(Note: This story appears in the May 2022 issue of ED Magazine)
Motivational speaker Willard Barth still remembers walking into a New York City club nearly 30 years ago and being amazed at how smoothly everything everything ran. Now, he helps clubs iron out their own wrinkles.
Willard Barth has said it before and it’s a lesson learned from more than 30 years of experience working in personal and professional business development — success leaves clues.
Barth, who authored “The Anatomy of Transformation”, is a nationally recognized speaker and expert on business leadership. He has spoken at previous EXPOs and will be presenting the Club Management Certification Seminar on Tuesday, August 16 at this year’s EXPO.
The seminar aims to uncover the hidden potential within every area of your operation and create a duplicable process that can be taught to all of your staff. ED Magazine spoke with Barth ahead of the seminar about what to expect at his certification, including his proven strategies to help your management train and motivate your staff.
ED: Can you recall the first moment you realized the potency of a well-trained staff?
BARTH: It was 1995. I walked into Flashdancer’s on Broadway in New York City to audition for a position as a DJ. At the time, the manager’s name was Nunzio. As I spent time in the DJ booth after I auditioned, I was amazed at how smoothly everything was running in comparison to the other clubs I had been in — great management, great training (at least what I experienced as a DJ), great leadership.
ED: What’s the common denominator in poorly, or insufficiently, trained staffs?
BARTH: A lack of clearly outlined processes and procedures. If you do not have specifically defined expectations and standards, there is no way to train your staff to meet those requirements.
ED: At face value, what area of a gentlemen’s club operation stands to gain the most by being well-trained?
BARTH: Every single area. No matter what a person’s position is within the operation, they play a role in creating the customer experience. When you have clearly defined roles and expectations, each area of the club will be supporting all other areas. Everyone needs to be on the same page and understand how their performance impacts every other part of the customer experience.
A secondary benefit of making sure that staff is well trained is it allows the manager to quickly identify what part of the process is breaking down when as a whole the club is not getting the kind of results that are expected. Are we seeing less people at the door? What has changed in our marketing? Are we having the same number of people but revenue is down? Where are we missing opportunities to increase sales? You have to know what specifically to pay attention to so you can improve the overall success of the club.
“When you have clearly defined roles and expectations, each area of the club will be supporting all other areas. Everyone needs to be on the same page and understand how their performance impacts every other part of the customer experience.” — Willard Barth
ED: Does efficient team management trickle from the top down or can it be simultaneously taught to an entire establishment’s staff?
BARTH: It can be taught simultaneously, but execution has to be top-down. A large number of people, if they are not in an assigned position of leadership, will limit themselves as far as implementation if they do not see upper management executing and holding others accountable to the standards that are expected.
For more information on Willard Barth, visit WillardBarthEnterprises.com or visit him at his EXPO 2022 Tradeshow booth.
