Reporting and Acting
OK so you've identified what it is in terms of your company's performance that you want to measure, and you've found an effective way of gathering the data - what's next? Your pie charts and graphs may look lovely, but they're not much use if they're filed away after a quick glance.
It's important to know how you want your operation to perform in order to be able to set benchmarks and targets which will help you achieve consistency of service and a style that matches your brand expectations.
As we've seen in earlier articles, almost anything that can be experienced can be measured. But you can decide (with our help if required) on how you want to report it. Consider things like the weighting you apply to each measure, how you organise them (by customer journey perhaps, or grouped some other way), and whether to benchmark against the wider industry (this is commonly done with 'Net Promoter' for example).
Many people say that the most important thing is to analyse the feedback (comments from customers) that lies behind the statistics and then decide on what actions to take as a result. If so, make sure your reporting arrangements facilitate this.
Identify areas for improvement, preferably with full involvement of your team (as this helps to secure buy-in), and ensure these are incorporated into staff training and appraisals. On a larger scale, reporting can also allow you to see trends in overall performance, for example whether performance is weaker at a particular time of day or week. For those collecting feedback from your guests online, automated alerts can help you to respond quickly to incidents that trigger a poor customer rating (and possibly stop it spreading through word-of-mouth).
Whatever you do, make sure that reviews of your performance take place regularly (we recommend monthly) in order that it remains front-of mind and drives continual improvement.
Keep in mind this performance management cycle and let us know if you need any help with the detail
IDENTIFY Decide what elements of your brand are important
MEASURE How will you measure it?
REPORT Review and analyse your performance - set targets and benchmarks
ACT Incorporate feedback into staff training wherever possible
