Think Like A Hotel

The case for treating every business like the hospitality business.

- Lissa Harris

Tom Maoli bought his first Lexus dealership in 2011. It wasn’t easy. Lexus usually doesn’t allow people with no experience in the car business to buy in. But he convinced them he could not only learn it fast but do it better.

As Maoli stood inside his new shop, he immediately noticed an opportunity to demonstrate what he was talking about. “The first thing that set me off was the way customers were greeted coming in the front door,” Maoli says. “They were greeted and then left alone to wander.” And if a salesperson was busy and didn’t get to a customer quickly enough, that person would just turn around and walk back out.

So Maoli did what he’d done many times before. He deployed his secret weapon: a hotel industry expert. 

At first, it seems illogical. What does hotel experience have to do with selling cars? But Maoli is a big believer that hospitality—that deep, honed, customer-first attitude that the greatest hotels excel at—can work for any business.