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Florida Restaurant & Lodging
People dine where they feel good, and
an effective quality and service evaluation program will ensure they
feel good with you
Service with a Smile: The Key to Success
In a recent Zagat Survey, 72 percent of the respondent complaints
were service-related. That is a staggering number, but not entirely
surprising given the current state of customer service.
For years, restaurant and hotel patrons have been disillusioned by
declining service at even some of the most exclusive places.
As a result, most customers have simply come to accept bad service
as part of the guest experience.
Many restaurant chains and hotel operators pay more attention to
promotions and filling seats than ensuring that customers occupying
those seats are having a positive experience.
Businesses spend thousands of dollars on marketing and advertising
to get customers to come to their places of business, but invest
little time or money on understanding what they do to you once
you're there. If you can give someone a good experience, you don't
have to run an ad every morning to try to get customers in for
lunch.
People like to spend money where they feel good, and Houston's is a
restaurant that truly understands this concept.
Unfortunately, customers accept lower levels of service because
their experience with competitors has not been any better. Customers
are thrilled when staff members show the smallest effort in doing a
good job. This current state of customer service has created a
goldmine for any business that goes even the slightest bit above and
beyond what customers expect.
A genuine smile and fairly quick and professional service make a
dramatic impression that will result in rave reviews from customers
and endless word of mouth referrals.
Knowledge of your customer’s experience is power
If you've been thinking about improving your company's level of
service, the rewards will come to your bottom line in several ways:
1) Customer retention and repeat business (10 customers that love
your experience and stay with you once per month, spending at least
$50 each visit, for the next 10 years means $60,000 to your
business);
2) New business gained from word-of-mouth (whenever people have a
good experience somewhere, they like to share it with their friends – say the 10 customers above tell 10 people per year – results
become exponential.)
Establishing better customer service within your organization is
relatively easy and starts with you laundry listing the standards by
which you wish to operate. Then communicate these standards to all
employees and set up a program by which you can measure and monitor
the results. Because some habits take a while to become ingrained,
communicating the standards is not enough.
The measuring and monitoring portion is important to be sure the
standards become ingrained. People tend to do more of what you
inspect than what you expect.
Whether you create a quality and service evaluation program
internally or outsource it, there are certain elements that should
be included:
- Recognize and reward
employees for what they do right. Recognizing or even rewarding
positive behavior makes it happen more often and is a much better
approach than looking for things employees are doing wrong.
Making a big deal over the top performers goes a long way to
communicate top-down philosophy for superior service.
- Build suggestive
selling into your program. If your restaurants, bars, and gift shops
routinely suggest customers try new products or in-store promotional
items, the incremental revenues can be enormous.
Moving your suggestive selling percentages from eight percent of the
time to 98 percent of the time companywide can mean big increases in
revenues. Do a quick analysis with your average price for some
shocking numbers.
- Timely data and
frequency are key to analyzing the company's performance. If you
have a hundred evaluations of the execution of your process you can
be pretty sure that the resulting trend analysis has accuracy.
Shopping your properties
frequently will ensure accurate information that will provide the
actionable data to make decisions with confidence.. Be sure to use
different shoppers all the time to ensure accurate results.
Timely information is important. Quickly email evaluations to managers
and employees so the experience is still top-of-mind and the evaluation
makes more sense to your employee and so that your manager is aware of
any problem areas sooner.
A good aggregate backup reporting system is essential too so that you
can look at the company's overall averages for various time periods to
monitor progress and even drill down to specific locations and even
specific employees performance over time.
Measuring and monitoring performance and the delivery of service is not
a new concept. Doing it right and consistently can mean a much bigger
bottom line.
Mike Albert is the founder and CEO of Satisfaction Services, Inc., a
leading provider of quality and service evaluation programs and an FRLA
member.
HOME MYSTERY SHOPPING BY SATISFACTION SERVICES |
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Some of the Services we offer as a leading Mystery Shopping Company:
Mystery Diners -IVR - Instant Voice Response - Telephone Surveys - Guest Surveys - Exit Surveys - Comment Cards and programs - Guest Service Checks - Secret Shopper Programs
We Look forward to talking with you about improving and monitoring customer service in your restaurants : Satisfaction Services, Inc. ® 1-800-564-6574 |
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