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Train Better, Lead Better | The GrowthPro Edge · The GrowthPro Edge

• 0:00
  Speaker: Welcome to the Growth Pro Edge.
• 0:02
  Speaker: We're here to help scale your
• 0:04
  Speaker: business, build stronger teams
• 0:06
  Speaker: and sharpen your leadership
• 0:08
  Speaker: skills.
• 0:11
  Speaker: I'm your host Denise Killian
• 0:13
  Speaker: with the Growth Pro Group and
• 0:15
  Speaker: entertainment.
• 0:16
  Speaker: And today I wanted to circle
• 0:17
  Speaker: back to a conversation I had
• 0:19
  Speaker: last year with Davy Hecht, who
• 0:21
  Speaker: is the GM of Burleson's Alley
• 0:23
  Speaker: Cats.
• 0:24
  Speaker: They also happen to win last year's FEC of the year award.
• 0:30
  Speaker: We had a great conversation about her leadership and how she
• 0:33
  Speaker: continues to keep her staff performing at a high level.
• 0:38
  Speaker: Well, and here's a hint it's a lot of training and consistency.
• 0:43
  Speaker: Let's listen in.
• 0:45
  Speaker: So aside from being the general manager of the FEC of the year
• 0:52
  Speaker: at Alley Cats Burleson, uh, tell us a little bit about yourself
• 0:57
  Speaker: for those that don't know you.
• 1:00
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 1:00
  Speaker: No.
• 1:00
  Speaker: Absolutely.
• 1:01
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 1:01
  Speaker: So as you said, I'm the general
• 1:03
  Speaker: manager here at Alleycats in
• 1:05
  Speaker: Burlington.
• 1:06
  Speaker: Um, but when the company just I
• 1:08
  Speaker: started with the company a
• 1:09
  Speaker: little over a year and a half
• 1:10
  Speaker: now, um, just completely love
• 1:12
  Speaker: the family industry or family
• 1:14
  Speaker: entertainment industry.
• 1:16
  Speaker: It's been a great thing.
• 1:17
  Speaker: Um, I have a child that actually works here, so a little family
• 1:21
  Speaker: business on the side here.
• 1:23
  Speaker: Now, um, we enjoy ourselves here, but really just work.
• 1:26
  Speaker: I like going to music.
• 1:28
  Speaker: I have a background of seventeen
• 1:29
  Speaker: years in hospitality and
• 1:31
  Speaker: entertainment.
• 1:32
  Speaker: So that was nice experience to bring here.
• 1:34
  Speaker: So, so you actually started with Alleycats as they were opening
• 1:40
  Speaker: this new facility in Burlington.
• 1:42
  Speaker: So you got to build your own
• 1:46
  Speaker: place, um, from, from top to, to
• 1:49
  Speaker: bottom and create a new
• 1:53
  Speaker: atmosphere, which is really a
• 1:54
  Speaker: unique opportunity.
• 1:56
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 1:56
  Speaker: Being on the grand opening team is something unique, and I
• 2:01
  Speaker: recommend everyone experience one time in their life because
• 2:03
  Speaker: it's been such a growth and an experience along the way.
• 2:08
  Speaker: So, um, what I always love when I get to see you in, in, in
• 2:14
  Speaker: action and come to your facility, uh, full disclosure
• 2:18
  Speaker: entertainment works with alley cats and all three of their
• 2:21
  Speaker: locations in North Texas, uh, doing a variety of things.
• 2:25
  Speaker: But, uh, so I get to come to your center, uh, quite often,
• 2:29
  Speaker: which is lovely.
• 2:30
  Speaker: And something that I always am
• 2:33
  Speaker: struck by is you have a focus on
• 2:38
  Speaker: training, not just the training
• 2:40
  Speaker: that we did when you just opened
• 2:41
  Speaker: up.
• 2:43
  Speaker: Um, or when someone just starts their new job of constant
• 2:48
  Speaker: training every week, every day.
• 2:54
  Speaker: Why do you do that?
• 2:57
  Speaker: I think it's, you know, the
• 2:58
  Speaker: important foundation for
• 3:00
  Speaker: everything.
• 3:01
  Speaker: You know, not only is it continuously making sure they're
• 3:04
  Speaker: staying on track for our goal, that they completely understand,
• 3:07
  Speaker: you know, there's always consistent changes with the
• 3:10
  Speaker: dynamics in the season.
• 3:12
  Speaker: Um, and then just really, truly investing in them because I'm a
• 3:15
  Speaker: true believer, if you invest in your people, they're going to
• 3:17
  Speaker: invest in you.
• 3:18
  Speaker: So we do things that are, you
• 3:20
  Speaker: know, FCC related, but then also
• 3:22
  Speaker: like personal growth development
• 3:24
  Speaker: in them.
• 3:24
  Speaker: So if they truly care for the company and they show that we
• 3:28
  Speaker: care for them, they're going to continue coming and being loyal
• 3:31
  Speaker: to us and loyal to our guests.
• 3:32
  Speaker: So just checking every day, coming up with things weekly,
• 3:37
  Speaker: monthly, quarterly has been a huge success for us.
• 3:40
  Speaker: And that's something that, you know, most people, if you have a
• 3:44
  Speaker: conversation with them, whether they're a manager or a business
• 3:48
  Speaker: owner, um, or even like a shift leader, well, sure, training's
• 3:51
  Speaker: important, but we have all these other things to do and we.
• 3:59
  Speaker: Love to be able to do that, but
• 4:00
  Speaker: oh, this happens and that
• 4:01
  Speaker: happens.
