Hey Square Readers, You voted and chose Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara as our Square Readers Book Club book for January & February 2025! We’re so ...
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Hey Square Readers! Are you looking for a new way to level up your business skills and have some fun while you're at it? Then get excited, and get ready to r...
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Hey Square Readers,
We hope you’ve started to dive into reading Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara! Last week we kicked things off with a baseline discussion on your own experiences with exceptional hospitality. Today we’re covering what Unreasonable Hospitality is, and exploring how to provide it to your customers.
What is Unreasonable Hospitality?
The author explains that providing small acts of hospitality can absolutely thrill your customers, make it feel like you’re performing magic, and make their experience with your business a story that they’ll remember forever. Delivering incredible service for someone in a time of need can transform their day, relieve sorrow even for a minute, and create a deep emotional connection for them with your business.
It’s thoughtfully putting your customers needs first in a way that is deep and meaningful to them to create a catered experience. It can be something as small as giving a genuine welcome and having a meaningful conversation, a personal touch of remembering a birthday or a family detail, an act of service like feeding their parking meter, or a Surprise & Delight gesture of providing a welcome gift or thank you goodbye gift. It should be something thoughtful and meaningful to your customers that fills a need that they have, and references a conversation you’ve had together.
How can you provide Unreasonable Hospitality?
Now let’s brainstorm ideas for our own businesses, and give each other some suggestions too!
Again, this is a pure brainstorm here, no idea is too big or extravagant. This is Unreasonable Hospitality, after all. Only after you’ve found some big ideas that you like, then next time we'll figure out how to do it in an affordable, scalable, and realistic way.
Share your answers in the comments:
Tell us about your business: What is your industry? How do you currently serve your customers? What common needs do your customers have? What are the deeper reasons they come to you?
What are some new ideas of ways you could provide incredible tailored experiences for your customers? No idea is too big!
Reply to other members’ comments and share some ideas that could help them. Having an outside perspective is extremely valuable!
Feel free to share any other thoughts you have about this book. We can’t wait to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
Don’t forget to:
View and Subscribe to all threads about this book
Happy reading,
Pesso
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Hey Square Readers,
Welcome to another round of the Square Readers Book Club! Today we’re starting our next book for January & February 2025, Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara!
This book is all about giving a truly incredible hospitality experience to your customers. It dives into key strategies and tactics that the author has used in the restaurant industry, with transferable lessons you can use in your business. Its focus is on creating a culture of excellence and care, empowering employees to enable it, and using small gestures to blow your customers’ minds.
As we start reading the book, we’ll kick off our conversations with a baseline of your experiences giving and receiving exceptional customer service. I’d love to hear about you and how you have received great hospitality, and given it in your business, so share your story in the comments!
So let’s talk:
What’s a great customer service & hospitality experience you’ve ever received?
How do you currently deliver an outstanding customer experience, in big and small ways?
What questions are you hoping to have answered by reading this book?
For some extra fun, share a selfie of you with the book here in the comments!
Don’t forget to:
View and Subscribe to all threads about this book
Happy reading!
Pesso
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Hey Square Readers,
You voted and chose Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara as our Square Readers Book Club book for January & February 2025!
We’re so excited to kick off the new year with this book focusing on the core of our businesses: our customers. This book was also featured in Season 2 of the hit show, The Bear, in an episode all about giving service and taking pride in one’s work, and I can’t wait to dive in.
Here’s a quick summary:
Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect
“Essential lessons in hospitality for every business: Radical reinvention, a true partnership between the kitchen and the dining room—and memorable, over-the-top, bespoke hospitality. The answer to some of the most pernicious business dilemmas is to give more; and the magic that can happen when a busser starts thinking like an owner. Today, every business can choose to be a hospitality business— we can all transform ordinary transactions into extraordinary experiences. Find the magic in what we do—for ourselves, the people we work with, and the people we serve.”
We’ll start reading on Monday, January 6th, so get ready and pick up a copy at a local library, bookstore, Amazon, or anywhere else! We’ll have discussion threads and conversations all throughout the two months, so keep checking back to the Square Readers Book Club.
We will once again have @DinaLRosenberg, co-owner of Amityville Apothecary in NY, co-hosting for this round of our book club. With an MBA, a ton of small business experience, and an absolute expertise in customer service, she is the perfect person to help guide us through this book.
Tell us in the comments:
Are you excited about this book?
What do you hope to learn?
Here are the next books we’ll read together:
March & April 2025: Obviously Awesome by April Dunford
May & June 2025: Atomic Habits by James Clear
Don’t forget to:
View and Subscribe to all threads about this book
We can’t wait to read with you!
Pesso
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Hey Square Readers!
Thank you so much for joining our Square Readers Book Club!
Don’t forget to click Join Group at the top of our Book Club Group Hub.
I would love to learn more about you all, so here's a space to introduce yourselves and to meet some fellow Readers.
So tell us a bit about yourself here in the comments.
Tell us:
Your name & location
Your business name (and website)
What you're hoping to learn and gain from Book Club
Your favorite book (business or fun)
A picture or two of you or your business
And of course feel free to reply to each others’ intros, especially those nearby or in the same industry as you.
Looking forward to meeting you all, and reading with you,
Pesso
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Hey Square Readers,
**VOTING HAS ENDED**
Are you ready to help pick the next books for the Square Readers Book Club?
