Industry Insights

In today’s highly transactional economy, the key to standing out isn’t just offering a superior product or service. It’s about making your clients feel genuinely valued and appreciated in every interaction. Whether you’re running a coffee shop, a farm or a landscaping business, you are in the business of hospitality.

I recently read Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidera. In his popular book, Guidera makes the case that hospitality isn’t just about being friendly or polite; it’s about creating intentionally unforgettable experiences that leave a lasting impression.

Imagine turning every client interaction into a story they’ll eagerly share with friends and family. It’s not just wishful thinking — it’s a proven strategy that can transform your business. Let’s explore how you can weave extraordinary moments into your everyday operations, building stronger genuine connections, increasing referrals and, ultimately, growing your business.

In his book, Guidera shares a fascinating story about his early days as a manager at Eleven Madison Square Park, a fine-dining restaurant that rose to one of the world’s best.

One day, a group of tourists visiting New York were dining at the restaurant — their last stop before heading home. Whilst eating, Guidera overheard the guests lamenting that they didn’t get to have a famous New York street hot dog while visiting. At that moment, a light bulb switched on in his head and he did something unthinkable: he ran out to a local street cart, bought a hot dog, brought it back to the kitchen and asked the head chef to plate it. He asked the chef to serve this before the duck that had been dry-aged for two weeks. The chef was skeptical, to say the least, but agreed (notice the level of trust!). When the hot dog was presented, the guests were ecstatic.

The cost to the restaurant? Two dollars.

The impact of active listening and a hospitality mindset? An experience these people will carry with them for their entire lives… and tell everyone about.

Will Guidara calls this level of intentionality Unreasonable Hospitality.

The story is so famous it inspired this scene from The Bear, a TV show that is a personal favourite of mine:

Why should I do this?

You might be thinking, “Yeah, this is a great story, but it doesn’t apply to my industry or business.”

Remember, the key to standing out isn’t just offering a superior product or service. It’s about making your clients feel genuinely valued and appreciated in every interaction.

As long as your clients are human, you have the same opportunity to exercise Unreasonable Hospitality.

Unreasonable Hospitality doesn’t have to be expressed as a gift. In the words of Guidera: “Luxury means just giving more; hospitality means being more thoughtful.” For some of your clients, an expression of Unreasonable Hospitality could be an encouraging note or planning something special. Just like the hot dog in the story, what matters isn’t the value, but the thoughtfulness and how that makes the person feel.

This sounds like a great idea for small business owners but could be hard to apply. To add another act of hospitality increases your already long “to-do” list. We get caught up in the grind, profit margins are tight and we don’t know where to start. But here’s why it should be higher up on your priority list.

First, it feels incredible to make others happy, especially when we NAIL IT. Giving gifts or thoughtful gestures sometimes gratifies the giver more than the receiver.

Second, staff are more engaged when they're empowered to do something completely extraordinary for your clients.

Finally, there’s an economic case as well — repeat business, referrals and great exposure.

Gestures like the hot dog are priceless in the world of marketing.

How can small businesses practice hospitality?

Bringing hospitality into your business doesn’t need to be daunting. Here are some suggested steps to take and areas where we can help:

Budget for Delight

Guidera understands profit margins all too well — restaurants have famously low margins. His approach was adopting a rule of 95/5.

“Manage 95% of your business to the penny and spend the last 5% foolishly.”

Now, foolishly isn’t truly foolish. It’s an opportunity to create an emotional attachment to your brand. It’s what moves your current and past clients from acquaintances to raving fans. This 95/5 rule can also apply to how we spend our time — 95% on business duties and 5% on being unreasonably hospitable to our clients.

Be Fully Present

While finding margin is one thing, executing Unreasonable Hospitality can be another thing entirely. Landscape designers spend weeks to months interacting with clients, exchanging ideas, figuring out what matters to them in their homes and yards, and learning about their clients’ interests. In this type of relationship, it should be easy to find opportunities for unreasonable hospitality. The truth is, it can still be tricky. The reason is that it requires total presence with the person you’re interacting with. We need to slow down from what we want to achieve in the client call and listen for those opportunities to be unreasonably hospitable.

Empower Your Staff

The next way you can apply Unreasonable Hospitality is to empower your staff. Put mechanics in place to empower your staff to execute their own acts of hospitality. Give them a budget they can work with at their discretion (a portion of that 5%!), run contests and reward awesome gifts and gestures. At Eleven Madison Park, staff were empowered to achieve their own hot dog stories where they could. It even created energy within the team, who encouraged each other by sharing their stories. They eventually hired “dream weavers” whose sole purpose was to find and implement these moments of delight.

Unreasonable hospitality doesn’t fall on one person; it needs to be adopted by the entire team.

Include Unreasonable Hospitality in Your Process

The gestures that resonate most often come out of one-on-one interactions. However, any industry can find patterns among their clientele. Take real estate, for example. You have first-time home buyers, empty nesters looking to downsize, house flippers and so on. The key is finding the right gifts or gestures that resonate with each segment. If this feels like a lot to think about, don’t worry. That’s why we created something called the hospitality tool kit. Ask your Compass Account Manager about it!

In the business world, where competition can be fierce, embracing lessons from this book — like fostering a culture that relentlessly looks for ways for your brand to leave a lasting impression — can set you apart. It will build stronger relationships with your clients and within your team, increase referrals and ultimately help grow your business.

If you haven’t already read Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidera, I 100% recommend it.