My wife, April, and I recently went out to dinner and the word we both used to describe our experience was “Whelming”.  It wasn’t a bad dinner, but there was nothing that stood out or impressed us.  The service was fine, food was good and pricing for what we got was fair but we both felt like there was no reason to go back to that restaurant.  

In the comedy movie, Ten Things I Hate About You (1999), Chastity Church asks, "I know you can be underwhelmed and you can be overwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?”  Although historically from Middle English whelm and overwhelm were used interchangeably and both meant “to overturn” or “to overpower in thought or feeling” it wasn’t until people started using a third word: underwhelmed for “unimpressed” that whelmed started being used to describe something as average or mediocre.

When demand is high and there is ample business at your door, it can be easy to default into a mode of mediocre.  We can gravitate to a new normal where impressing every customer and exceeding expectations is not necessary to win or stay in business.  This, however, is where companies differentiate themselves.  When things turn and business becomes scarce, the reputation of the “awesome” service-providing companies distance themselves from the “average” service-providers.  Having built a loyal following, they continue to stay relevant and find ways to thrive in a wide variety of economic conditions.  Often times when this occurs, it’s too late for those average service providers to simply improve their offerings so they begin to lower prices to win business, that leads to additional stress of shrinking margins, creating a downward spiral within their organization.

Companies that are known for wowing customers continuously push themselves to make their organizations better (MIBE).  They don’t settle for the status quo or how things have always been.  They don’t take customers or business that comes in the door for granted.  They put in extra effort as opposed to looking for the path of least resistance.  They communicate their purpose throughout all levels of the organization.  And they don’t settle for average no matter how busy they become.  This becomes even more critical in industries like ours that mimic a live performance.  My dad used to stress; “We’re only as good as our last party.  There’s no do-overs in catering, so every event needs to be perfect.” 

Hospitality is booming right now.  I continue to hear about large amounts of business that caterers across the country are turning away.  In Denver, every restaurant I go to seems to be full, with more opening up every day.  And despite all the talk of layoffs, consumer spending on leisure and entertainment continues to reach peak levels.  It is precisely at these times that we must resist the pull to “just get the job done” and push through to create experiences that are overwhelmingly awesome!