• 4:02
  Speaker: And this is a crazy place and things are always changing and
• 4:06
  Speaker: there's no time to do that.
• 4:08
  Speaker: How do you find the time to do it?
• 4:13
  Speaker: Um, personally, I started at the bottom and created more of like
• 4:16
  Speaker: a train the trainer program.
• 4:18
  Speaker: So, um, trained our front line
• 4:21
  Speaker: people to be that first hand of
• 4:24
  Speaker: it.
• 4:24
  Speaker: Um, and then really just giving them the tools and resources.
• 4:27
  Speaker: We do like a weekly, just one hour check in and say, hey,
• 4:31
  Speaker: here's what's coming.
• 4:32
  Speaker: Here's the new, um,
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  Speaker: communication pieces, the new
• 4:36
  Speaker: process that's rolling out and
• 4:38
  Speaker: then just trying to check in on
• 4:40
  Speaker: like our morning kickoff
• 4:42
  Speaker: meetings or our shift change
• 4:43
  Speaker: meetings.
• 4:44
  Speaker: And just, um, I've been doing
• 4:46
  Speaker: some surveys here and there just
• 4:47
  Speaker: to get some feedback because of
• 4:48
  Speaker: course everybody learns
• 4:49
  Speaker: differently.
• 4:50
  Speaker: Um, and I can't be here twenty
• 4:52
  Speaker: four hours a day, seven days a
• 4:53
  Speaker: week.
• 4:53
  Speaker: So really having the people that are on the floor be the voice
• 4:57
  Speaker: for me and and with that, right, because you're right, you can't
• 5:02
  Speaker: be the only one doing it.
• 5:03
  Speaker: You can't be there twenty four, seven or all hours that the
• 5:09
  Speaker: facility is open.
• 5:10
  Speaker: Um, but is it something that you
• 5:14
  Speaker: are strategic and intentional
• 5:16
  Speaker: about when you do have those
• 5:18
  Speaker: staff meetings, those management
• 5:20
  Speaker: meetings?
• 5:21
  Speaker: Um, how we're talking to folks,
• 5:26
  Speaker: how we're training people and
• 5:27
  Speaker: making that a part of those
• 5:28
  Speaker: meetings.
• 5:29
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 5:30
  Speaker: No, absolutely.
• 5:30
  Speaker: So, um, I take a lot of time actually digging into like the
• 5:33
  Speaker: Google reviews or like when I'm table touching and listening to
• 5:36
  Speaker: like kind of what the feedback is and how guests are feeling,
• 5:39
  Speaker: you know, I always say inspect what you expect.
• 5:41
  Speaker: So if I'm expecting them to do something, so I'll step back,
• 5:45
  Speaker: watch, listen, and then come up with a plan.
• 5:47
  Speaker: So like, for example, we're
• 5:49
  Speaker: struggling with, you know,
• 5:51
  Speaker: having difficult conversations
• 5:52
  Speaker: for, you know, guests that may
• 5:53
  Speaker: be upset about something or
• 5:55
  Speaker: having conversations with just a
• 5:57
  Speaker: greeting customer service,
• 5:58
  Speaker: right.
• 5:58
  Speaker: In this industry, a lot of the people that work for us, it's
• 6:02
  Speaker: their first time job.
• 6:03
  Speaker: So they've never even had customer service training.
• 6:06
  Speaker: So just coming back and saying,
• 6:08
  Speaker: okay, these are the top things
• 6:09
  Speaker: that are affecting my business
• 6:10
  Speaker: line from what our guests are
• 6:11
  Speaker: seeing, and then actually
• 6:13
  Speaker: training them on the simple
• 6:14
  Speaker: things, whether it's just an
• 6:16
  Speaker: hour class of how to greet a
• 6:17
  Speaker: guest and the steps of service,
• 6:19
  Speaker: that goes a long way from just
• 6:22
  Speaker: expecting them to do these
• 6:23
  Speaker: things.
• 6:24
  Speaker: Mhm.
• 6:25
  Speaker: And, you know, and I love that I talk about this a lot,
• 6:30
  Speaker: especially in this industry, when you're talking to team
• 6:35
  Speaker: members that this is their very first job they have.
• 6:40
  Speaker: And, and, you know, if you're
• 6:41
  Speaker: fifteen, sixteen years old and
• 6:44
  Speaker: you talk about, you say things
• 6:45
  Speaker: like, you know, we expect our
• 6:47
  Speaker: customer service to be top
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  Speaker: notch.
• 6:50
  Speaker: They don't really understand what that is.
• 6:53
  Speaker: No. And they don't know because they're fifteen.
• 6:58
  Speaker: They don't know.
• 6:59
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 7:00
  Speaker: Um, and even something as that we would think is very simple
• 7:05
  Speaker: of, oh, we need to make sure that we wipe down the front desk
• 7:10
  Speaker: and clean the front desk.
• 7:12
  Speaker: Well, yeah, that might not mean the same thing.
• 7:18
  Speaker: I'm sure between you and I, that
• 7:20
  Speaker: means two separate things,
• 7:22
  Speaker: right?
• 7:23
  Speaker: But certainly for, for other folks that, you know, we make
• 7:27
  Speaker: assumptions that everybody knows how to do something and what
• 7:29
  Speaker: this thing is.
• 7:31
  Speaker: Um, but that's not the case.
• 7:34
  Speaker: And so taking the time to be
• 7:36
  Speaker: clear about this is the
• 7:39
  Speaker: expectation.
• 7:40
  Speaker: This is what a clean front desk looks like.
• 7:44
  Speaker: This is how we want you to maintain this.
