Growing your visitor attraction

Operational Excellence

To maximise opportunities for revenue and profit in an Attraction or Experience, your service delivery needs to be robust.

What is operational excellence and why does it matter?

No doubt your business relies on excellent service delivery and a quality experience for the customer/guest/visitor.  ‘Operational Excellence’ is about having robust systems, processes and due diligence for every part of your business. which will deliver this excellent service and generate robust revenues and deliver consistent and profit growth through repeat business and business growth.

Standard Operating Procedures need to be in place at every stage and area of the business and detailed in a Standard Operating Manual which then should be the basis of Training manuals and training delivered accordingly.

In order to instigate growth and business development, this area of the business needs to be examined in fine detail and the SOPs examined for all touchpoints – both for the Guest Experience touchpoints and the management of risk/health and safety throughout the attraction/experience.

What does Good look like?

Every area of the business must have Standard Operating Procedures which form the basis of the Training manuals will ensure a consistent approach. If this is aligned with the Vision/Mission and Values and supports the wider business strategy the elements of ‘What does good look like’ will be very clear.  These standards also must flow though the Staff Processes – in particular the Employee Handbook will refer to some standards in particular.

Standards must be applied to all areas of the business e.g.:

• Customer experience: Acknowledgement/smile/time taken for queue/service levels etc.
• Health and safety: SOPs/First Aid/accident stats/Risk assessments will determine
• Duty Management: SOPs/Checklists and accountability matrices

Every element of a Standard Operating Procedure must have a standard level to attain – E.g:

• Uniform Standards - What is acceptable/what is not?
• Staff Behaviour standards - What are the expectations in certain areas?        
• First Aid Procedures - What happens when..

The aim is to have a clear framework for Employee expectations and accountabilities at every area of the business, with a clearly defined specific standard for each, with reasons why and training support.  If standards are set, then there needs to be a clear method of review – e.g. Mystery Shopper programme.  Clearly there also needs to be clear reference to consequence if standards are not met, and performance management must take place in a clear and transparent way in order to maintain standards.

Bringing it all together

Operational Excellence can only be delivered with a clear focus and clarity in the following areas of the business:

• Are all staff engaged in the mission/vision & values? Excellent Staff engagement
• Does everyone have the right training to do the job? Excellent Training
• Has everyone got the right tools to do the job? Excellent Tools
• Do we communicate excellently? Excellent Communication