consultant for advice you’re not ready to hear or act on, is setting your brand up for failure before you even get started. Here’s how to determine what type of help you need:
- Advisors – trusted sources that offer recommendations and/or provide information about specific actions
- Consultants – people you hire for formal advice or guidance, but not to implement ideas and strategies
- Coaches – someone who trains, educates, and/or instructs you through the implementation of a plan or your business
Coaching focuses on solutions, insight, and action for your business. It is future-oriented with a positive approach that focuses on you and your business to cultivate the skills you need, build on your existing strengths and capabilities, and get you the outcomes you want through a partnership. Consulting, on the other hand, is more focused on past performance and “fixing” something, rather than creating something that will achieve results.
At the end of the day, your brand centers around communication. The experience you provide when someone checks-in to your hotel or restaurant sends both verbal and nonverbal messages. Have you ever had a host at a restaurant not even make eye-contact with you and just stare at an iPad before telling someone else where to take you? Not so pleasant.
Your brand’s mission, values, and message are all based on communication. How you share information with your staff to ensure that you’re delivering the experience people expect is reliant upon communication. Attracting new business and retaining existing clients and guests requires communication. And, getting every other business task accomplished needs (you guessed it) communication.
For instance, let’s say that you want to improve your social media presence while also earning placements in media publications showcasing your brand. A coach can help you strategize your social media and create a detailed media pitching plan that you can implement without adding more time to your daily to-do list. This gives you personalized help with ownership and inclusion over the work that you desire and miss when you outsource. Through this process you are learning how to advocate and communicate on behalf of your brand, meaningfully, and involved in each and every step so there’s always complete transparency.
As a hospitality business owner you have a lot going on and a communication coach can integrate all of the pieces into one, cohesive and strategic plan. The best part? A coach won’t just tell you what to do and then check out. Working with a coach will give you a partner that will teach you how to implement the plan and holds you accountable. It’s an investment into your business that will provide exponential payoffs long after the coaching contract concludes.
Want to learn more about working with a communication coach? Check out the details of my 6-month program right here!