• 7:47
  Speaker: This is how we want you to do this to us may seem like.
• 7:51
  Speaker: Well, why wouldn't they know that?
• 7:56
  Speaker: Of course, everybody knows how to do that.
• 7:58
  Speaker: Well, maybe not right?
• 8:00
  Speaker: Yeah, we see that a lot with, like, just simple as mopping.
• 8:03
  Speaker: Hey, can we get you guys to mop the front?
• 8:05
  Speaker: And they come out and it's all wishy washy, wet.
• 8:08
  Speaker: And I'm like, okay, yes, let's take a step back and actually
• 8:10
  Speaker: say, let's start with the basics and I'm expecting you to mop.
• 8:13
  Speaker: Let's just show you real quick,
• 8:16
  Speaker: five minutes, everybody come
• 8:17
  Speaker: together.
• 8:17
  Speaker: This is how you mop.
• 8:18
  Speaker: And yeah, it's the small
• 8:20
  Speaker: investments is actually helping
• 8:22
  Speaker: them.
• 8:22
  Speaker: So yeah, yeah.
• 8:24
  Speaker: Um, there's a fun little, uh, you know, I do, we do, you do.
• 8:29
  Speaker: Right.
• 8:30
  Speaker: So let me show you.
• 8:32
  Speaker: I'm going to do it.
• 8:32
  Speaker: Let me show you.
• 8:34
  Speaker: Let's do it together.
• 8:36
  Speaker: Now I want you to do it.
• 8:38
  Speaker: And I'm going to I'm going to see how you do right.
• 8:42
  Speaker: The, the I we you, um, is, is an important Process as you're
• 8:49
  Speaker: going through things.
• 8:50
  Speaker: You said something else that
• 8:51
  Speaker: struck me that I want to
• 8:52
  Speaker: highlight.
• 8:54
  Speaker: Inspect what you expect.
• 8:58
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 8:59
  Speaker: Tell me more.
• 9:00
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 9:01
  Speaker: So we're saying, hey, I expect
• 9:02
  Speaker: you to greet every guest that
• 9:03
  Speaker: comes in with a smile, a warm,
• 9:05
  Speaker: sincere, you know, we say, see
• 9:07
  Speaker: you tomorrow when they're
• 9:08
  Speaker: leaving.
• 9:09
  Speaker: You know, I say, hey, I'm going to teach you.
• 9:10
  Speaker: This is what it looks like.
• 9:11
  Speaker: So I want it to look.
• 9:13
  Speaker: And I take a step back and watch them do those things and then
• 9:15
  Speaker: come back and either correct it or say, hey, high five.
• 9:18
  Speaker: Great job.
• 9:19
  Speaker: Yeah, I really like the way you greeted the guests.
• 9:21
  Speaker: So otherwise, you know, if you
• 9:23
  Speaker: don't show them and tell them
• 9:24
  Speaker: and then expect them and then
• 9:25
  Speaker: follow up with either a
• 9:27
  Speaker: corrective, you know, action or,
• 9:30
  Speaker: you know, a kudos for actually
• 9:31
  Speaker: going above and beyond and doing
• 9:32
  Speaker: that.
• 9:33
  Speaker: You know, I always say
• 9:34
  Speaker: inspected, you expect if you're
• 9:36
  Speaker: expecting them to do it, step
• 9:37
  Speaker: back, expect it, inspect it and
• 9:39
  Speaker: do it.
• 9:40
  Speaker: I love that, I love that.
• 9:42
  Speaker: And the other thing that I think people miss sometimes is you're
• 9:47
  Speaker: specific about what was good.
• 9:50
  Speaker: Mhm.
• 9:51
  Speaker: Right.
• 9:51
  Speaker: And not just, hey.
• 9:52
  Speaker: Good job.
• 9:55
  Speaker: You were I great job.
• 9:57
  Speaker: I really liked how you high
• 9:59
  Speaker: fived the customer as they came
• 10:00
  Speaker: in.
• 10:01
  Speaker: Right.
• 10:01
  Speaker: That's a specific.
• 10:03
  Speaker: Oh, that's the thing.
• 10:04
  Speaker: I can repeat that.
• 10:05
  Speaker: Right.
• 10:06
  Speaker: Um, so, uh, having that specific when you're praising, uh, as
• 10:13
  Speaker: well as when you are giving someone the opportunity to make
• 10:17
  Speaker: a change, right.
• 10:18
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 10:19
  Speaker: Um, um, having the specific of, hey, this wasn't quite to our
• 10:23
  Speaker: standards, but let's talk about what this is and specifically
• 10:28
  Speaker: what it was.
• 10:29
  Speaker: And you know, when the guest
• 10:30
  Speaker: came in, you were, uh, turned
• 10:34
  Speaker: away and they had to wait while
• 10:37
  Speaker: you were finishing this other
• 10:38
  Speaker: thing.
• 10:40
  Speaker: And we really, what we expect, what we would like you to do is
• 10:44
  Speaker: greet them immediately.
• 10:47
  Speaker: You know, even if you have to say, excuse me.
• 10:49
  Speaker: Right.
• 10:50
  Speaker: Greet them if you can give me
• 10:52
  Speaker: just a moment while I handle
• 10:53
  Speaker: this situation.
• 10:54
  Speaker: I'll be with you in a second.
• 10:55
  Speaker: We're thrilled you're here at Alleycats, right?
• 10:57
  Speaker: And then go back.
• 10:58
  Speaker: Right.
• 10:58
  Speaker: And being specific, not just, hey, that was good.
• 11:02
  Speaker: Or, hey, that was bad.
