Lyndsay Fogarty
George Fakhoury teaches front line hospitality employees to think outside the box and make the sale.
With 75 million visitors in 2018, Orlando is no stranger to hospitality, and neither is George Fakhoury, president/CEO for GMF Consulting. For Fakhoury, it’s in his blood.
The principles of hospitality were ingrained in him at a young age as his parents worked within the airline and tourism industries. While he may not have known it at the time, lessons he learned back then were the foundation for his nearly 40 years of success in hospitality as an adult.
Fakhoury founded GMF Consulting in 1995 to help companies improve their bottom line through customer service, sales and marketing. The focus was on training front line employees to build their skills through face-to-face training classes that showed real situations they may face. Through these classes, as well as a book titled “There Are No Sales Without Service,” he taught the six As: active listening, asking questions, avoiding barriers, advising the benefits, assisting the customer and achieving the sale.
“The basics never change,” Fakhoury says. “Once you know the basics, your journey to becoming an expert in the things that you do starts.”
Through the years
Through the years, GMF Consulting began hosting events and getting other businesses within the hospitality industry, both small and large, involved. Through signature events such as Friday Lunch Breaks, After Hours Mixers, GMF Executive Invitational and more, the goal is to provide opportunities for networking that will expand beyond that particular event.
Since he is in the business of building relationships, Fakhoury considers his contacts within Orlando’s hospitality industry more than just partners or sponsors or clients.
“All of my clients are not clients — they are my friends,” he says. “I become friends with the people I work with because I want to provide them with honest service and integrity.”
Even more important to him than the relationships he builds through his work is the chance to give back to the community that has given him so much. Fakhoury includes a charity partner in all of his business endeavors. One Heart for Women and Children, an Orlando-based nonprofit organization that provides resources to families as they transition through and overcome varying hardships, has been the recipient of much-needed donations from the GMF Consulting network for the past several years.
“GMF Consulting is a company that cares for others and provides quality service,” he says. “We strive to do the best possible job, to serve our clients’ needs and wants, and to provide our sponsors and partners with the most possible exposure within our industry.”
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