I am an engineer by trade and have been working with Beacon Bay Project Management for 12 years now, some say quite successfully. I oversee our larger projects and am the senior PM on the team. When asked about my greatest expertise and asset in the hospitality business, I felt better than any expertise that I have, is my responsiveness.
To expand, often in this business you send an email to request information or provide a directive and do not receive a response, leading to multiple follow up emails at times, to get the intel you need. Not only is this an inefficient waste of time, it drives me crazy. By not responding, you are telling me, your client or associates that either they are not that important to you, or that you are too busy for them. It is ok to not have an immediate answer to their need, but for the sake of the business relationship, I make it a best practice to send a response saying that I am working on it if it is something I cannot accomplish in an acceptable time period.
My clients and vendors often thank me for my response time, so it stands to reason that it is important to pay close attention to how long you are requiring people to wait for a response. Think about the vendors you enjoy working with; I would bet they are very responsive in addition to providing their expertise. When picking vendors (architects, designers, general contractors, procurement agents, etc) to bid on projects, I try to only select responsive vendors and use them again and again. People who respond quickly get the work.
I know we all are constantly multi-tasking, especially in this “new world” we’re currently living in; we’re either working from home or taking on additional responsibilities due to a thinned-out staff, so keeping up with emails is a challenge. My personal practice is to check emails every hour. I will work for 45 minutes on projects and respond to emails for 15 minutes. That way no one is waiting for long for my reply; I would not like for one of my projects to get held up because I neglected to respond in a timely manner.
For the above reasons I make responsiveness my priority to our clients. I may not know the answers, or may not like the answers, but will do everything I can to get back to clients the same day. This has secured additional business for Beacon Bay and has further ensured our clients that we are on top of their project and representing them well.
By: Craig Middleton
Recent Comments