• 11:04
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:06
  Speaker: Um, and talking about you like your front line folks to be
• 11:11
  Speaker: trainers as well and like, kind of you built this culture.
• 11:15
  Speaker: Uh, Alleycats has been open for
• 11:17
  Speaker: over a year now, and you really
• 11:20
  Speaker: built a culture that feeds on,
• 11:23
  Speaker: that, feeds on that training,
• 11:24
  Speaker: feeds on that, helping that
• 11:26
  Speaker: their team, the whole staff is
• 11:28
  Speaker: working together.
• 11:30
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 11:31
  Speaker: Um, you mentioned you did
• 11:32
  Speaker: something recently that I love
• 11:37
  Speaker: and it's about moving people
• 11:40
  Speaker: around, right?
• 11:42
  Speaker: You're moving people to different areas for a few weeks.
• 11:47
  Speaker: Even your managers.
• 11:49
  Speaker: Yep.
• 11:50
  Speaker: So we recently, um, came with like a cross training program,
• 11:54
  Speaker: you know, so all of our leaders and our managers all have done a
• 11:57
  Speaker: five week rotation.
• 11:58
  Speaker: I have five departments and they
• 12:00
  Speaker: spend a week in each department
• 12:02
  Speaker: just learning the ins and outs,
• 12:04
  Speaker: you know, how to open, how to
• 12:05
  Speaker: close, how to jump in and help
• 12:08
  Speaker: so that if you know, the
• 12:09
  Speaker: business dynamics is changing,
• 12:11
  Speaker: right?
• 12:11
  Speaker: Um, whether we're really busy or
• 12:13
  Speaker: getting slow, we can kind of use
• 12:15
  Speaker: that to our advantage for their
• 12:16
  Speaker: personal growth and their
• 12:18
  Speaker: development to see where they
• 12:19
  Speaker: would want to grow in the
• 12:20
  Speaker: company.
• 12:20
  Speaker: But also, you know, instead of
• 12:22
  Speaker: bringing an entire body for an
• 12:24
  Speaker: entire shift, if I say, hey, you
• 12:27
  Speaker: know, Ted over here is scheduled
• 12:29
  Speaker: at bowling, but if he can keep
• 12:30
  Speaker: an eye on my desk and my games
• 12:32
  Speaker: counter for two hours, then
• 12:34
  Speaker: that's a little bit of cross
• 12:35
  Speaker: training.
• 12:35
  Speaker: He can jump in and help.
• 12:37
  Speaker: If somebody comes in and kind of
• 12:38
  Speaker: help us manage a labor, manage
• 12:40
  Speaker: the development of our team as
• 12:41
  Speaker: well.
• 12:42
  Speaker: So it's been a huge success for
• 12:43
  Speaker: all of our teams that they're
• 12:45
  Speaker: really excited to keep growing
• 12:47
  Speaker: and learning.
• 12:48
  Speaker: So yeah, and it's, it's certainly the labor piece of it
• 12:52
  Speaker: is a fantastic, uh, reward.
• 12:57
  Speaker: But I think it also helps to cultivate what happens so often
• 13:02
  Speaker: in any business.
• 13:04
  Speaker: If you've got two departments,
• 13:05
  Speaker: generally, you've got two silos,
• 13:07
  Speaker: right?
• 13:08
  Speaker: Yep.
• 13:08
  Speaker: Um, if you've got five
• 13:09
  Speaker: departments, you've got five
• 13:10
  Speaker: silos.
• 13:11
  Speaker: And I know all about my department and what I do, but I
• 13:15
  Speaker: don't know what they do over there and well, they're not
• 13:18
  Speaker: doing what you know.
• 13:19
  Speaker: Right.
• 13:20
  Speaker: It, it, it kind of breeds this thing.
• 13:22
  Speaker: Um, but when you're able to do the full Monty, you understand
• 13:31
  Speaker: how the business works together and how those five departments
• 13:34
  Speaker: all work together.
• 13:36
  Speaker: And it allows for, I think,
• 13:38
  Speaker: better communication between the
• 13:39
  Speaker: departments, certainly a better
• 13:41
  Speaker: understanding that when oh, when
• 13:43
  Speaker: the kitchen is complaining that
• 13:45
  Speaker: the sales team didn't give the
• 13:49
  Speaker: right breakdown for what they
• 13:51
  Speaker: needed and were slammed with
• 13:52
  Speaker: twenty seven parties this
• 13:54
  Speaker: Saturday.
• 13:55
  Speaker: Um, you understand?
• 13:57
  Speaker: Oh, well, I spent that week in
• 13:58
  Speaker: the sales department, so now I
• 13:59
  Speaker: understand that it, you know, it
• 14:02
  Speaker: got overlooked because they were
• 14:03
  Speaker: dealing with these other things,
• 14:05
  Speaker: right.
• 14:05
  Speaker: Like you just there's better
• 14:06
  Speaker: communication and understanding
• 14:08
  Speaker: too.
• 14:08
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 14:09
  Speaker: And I've also seen that it's
• 14:11
  Speaker: actually helped our customers as
• 14:12
  Speaker: well.
• 14:13
  Speaker: Right.
• 14:13
  Speaker: So instead of saying, oh, I
• 14:14
  Speaker: don't know that answer, and we
• 14:15
  Speaker: send you over there and able to,
• 14:17
  Speaker: you know, directly help the
• 14:18
  Speaker: customer right then and there
• 14:20
  Speaker: and really been, you know,
• 14:21
  Speaker: supportive on helping that side
• 14:23
  Speaker: too.
