Each and every guest.

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Busy, busy, busy. Some people like Christmas, but I like Fall. "It's the most, wonderful time, of the year..." So many farms are buzzing with guests, hopping with action and hustling sales, it is a tiring, wonderful, chaotic, beautiful time of celebration. In the midst of your celebration, when your time, energy and nerves are running short, it is the critical time to remember each and every guest.

I hope you've been busy. I don't know about you, but in the Northeast the weather FINALLY broke and we had a beautiful weekend at Maple Lawn Farms and the Maize Quest Fun Park. It was packed and Farmer Hugh was very happy, pumped, excited, and very, very busy. Three register lines were full tilt for two hours on Sunday and we were having a lot of fun, with a lot of people.

One to Many. The relationship between you and your throngs of guests is one (of you) to many (of them). As we were processing guests into the Fun Park and repeating the same welcoming phrases, directing the newly banded guests on, and yelling "Next!", the joy and excitement was definitely "One to Many." We're pouring out high-energy greetings and moving the crowds. "One to Many" relationships are for your best employees who can feed off the energy and give back a great show for the guests. It's like a rock concert, you are the performers and the guests are the crowd.

One to One. More personal relationships happen on a one to one basis, when it's just you, or your employee, and your guest. It might be at Gemstone Mining, when the employees takes the time to show the guest how to mine, personally sets the seat on the pedal kart or buckles the seatbelt on the cow train. These personal interactions are the magic of the day. Oprah once said, "You might forget what people said, you might forget what people did, but you'll never forget the way they made you feel."

Marketing vs. Service. You can never stop marketing. Even during your busiest time - Market your business. Obsessing over how many people are coming, how many ads you are running and how many people are coming next Saturday during your public hours is a misappropriation of your time. Serving your customers while they are here trumps any other activity. You have to focus all your energy on your guests. Nothing else matters.

Guests are always One to One. You've been other places. You know it's true. Guests are always One to One. It doesn't matter to your guest that you are busy, that you have twenty other people in line, that you are tired, that three kids called in sick and you're short staffed. They don't care a bit because they will always view your relationship as One to One. You to him. You to her. You to me. While it's very nice that you are having so much fun with One to Many, you can ruin a family outing in less than a minute if you miss the One to One.

Each and every guest. As you are crushingly busy, and I truly hope you are these next few weeks, put some big energy in to your One to Many interactions. The crowds will love it. Just be sure that you, as the owner, get out from behind the counter, hop off the tractor to take special care of some One to Ones. Talk to a child. Carry a big pumpkin. Help a guest to her car. Let a birthday child have an extra ice cream. High-five a group on the way out of the maze.

Take care and be thankful for each and every guest. Make each and every one of them feel special, and you will surely have many.

Have a great week.
Hugh