WHNetwork Blog

Last week we talked about "standing out in a sea of sameness" and how important it is to ask your customers what they think. (Go here to read the article -scroll down to see all of your comments). I mentioned several very small details I have encountered that made me either come back to - or stay away from - local restaurants. I find it fascinating how very minor details can swing an experience from favorable to not, and vice versa. And the fact is most of us are quite fickle. Especially in lean times, people may not be willing to risk another trip to your establishment if they were not thrilled with their previous experience.

We talked about why it's important to engage your customer to get their feedback, perhaps through an online customer satisfaction survey. OK, so now you are on board; you are actively asking your customers for feedback (feedback of any kind mind you, not just confirmation that you are doing a good job). Now that you have asked, and you have your customer's feedback, what do you do with it?

I believe that you look for different types of information. The first would be anyone who has had a less than fantastic experience. Although many people would agree with this, it is also human nature to put off the unpleasant tasks for later. Don't. Immediately contact anyone who has not had a stellar experience. Why? First of all, they can provide you with details of what may be going wrong: with your service, staff, products, etc. and you can immediately correct it. Second, but just as important, you have a magnificent opportunity to save a customer; perhaps even win a customer for life!

When you contact your customer (and the sooner the better), here are some easy steps to follow:

1. Listen completely/Let them vent.

Give them your complete attention. Don't interrupt, don't explain, don't defend or justify what happened. It doesn't matter why the problem occurred and they don't need your side of the story.

2. Apologize (sincerely).

Many managers don't like to apologize, especially if they feel they (or their staff) were not at fault. If it was your or your staff's fault, acknowledge it! If not, apologize anyway; you don't have to take blame for causing the problem, you are simply apologizing for the customer having a bad experience. And remember: you never know what else has happened in a person's day, be empathetic.

3. Make it right.

There are two trains of thought on this one. The first is to ask the customer what it will take to make it right. Personally, I disagree with that approach. For myself, it makes me feel put on the spot, and I dislike "asking for something." I think the manager should volunteer what they think is right, and should make it above and beyond simply fixing what went wrong.

4. Thank the customer for taking the time to talk to you and sharing their experience (and for their patronage)!

And invite them back...

Now that you have dealt with the issues, it is time for rewards. What did the customer(s) rave about? This is a great time to reinforce and reward staff behavior. Did a server receive compliments? Pass them on - in front of all the staff! Did the customer adore a particular dish? Compliment the back of house - in front of all the staff! (You may even wish to implement an informal formalized reward system).

Next - what about the ideas, thoughts and opinions you have received? You know: "The music was too loud," "The lights were too low," "I hate Sushi," "The service took too long," and on and on. Do you immediately react and change things? Do you lower the music? Turn up the lights? Change the menu?

Not so fast...

It is imperative to know what your concept is - and is not. Do you have a written concept statement? If not, you may want to consider writing one. A concept statement defines your concept: The look, atmosphere, food, service style, target audience, etc. And it can help keep you on track.

Let me tell you a story that was told to me by a friend, who had been in multi-unit management for the concept in this story. They began, as every concept does, with one unit. They were hip, they were cutting edge. The music was loud, the servers edgy, the food casual, yet popular with the young crowd that frequented the place. It was hit. So they did what many people do with a hit - they grew the company.

Some interesting things happened along the way. The young hipsters that started the company got a bit older... married... maybe had a kid or two. Then one of them noticed. Hey this music is too loud for a baby's ears! And there aren't any high chairs! And what is little Suzie supposed to eat? We need a child's menu! And on and on it went. A new HR Manual came out: no body piercing, no visible tattoos, you must look "professional" after all, this is a family joint! (Or wait a minute? Is it?)

Sales went down, down, down. Why? They weren't true to their concept. Sure, they gained some new customers along the way. But at the same time, they alienated their core audience. They lost focus of who they were. And their customers didn't seem to know anymore either.

Prior to making any decision regarding your concept, you need to first ask yourself one question: "Will this support what our concept is?" If you are a sushi restaurant, and you get feedback from someone who doesn't like sushi, you could add other choices to your menu. Or you could just accept that people who don't like sushi aren't your target market. If you are the Hard Rock Café, you don’t play Barry Manilow. Or ban body piercing, unnatural hair color and tattoos. The more you do to appeal to those who aren't your target market, the more diluted your concept becomes.

What are your experiences? What decisions have you made that were right? Which ones would you make differently if you could do it all again? Email me!

-Margie

If you are not currently actively seeking your customers' feedback or need help with a customized guest satisfaction survey - call me at 707-933-0687 or email me.

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Well said Margie. Too often, to solve a problem in business we want to "drive" the customer in a certain direction and we forget about treating them as a fellow human being, listening carefully, empathizing and then remedying and addressing the cause of the negative feedback. Some new tools are now available in the market for restaurateurs to use to make it easy for the customer to give their feedback. There are the traditional comment cards and 800 phone numbers and of course web surveys to elicit this all important feedback. The ubiquitous use of mobile phones now provides a real-time channel to obtain this feedback in a discreet manner, while the customer is still in the restaurant. Too often, the customer does not want to deal with a direct confrontation to complain about an issue, so they bottle it up, get out and just don't ever come back. If they use any modern tools on the web and in the blogosphere, they will vent negatively to everyone they know and more! Not a good situation for the reputation of your establishment. You typically need to be able to provide the customers with more than one channel to provide this critical feedback to you. Of course this should be low cost and not an additional data collection and assimilation burden on the business. It also should make it easy for the staff and management to address issues quickly and effectively. Research also shows that if you can achieve a quick resolution of an issue with customer, you have a great chance to change the situation of the customer being a detractor of your brand and converting them into a strong promoter. Check out a product suite called Txtandtell that uses the mobile channel to do this at http://www.txtandtell.com

Carl Mostert
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Margie,

I am going to have to take this and pass it on internally. Too good not to use and as the guy managing the feedback process at Ted's (an interesting job for the IT guy), it will help us to jump start our customer service policies refresh.
Thanks for doing my job for me.

David Curtis