• 14:23
  Speaker: So it's, yeah, like you hit it
• 14:25
  Speaker: right on the nail with
• 14:26
  Speaker: everything.
• 14:27
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 14:27
  Speaker: That's a great, I didn't even think about that.
• 14:29
  Speaker: But you're right.
• 14:31
  Speaker: Because often we'll go into any,
• 14:33
  Speaker: you know, any place and you're
• 14:35
  Speaker: like, oh, I have this question
• 14:37
  Speaker: to the person that works at that
• 14:39
  Speaker: place.
• 14:39
  Speaker: And they're like, oh, I don't know.
• 14:40
  Speaker: That's not my department.
• 14:41
  Speaker: You have to go or wait, let me call somebody.
• 14:45
  Speaker: Or hopefully they're not just
• 14:46
  Speaker: pointing you and saying, go
• 14:47
  Speaker: there.
• 14:47
  Speaker: Right?
• 14:48
  Speaker: But right.
• 14:49
  Speaker: Hopefully they're like, let me find the answer.
• 14:51
  Speaker: But, uh, it is, it does feel kind of annoying.
• 14:54
  Speaker: And it does feel disconnected, right?
• 14:56
  Speaker: When the, the person that's
• 14:58
  Speaker: there kind of pushes you off on
• 15:01
  Speaker: somebody else.
• 15:02
  Speaker: But with that, yeah, I didn't even think about that.
• 15:05
  Speaker: What a great additional benefit from that.
• 15:09
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 15:09
  Speaker: Um, when you have your meetings, um, first of all, how often are
• 15:15
  Speaker: you having meetings?
• 15:17
  Speaker: How long are they and how much time do you dedicate for
• 15:21
  Speaker: training in each of them?
• 15:25
  Speaker: Um, so for my managers, we have a weekly one, of course, we have
• 15:29
  Speaker: our weekly L ten.
• 15:30
  Speaker: Usually, you know, we try to dedicate an hour to it with, you
• 15:33
  Speaker: know, just about five, ten minutes on some kind of training
• 15:36
  Speaker: development topic on like a focus item of the week.
• 15:39
  Speaker: Um, and then they take it back to their teams.
• 15:41
  Speaker: I do a quarterly training with
• 15:44
  Speaker: my shift leads just to really
• 15:46
  Speaker: check in.
• 15:46
  Speaker: Hey, this is what the quarter focus is.
• 15:48
  Speaker: These are the areas of opportunity this quarter.
• 15:50
  Speaker: And, um, I usually just do one hour meeting once a quarter with
• 15:55
  Speaker: all of them.
• 15:55
  Speaker: And then of course, there are
• 15:57
  Speaker: department managers will have,
• 15:59
  Speaker: um, weekly and monthly meetings
• 16:02
  Speaker: based on the shift within the
• 16:03
  Speaker: departments.
• 16:05
  Speaker: Department manager training.
• 16:07
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 16:08
  Speaker: Um that's fantastic.
• 16:09
  Speaker: And I love the, uh, weekly focus and quarterly focus.
• 16:14
  Speaker: Right.
• 16:15
  Speaker: Um, how do you decide what that focus is?
• 16:21
  Speaker: Um, for me, I'm one in listening
• 16:24
  Speaker: to the feedback from our guests
• 16:26
  Speaker: and what I, what they're saying
• 16:27
  Speaker: is, you know, maybe an area of
• 16:29
  Speaker: opportunity for us, whether
• 16:30
  Speaker: it's, um, upselling an item,
• 16:34
  Speaker: right?
• 16:35
  Speaker: We're not getting our per capita
• 16:37
  Speaker: numbers or listening to our
• 16:38
  Speaker: guests saying, oh, well, this
• 16:39
  Speaker: person, they weren't really
• 16:40
  Speaker: friendly or they weren't really
• 16:41
  Speaker: knowledgeable.
• 16:42
  Speaker: Um, and then getting some feedback from our teams.
• 16:45
  Speaker: I try to do like a monthly
• 16:46
  Speaker: survey just to, you know, do it
• 16:48
  Speaker: from your phone when you get a
• 16:49
  Speaker: chance, you have till this day
• 16:50
  Speaker: to complete it and say, hey,
• 16:51
  Speaker: what are some topics that you
• 16:53
  Speaker: feel you would be beneficial to
• 16:55
  Speaker: learn?
• 16:56
  Speaker: So I kind of get some feedback from the team, feedback from the
• 16:58
  Speaker: guests, and then really digging into the numbers.
• 17:00
  Speaker: And if it is, hey, I'm trying to get that one upsell number, my
• 17:04
  Speaker: per cap up, then really focusing on those three topics usually.
• 17:09
  Speaker: And you know, this is something that, uh, is not quite the topic
• 17:14
  Speaker: that we're discussing, but I just want to praise it.
• 17:18
  Speaker: It is related.
• 17:19
  Speaker: The more I think about it, if
• 17:21
  Speaker: you don't know what's going on
• 17:22
  Speaker: in your center, you have no
• 17:23
  Speaker: idea, right?
• 17:25
  Speaker: If you don't know what the guests are thinking, that's,
• 17:30
  Speaker: that's a problem.
• 17:31
  Speaker: If you're not taking the time to listen to that feedback.
• 17:36
  Speaker: When you're doing a walkthrough that you're talking to people,
• 17:39
  Speaker: hey, how are things going?
• 17:40
  Speaker: Gosh, uh, you know, what would you like to see here?
• 17:44
  Speaker: Right?
• 17:44
  Speaker: What would you write?