This year we’ll pick a few books at once so you can plan part of the year ahead and have more time to get a copy. We’ll start voting now for the first half of 2025.
We have a bunch of books to choose from, and we’d love for you to vote to help us decide! Select ALL of the books that you would want to read, and we’ll take ones with the most votes.
Here are this round’s choices:
1. Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara
The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect
As featured in Season 2 of the hit show, The Bear!
“Essential lessons in hospitality for every business: Radical reinvention, a true partnership between the kitchen and the dining room—and memorable, over-the-top, bespoke hospitality. The answer to some of the most pernicious business dilemmas is to give more; and the magic that can happen when a busser starts thinking like an owner. Today, every business can choose to be a hospitality business— we can all transform ordinary transactions into extraordinary experiences. Find the magic in what we do—for ourselves, the people we work with, and the people we serve.”
2. Twelve and a Half by Gary Vaynerchuck
“Gary Vaynerchuk explores the twelve essential emotional skills that are integral to his life and business success, and provides critical tools to acquire and develop these traits. Gary provides real-life examples involving common business scenarios to show you how to use them to land promotions, retain core employees, move faster than competitors, win the loyalty of customers, and build successful organizations that last.”
3. Atomic Habits by James Clear
“No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving—every day. James Clear reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results. Bad habits repeat themselves not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to achieve any other goal.”
4. Obviously Awesome by April Dunford
“You know your product is awesome—but does anybody else? Forget everything you thought you knew about positioning. Successfully connecting your product with consumers isn’t a matter of following trends, comparing yourself to the competition or trying to attract the widest customer base. Obviously Awesome, shows you how to find your product’s “secret sauce”—and then sell that sauce to those who crave it. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, marketer or salesperson struggling to bring inventive products to market, Dunford’s insights will help you find your awesome, so that your customers can too.”
5. Never Lose A Customer Again by Joey Coleman
Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days
“Learn how to turn a one-time purchaser into a lifelong customer. It isn't about focusing on marketing or closing the sale: It's about the First 100 Days® after the sale and the interactions the customer experiences. While new customers experience joy, euphoria, and excitement, these feelings quickly shift to fear, doubt, and uncertainty as buyer's remorse sets in. Across all industries, somewhere between 20%-70% of newly acquired customers will stop doing business with a company. If you can understand and anticipate the customers' emotions, you can apply a myriad of tools and techniques to cement a long and valuable relationship. These are easy to implement action steps that result in lasting change, increased profits, and lifelong customer retention.”
6. The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
Jumpstart your Income, Your Life, Your Success
“No gimmicks. No Hyperbole. No Magic Bullet. The Compound Effect is based on the principle that decisions shape your destiny. Little, everyday decisions will either take you to the life you desire or to disaster by default. The Compound Effect is a distillation of the fundamental principles that have guided the most phenomenal achievements in business, relationships, and beyond. This easy-to-use, step-by-step operating system allows you to multiply your success, chart your progress, and achieve any desire. If you’re serious about living an extraordinary life, use the power of The Compound Effect to create the success you want.”
7. Company of One by Paul Jarvis
“Company of One is a refreshingly new approach centered on staying small and avoiding growth, for any size business. By staying small, one can have freedom to pursue more meaningful pleasures in life, and avoid the headaches that result from dealing with employees, long meetings, or worrying about expansion. Company of One introduces this unique business strategy and explains how to make it work for you, including how to generate cash flow on an ongoing basis. Jarvis explains how you can find the right pathway, including planning how to set up your shop, determining your desired revenues, dealing with unexpected crises, keeping your key clients happy, and of course, doing all of this on your own.”
8. Find Your Why by Simon Sinek
“Find Your Why picks up where Start With Why left off. It shows you how to apply Simon Sinek’s powerful insights so that you can find more inspiration at work -- and in turn inspire those around you. Achieving that fulfillment starts with understanding exactly WHY we do what we do. With detailed exercises, illustrations, and action steps for every stage of the process, Find Your Why can help you address many important concerns. Whether you've just started your first job, are leading a team, or are CEO of your own company, the exercises in this book will help guide you on a path to long-term success and fulfillment, for both you and your colleagues.”
9. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
“A former FBI hostage negotiator offers a new, field-tested approach to negotiating – effective in any situation. Never Split the Difference takes you inside his world of high-stakes negotiations, revealing the nine key principles that helped Voss and his colleagues succeed when it mattered the most – when people’s lives were at stake. Rooted in the real-life experiences of an intelligence professional at the top of his game, Never Split the Difference will give you the competitive edge in any discussion.”
10. The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman
“Anyone who designs anything to be used by humans – from physical objects to computer programs to conceptual tools – must read this book, and it is an equally tremendous read for anyone who has to use anything created by another human. It could forever change how you experience and interact with your physical surroundings, open your eyes to the perversity of bad design and the desirability of good design, and raise your expectations about how things should be designed.”
Which of these do you want to read next? Vote by filling out this Google Forms survey!
After you vote, tell us in the comments why you’re excited about the books you chose. Feel free to leave suggestions for other books you’d want to read (that you’ve heard of or from our Bookshelf)!
We’ll announce the next books on December 16th, and start reading the first one in January.
We can’t wait to read with you!
Pesso
**VOTING HAS ENDED**
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