I thought it’d be useful to use a practical example to illustrate common mistakes made by service-based businesses with the idea that this post serves as a guide that will help you answer the question “What to do when my service-based business is stagnant?”
“The important thing is that we are trying to solve the problem,” the hotel manager told me.
If you know me a little, “trying” is not one of my favorite words.
Last weekend I had the opportunity to enjoy a few days at the beach. It was not a normal weekend, as it was a special occasion to enjoy together with my extended family, which had traveled from many places so that we could spend the weekend together..
Unfortunately on Saturday morning, there was a thunderstorm and the Hotel where we were staying lost electricity for a few minutes.
What to do when your service-based business is stagnant and what happens when small problems are not resolved?
It was nothing particularly serious, however, the hotel did not have WIFI during the entire day of Saturday.
Although this was far from ideal and probably affected many people staying at the hotel, I was determined to make the most of it and ignore the lack of WIFI.
However, things took another direction on Sunday, when we learned that the entire Hotel network was not yet working, from the Restaurant to the Lobby.
I have to say that this made me curious, I couldn’t understand how a business like a Hotel could take a full weekend to recover from such a problem.
The impact on the entire business when problems are not resolved
The restaurant staff was stressed because their system was not working, in the same way, the Lobby staff had no system either. They could not process the check-out and had no idea which guests arrived at the hotel on Sunday.
Because they had no clear procedures to follow, clearly the staff was making unnecessary mistakes that were affecting their clients.
At this point, we had a couple of hours left at the hotel and my plan was not to let this bother me and instead just enjoy.
I’m not sure why, but the hotel manager decided to apologize to me, maybe because I was the only one that didn’t seem to be upset.
She explained that they were really trying but that the Hotel system technician had not yet been able to solve the problem. By now, more than 36 hours had passed and the technician had not yet reached the Hotel.
The manager proceeded to show me the server, and at that moment, the source of the problem became clear..
After I recovered from the shock, I asked the manager when was the last time they updated their system, the response was “3 years ago”.
Three years!
Nowadays, 3 years in the world of technology are the equivalent of 10 years, and it’s likely that 3 years ago the system was already out-of-date.
As expected, the reservation system didn’t run all weekend, so the Hotel not only failed because it was not prepared to minimize the impact of the problem for its existing clients but also, because it didn’t attract any new clients during the whole weekend.
In Florida, thunderstorms aren’t unusual and, although I understand they have a direct effect on the operation of the Hotel, it shouldn’t have caused such an unnecessary crisis to the hotel that weekend.
I want to use this example to illustrate the experience from the client’s perspective.
What does this have to do with the hotel’s online marketing strategy?
At that point, it didn’t matter how we arrived at the hotel, whether it was through social media, Google paid advertising or a travel website, the problem was that the Hotel was not even remotely ready to offer their clients the best possible experience.
It’s useless to have the best marketing to attract your ideal client if as a business you’re not prepared to offer the greatest possible service
Everything is related, and there’s no way to separate one thing from the other.
You see, trying to offer the most enjoyable experience is impossible when the technology you run your business with is out-dated..
It’s of no use to have the most solid marketing strategy if you don’t offer the best possible experience to your clients; they won’t come back and won’t talk about the amazing experience that they had.
After my conversation with the manager, I could sense that the problem was more complicated than it seemed to be, that’s why I want to share the following lessons.
What to do when your service-based business is stagnant (lessons from a weekend)
1. You need to get out of your comfort zone
I probably couldn’t hide my shocked when I heard that the system had been updated 3 years ago.
That’s like using a horse-guided cart instead of a car. Although using horses may indeed have some advantages, it has more disadvantages than advantages.
This is a common mistake made by countless business owners who don’t want to face that they are the problem.
Business owners are the problem because they’re afraid to change, to face reality and admit that they have a problem to solve.
Changing the hotel system is likely a traumatic and expensive process, but until they face the problem and solve it, the problem becomes bigger, more difficult to solve and – even worse – more expensive.
2. How long are you willing to tolerate your current situation?
Each person has a different tolerance point, the question you should ask yourself is how long are you willing to tolerate the situation.
You may be satisfied to attract clients to your business and cross your fingers so that there are no problems, but what would happen if you offered them the most enjoyable experience and those clients continued to hire your services and recommend you to their friends.
The problem of not facing reality and solving the crisis in your business is that your business gradually stagnates to the point where it is very challenging to do anything to save it.
Before continuing, I want to share an infographic that illustrates: What to do when your service-based business is stagnant (lessons from a weekend).
3. Are you changing at the same speed as your business?
I understand that not everyone is a fan of technology, but the sooner you change your relationship with technology the faster your results will increase.
Not following this is your biggest disadvantage.
Nowadays everything is interconnected, and it’s almost impossible to separate technology and marketing from the performance of your business.
Conclusion
The last thing a business is looking for is to stagnate, that is why it’s crucial to learn from crises and, once and for all, solve problems that don’t allow you to move forward.
Otherwise, the problems grow rapidly, sales decreases and not solving the problems is extremely expensive.