• 17:45
  Speaker: Even those simple conversations
• 17:47
  Speaker: of both your guests and your
• 17:49
  Speaker: staff, those should be regular
• 17:52
  Speaker: conversations.
• 17:54
  Speaker: Uh, but also you mentioned
• 17:56
  Speaker: something that, um, Alley cats
• 17:58
  Speaker: does a very good job of, um, as
• 18:01
  Speaker: you've, you've identified a key
• 18:03
  Speaker: performance indicator that is
• 18:07
  Speaker: meaningful and is trackable,
• 18:10
  Speaker: right?
• 18:11
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 18:11
  Speaker: Um, you know, your numbers and
• 18:14
  Speaker: there's a million numbers in any
• 18:16
  Speaker: given business, but if you're
• 18:18
  Speaker: just tracking a million numbers
• 18:20
  Speaker: because they're on a
• 18:21
  Speaker: spreadsheet, then it's
• 18:22
  Speaker: meaningless and it doesn't, it
• 18:25
  Speaker: doesn't matter.
• 18:26
  Speaker: Uh, but really digging in and being able to identify, we know
• 18:32
  Speaker: that this is a measurement of how we're going to do overall.
• 18:36
  Speaker: And we know that.
• 18:39
  Speaker: And at Alley Cats, you know what the per cap is like, how much
• 18:44
  Speaker: the spend is for, for people that walk in the door.
• 18:48
  Speaker: And, and that is your indicator of when it's up, you're doing
• 18:54
  Speaker: great when it's down.
• 18:58
  Speaker: Right?
• 18:59
  Speaker: And because this is a cyclical seasonal industry, that number
• 19:05
  Speaker: is not the same.
• 19:07
  Speaker: And the number of people walking in the door is not the same
• 19:09
  Speaker: throughout the year.
• 19:11
  Speaker: Right.
• 19:11
  Speaker: Um, but what they're spending when they're inside should be
• 19:16
  Speaker: more consistent and when it's not, we got to figure that out.
• 19:21
  Speaker: Right.
• 19:21
  Speaker: And that's such, you've done the alley cats as an organization
• 19:25
  Speaker: has done a great job of really figuring out that's the number
• 19:29
  Speaker: for us, right?
• 19:30
  Speaker: That's the thing that we need to pay attention to and that you're
• 19:34
  Speaker: paying attention to it.
• 19:35
  Speaker: It's not just when you have to come and meet with me or back
• 19:39
  Speaker: and do quarterly and annual training that we're all going to
• 19:43
  Speaker: be talking about that number.
• 19:45
  Speaker: But it's something that you're looking at consistently, right?
• 19:49
  Speaker: Um, the follow up piece, right?
• 19:53
  Speaker: So training is like you did it once and you never have to talk
• 19:56
  Speaker: about it again, right?
• 20:00
  Speaker: Always ongoing.
• 20:01
  Speaker: How do you schedule that?
• 20:02
  Speaker: Like follow up and just checking in.
• 20:06
  Speaker: Um, for me, I just personally go
• 20:09
  Speaker: through and I try to hit one on
• 20:11
  Speaker: ones.
• 20:11
  Speaker: I try to spread my time outs on an opening shift and mid-shift p
• 20:15
  Speaker: m shift, sometimes a weekend shift and just following up with
• 20:18
  Speaker: them and seeking feedback.
• 20:20
  Speaker: Again, sometimes I can't connect
• 20:22
  Speaker: with everybody, but connecting
• 20:24
  Speaker: via surveys is usually where I
• 20:26
  Speaker: kind of get my feedback from
• 20:27
  Speaker: them.
• 20:27
  Speaker: And then, of course, it's all
• 20:28
  Speaker: going to show in the proof of
• 20:29
  Speaker: the, you know, I say proof of
• 20:31
  Speaker: the pudding.
• 20:31
  Speaker: When your numbers are up and
• 20:33
  Speaker: your guests are happy and you
• 20:34
  Speaker: just really your, your staff's
• 20:36
  Speaker: happy and you see the change in
• 20:38
  Speaker: them.
• 20:38
  Speaker: So yeah.
• 20:39
  Speaker: Fantastic.
• 20:40
  Speaker: Um, so you have developed, in
• 20:43
  Speaker: fact, a program that you use
• 20:47
  Speaker: when you're doing these
• 20:48
  Speaker: trainings.
• 20:50
  Speaker: Where do you get your
• 20:51
  Speaker: inspiration for what you're
• 20:53
  Speaker: doing?
• 20:57
  Speaker: I've always had a passion for training.
• 20:59
  Speaker: Um, but me personally, I, I love
• 21:04
  Speaker: seeing people like the little
• 21:05
  Speaker: light bulb in their head come on
• 21:06
  Speaker: and turn on and that they're
• 21:08
  Speaker: engaged.
• 21:09
  Speaker: So I think just the team being engaged, when I have an idea,
• 21:13
  Speaker: they're all about it as well.
• 21:14
  Speaker: But, um, I, you know, I don't want to toot your horn, but
• 21:19
  Speaker: entertainment has been a huge inspiration to me.
• 21:21
  Speaker: Um, just going and listening to
• 21:24
  Speaker: y'all's trainings, going to the
• 21:25
  Speaker: webinars.
• 21:25
  Speaker: I do a lot of the, the Zoom
• 21:27
  Speaker: meetings and stuff that you guys
• 21:28
  Speaker: do.
