Bed & Breakfast Owners

I went to a networking meeting last week and the speaker was giving tips on how to be a good net-worker and stand out from the crowd.

I thought to myself afterwards that almost everything he mentioned could apply to being a good Bed and Breakfast owner/host.

It’s easy to forget because you are in the safety of your own home that you are networking with groups of new people all the time. You probably believe that you have good interpersonal skills or you wouldn’t have gone into a service industry in the first place.

It does no harm to remind ourselves of key skills which help when we spend time mixing with guests in our bed and breakfast establishments.

Remember you only have one chance to make a lasting impression, leading to repeat business and that glorious chance of free word of mouth advertising.

Success for everybody in business including B&B owners comes down to Six key skills:

• Confidence – the ability to feel good, appear relaxed and stand out from the crowd.

• Approach - the ability and confidence to put your guests at ease and start a conversation.

• Eye Contact – the ability to make your eyes smile when you meet your guests and to maintain appropriate eye contact when you’re in conversation.

• Shut Up & Listen – the ability to focus on what your guest is saying and to show them that you are interested in who and what they are.

• Engage – the ability to stimulate the conversation with questions and word pictures. In other words how to make small talk big.

• Body Language – the ability to use your voice and posture to put your guests at ease and build a rapport with them.

Be enthusiastic and passionate about your Bed and Breakfast. Genuine passion will always be clearly communicated, and more importantly remembered. So much more cost effective than a business card.

And lastly dress appropriately, easy when you are going out of your B&B to a meeting or event, but much more difficult when rolling out of bed to cook the breakfast.

I usually wear an apron when serving breakfast, but tend to take it off when introducing myself to guests for the first time.

Visions of being a carbon copy of a traditional seaside landlady are all too horrifying to contemplate.

I went to a networking meeting last week and the speaker was giving tips on how to be a good net-worker and stand out from the crowd.

I thought to myself afterwards that almost everything he mentioned could apply to being a good Bed and Breakfast owner/host.

It’s easy to forget because you are in the safety of your own home that you are networking with groups of new people all the time. You probably believe that you have good interpersonal skills or you wouldn’t have gone into a service industry in the first place.

It does no harm to remind ourselves of key skills which help when we spend time mixing with guests in our bed and breakfast establishments.

Remember you only have one chance to make a lasting impression, leading to repeat business and that glorious chance of free word of mouth advertising.

Success for everybody in business including B&B owners comes down to Six key skills:

• Confidence – the ability to feel good, appear relaxed and stand out from the crowd.

• Approach - the ability and confidence to put your guests at ease and start a conversation.

• Eye Contact – the ability to make your eyes smile when you meet your guests and to maintain appropriate eye contact when you’re in conversation.

• Shut Up & Listen – the ability to focus on what your guest is saying and to show them that you are interested in who and what they are.

• Engage – the ability to stimulate the conversation with questions and word pictures. In other words how to make small talk big.

• Body Language – the ability to use your voice and posture to put your guests at ease and build a rapport with them.

Be enthusiastic and passionate about your Bed and Breakfast. Genuine passion will always be clearly communicated, and more importantly remembered. So much more cost effective than a business card.

And lastly dress appropriately, easy when you are going out of your B&B to a meeting or event, but much more difficult when rolling out of bed to cook the breakfast.

I usually wear an apron when serving breakfast, but tend to take it off when introducing myself to guests for the first time.

Visions of being a carbon copy of a traditional seaside landlady are all too horrifying to contemplate.