What We Can All Learn from the Union Square Caf&233;

by Morgan Brown

Mortgage Banker

Author website

Have you ever heard of the Union Square Caf&233;? How about Blue Smoke, Tabla, Gramercy Tavern, or The Modern? If you’re not a foodie or from Back East you’re granted a temporary reprieve; but it will pay huge dividends for all of us in the RE/mortgage industry if we get to know them real fast. They are all New York restaurants owned by one of the country’s finest restaurant entrepreneurs Danny Meyer. What in the world can restaurants teach us about real estate and mortgage? In one word: hospitality.

In his new book “Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business” Meyer outlines the business philosophies that he has used to grow his organization in to a collection of the finest, highest-rated restaurants in the country. This book is worth buying by any sales or customer service professional, and in particular those in the RE/mortgage industry.

While he has many excellent philosophies and business practices the one I want to highlight here is “The Art of Hospitality.” From the book:

Understanding the distinction between service and hospitality has been at the foundation of our success. Service is the technical delivery of a product. Hospitality is how the delivery of that product makes its recipient feel. Service is a monologue — we decide how we want to do things and set our own standards for service. Hospitality on the other hand, is a dialogue. To be on a guest’s side requires listening to that person with every sense, and following up with a thoughtful, gracious appropriate response.

Mr. Meyer makes a point here that is so often missed in our attempt at providing excellent customer service. If we’re fanatical about customer service, and we should be, we’ve done a lot of legwork in developing a customer experience that utilizes best practice customer service elements. Having a real human answer the phone, returning phone calls, providing expert insight and opinion, are all necessary parts of the execution of excellent customer service. The top agents are able to consistently, predictably deliver excellent customer service. They are technically excellent, and that separates them from the rest of the pack.

Mr. Meyer points to another level, and one that the premiere RE agents and loan officers figured out a long time ago — customer service is not enough. Being technically excellent no longer provides enough of a margin between you and the next guy. Sure it will separate you from the schleps but it does little to distinguish you from someone with comparable expertise and service offerings. Being hospitable is what the best RE agents do to win. They go beyond the technical elements (which they excel at) and create an emotionally satisfying experience for their customers.

What does being hospitable look like? As Mr. Meyer says above it’s about paying attention to the cues given by your customer on all levels. It’s getting past what they are saying and in to what they are feeling, using your intuition to help deliver a thoughtful response to every customer’s needs through out the process. An example: Jeff Brown recently commented on one of my previous posts that after completing a very difficult exchange transaction for a customer he and his company underwrote the customer’s annual family vacation. That is hospitality. Most companies interested in retaining customers have some sort of “thank you” at the end. The “thank you” is a best practice customer service element. The choice to take the extra step of choosing an emotionally satisfying and personal thank you takes the gesture from a rote exercise in service to a hospitable one that is thoughtful, gracious and appropriate.

Being hospitable requires that when we set the expectation of excellent customer service that we go beyond the technical details and provide an emotionally satisfying experience that resonates with each customer on a personal level. While it is hard work, the best RE and loan agents know that it is the work that pays the biggest dividends in the end.