• 21:30
  Speaker: So just seeing the opportunity
• 21:32
  Speaker: for the team and then wanting to
• 21:34
  Speaker: grow and develop has been an
• 21:35
  Speaker: inspiration for me and listening
• 21:37
  Speaker: to you guys for not only my
• 21:40
  Speaker: personal growth, but for my
• 21:41
  Speaker: team's growth and kind of the
• 21:42
  Speaker: industry there.
• 21:44
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:45
  Speaker: No, I mean, and that's the, the,
• 21:47
  Speaker: I love the passion for it,
• 21:48
  Speaker: right?
• 21:48
  Speaker: I obviously have a passion for it as well.
• 21:52
  Speaker: Um, that was born from, you know, my previous career, there
• 21:57
  Speaker: was hardly any training at all.
• 21:58
  Speaker: It was literally figure it out
• 22:00
  Speaker: and you figure it out by messing
• 22:02
  Speaker: up a lot or being really
• 22:03
  Speaker: frustrated or really like, ah,
• 22:06
  Speaker: you know, um, but it was go, go,
• 22:08
  Speaker: go.
• 22:09
  Speaker: And you didn't have time, you know, we didn't have time.
• 22:11
  Speaker: Um, and that was something that coming up in that industry, it's
• 22:15
  Speaker: like, gosh, when I'm in a position where I can, I'm going
• 22:18
  Speaker: to do it.
• 22:19
  Speaker: Um, and you know, every, every couple of weeks we would do,
• 22:24
  Speaker: we're going to, you know, kind of focus on this and we would
• 22:26
  Speaker: have a theme for the month and in a contest around it.
• 22:29
  Speaker: Right.
• 22:30
  Speaker: Um, and, uh, you know, for me,
• 22:34
  Speaker: it was born from not getting
• 22:36
  Speaker: training.
• 22:37
  Speaker: Okay.
• 22:38
  Speaker: Right.
• 22:38
  Speaker: But, uh, you know, even if it's something as simple.
• 22:43
  Speaker: What what simple thing?
• 22:44
  Speaker: If somebody is like, I've never
• 22:45
  Speaker: done any training, really, other
• 22:47
  Speaker: than when somebody starts,
• 22:49
  Speaker: here's how you clock in and
• 22:50
  Speaker: clock out.
• 22:51
  Speaker: Um, and work the register.
• 22:54
  Speaker: Right.
• 22:54
  Speaker: Or the POS.
• 22:56
  Speaker: Um, that's all they've done.
• 22:59
  Speaker: How would you encourage somebody to start.
• 23:04
  Speaker: To start training or like to.
• 23:06
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 23:07
  Speaker: Um, for me, I mean, for here, particularly, I had, when
• 23:12
  Speaker: creating this program, I had to outline, obviously the
• 23:17
  Speaker: onboarding process is going to be the number one thing for me.
• 23:20
  Speaker: Um, but that's a great question
• 23:24
  Speaker: just for someone to start
• 23:26
  Speaker: training.
• 23:28
  Speaker: It doesn't have.
• 23:28
  Speaker: Does it have to be really intense or can it be so simple?
• 23:34
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 23:34
  Speaker: No, I say fine.
• 23:35
  Speaker: Find one thing a month,
• 23:38
  Speaker: something that excites you have
• 23:40
  Speaker: to be excited about what you're
• 23:41
  Speaker: training.
• 23:41
  Speaker: Right.
• 23:42
  Speaker: So if you're excited about the
• 23:44
  Speaker: positive results for your
• 23:46
  Speaker: business, positive results in
• 23:47
  Speaker: your staff, positive results in
• 23:49
  Speaker: yourself.
• 23:50
  Speaker: Just find one thing.
• 23:52
  Speaker: Because if you start going, you know, you'll start spiraling.
• 23:54
  Speaker: You have time, you know, fifteen
• 23:55
  Speaker: things that you're passionate
• 23:56
  Speaker: about.
• 23:57
  Speaker: Just find one thing that you're passionate about and use AI, use
• 24:02
  Speaker: the internet, use, you know, YouTube videos, there's Facebook
• 24:07
  Speaker: groups and just really dig into what the passion of it is and
• 24:11
  Speaker: then make your game plan, do your checklist, pick one day and
• 24:15
  Speaker: mark it to your team and really just have fun with it.
• 24:18
  Speaker: That's the biggest thing about training is it doesn't have to
• 24:21
  Speaker: be this big thing.
• 24:23
  Speaker: As long as you're having fun
• 24:24
  Speaker: with it, you have a direct
• 24:25
  Speaker: message and a follow up and be
• 24:28
  Speaker: successful.
• 24:29
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:30
  Speaker: And that one thing is really important.
• 24:32
  Speaker: You cannot bombard people with, here are twenty things that we
• 24:37
  Speaker: need to focus on.
• 24:38
  Speaker: And we're going to train and we're going to do this like six
• 24:40
  Speaker: hour training and talk about these twenty things that
• 24:44
  Speaker: nobody's going to remember that, retain that or do that.
• 24:46
  Speaker: Right.
• 24:47
  Speaker: Um, it's, it's, it's baby stepping, right.
• 24:51
  Speaker: The one thing, and this month
• 24:52
  Speaker: we're going to focus on saying
• 24:55
  Speaker: hello, right?
• 24:56
  Speaker: And we're going to make that a big focus of how we greet people
• 24:59
  Speaker: when they come in, right?
• 25:02
  Speaker: And then the next month, it will be how they leave, right?
• 25:06
  Speaker: Like those are the first, most
• 25:08
  Speaker: important impressions is your
• 25:09
  Speaker: first impression and your last
• 25:10
  Speaker: impression, right?
• 25:11
  Speaker: So start with with what are you going to say as they leave.
• 25:16
  Speaker: Right.
• 25:17
  Speaker: Um and, and what is that behavior that we want for people
• 25:21
  Speaker: when they leave?
• 25:22
  Speaker: And then you can talk about right?
• 25:24
  Speaker: Then the third month, maybe it's
• 25:27
  Speaker: going to be taking that
• 25:29
  Speaker: accountability, uh, right, of
• 25:33
  Speaker: making sure that we're picking
• 25:36
  Speaker: up.
• 25:36
  Speaker: Right.
• 25:37
  Speaker: See it, own it, resolve it.
• 25:39
  Speaker: Right.
• 25:39
  Speaker: Oh, there's trash on the ground.
• 25:41
  Speaker: Well, that's everybody's job, right?
• 25:43
  Speaker: Pick that up.
• 25:43
  Speaker: Right.
• 25:44
  Speaker: Um, and, and little by little does it.
• 25:48
  Speaker: Um, Davey, as we are running out of time, I can talk to you all
• 25:51
  Speaker: day about this and what great things that you have done there
• 25:56
  Speaker: in Burleson and with alley cats.
• 25:58
  Speaker: Uh, but we are running out of time.
• 26:00
  Speaker: So I want to ask you spend a lot
• 26:03
  Speaker: of time growing other people and
• 26:04
  Speaker: training other people, which is
• 26:06
  Speaker: fantastic.
• 26:07
  Speaker: What do you do to grow yourself?
• 26:11
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 26:12
  Speaker: Um, me personally, I'm really
• 26:15
  Speaker: big on putting myself around
• 26:19
  Speaker: people that are where I want to
• 26:20
  Speaker: go personally.
• 26:22
  Speaker: So, um, trying to go to networking events.
• 26:25
  Speaker: I, you know, I try to just say, hey, go, I'll go visit another
• 26:30
  Speaker: center in my industry and kind of just observe what kind of
• 26:33
  Speaker: what they do.
• 26:34
  Speaker: Um, I like to, I like to read self-help books, right?
• 26:39
  Speaker: Listen to podcasts a lot and
• 26:41
  Speaker: just, um, trying to find myself
• 26:44
  Speaker: a mentor.
• 26:44
  Speaker: Right.
• 26:45
  Speaker: I've been, you know, moving industries, finding someone a
• 26:48
  Speaker: mentor in this, in this industry, someone that can, I
• 26:51
  Speaker: can go to, to say, hey, am I, you know, what can I do to get
• 26:54
  Speaker: to where I want to be?
• 26:55
  Speaker: I think it's very important.
• 26:57
  Speaker: Um, in your personal career growth are fantastic.
• 27:01
  Speaker: Mentorship is huge.
• 27:03
  Speaker: Yes.
• 27:03
  Speaker: And it doesn't matter.
• 27:05
  Speaker: I, I, I tell people this all the time, it doesn't matter if you
• 27:08
  Speaker: are twenty, forty, sixty, eighty, find a mentor.
• 27:14
  Speaker: Right?
• 27:14
  Speaker: Yes.
• 27:15
  Speaker: Um, because we can always learn and grow.
• 27:18
  Speaker: Um, and, and finding that mentor is so important.
• 27:22
  Speaker: Um, David, how can people get in touch with you?
• 27:27
  Speaker: Uh, via email.
• 27:28
  Speaker: Is that.
• 27:29
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 27:30
  Speaker: So, um, if you're interested in
• 27:31
  Speaker: talking to me or seeing any
• 27:32
  Speaker: stuff that we're doing, you can
• 27:34
  Speaker: reach me at my email at Davey,
• 27:36
  Speaker: that's D a v I at alleycats dot
• 27:39
  Speaker: com.
• 27:42
  Speaker: Perfect.
• 27:43
  Speaker: Perfect.
• 27:44
  Speaker: Um, Davey, I appreciate your time today.
• 27:46
  Speaker: Uh, and I look forward to seeing you again very soon.
• 27:51
  Speaker: And, um, congratulations again on all of your success.
• 27:56
  Speaker: Uh, at Alleycats Burleson again, f e c of the year.
• 28:01
  Speaker: Um, your training, your growth, your leadership.
• 28:05
  Speaker: Congratulations to you and
• 28:06
  Speaker: thanks for sharing your story
• 28:08
  Speaker: with us.
• 28:09
  Speaker: I appreciate you.
• 28:09
  Speaker: Thank you so much for having me.
• 28:11
  Speaker: Well, we hope today's
• 28:12
  Speaker: conversation has given you some
• 28:14
  Speaker: practical tools to help you
• 28:16
  Speaker: sharpen your edge and accelerate
• 28:18
  Speaker: your growth.
• 28:19
  Speaker: If you're ready to grow your
• 28:21
  Speaker: team, your business or yourself,
• 28:23
  Speaker: contact us at the Growth Pro
• 28:25
  Speaker: group dot com and set up a free
• 28:27
  Speaker: growth call with one of our
• 28:29
  Speaker: coaches.
• 28:30
  Speaker: Once again, a special thanks to our sponsors, In-bed Party
• 28:34
  Speaker: Center Software and a global sim knocks Schafer and Roller for
• 28:40
  Speaker: all that they do to help us bring you the Growth Pro Edge.
• 28:44
  Speaker: And until next time, I'm Denise
• 28:47
  Speaker: Killian with the Growth Pro
• 28:48
  Speaker: Group.
• 28:49
  Speaker: Keep learning, keep growing and
• 28:51
  Speaker: keep striving for the
• 28:53
  Speaker: extraordinary.