According to the 2012 American Express Global Customer Service Barometer,
two thirds of surveyed consumers are willing to spend more with a
company they believe provides excellent customer service, and consumers being surveyed confirmed they have spent more with a company as a result of superior customer service experiences (
Zappos, Amazon.com, Ritz Carlton, Apple).
So
if customers are willing to spend more for superior customer service,
shouldn’t businesses and organizations be willing to invest more to
achieve it?
Andre Plessis
AP Consulting
Restaurant & Hospitalty Consulting
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Your Restaurant Does NOT Have a Sales Problem
When sales are viewed as THE real problem, restaurateurs often automatically assume the solution is more marketing.
While marketing is certainly an important part of generating sales in most restaurants, a change in marketing is not the cure for every case of insufficient sales.
If your sales have been in decline, sure, a different marketing approach might help but it's likely, the situation has more to do with what you're doing or not doing in your restaurant every day and how you're being perceived by your dinners.
We live in a cause and effect world, if your sales are too low something is causing it, so before taking any action, I believe the best place to start is to first step back and objectively look at what's going on in your restaurant and in your local market.
While marketing is certainly an important part of generating sales in most restaurants, a change in marketing is not the cure for every case of insufficient sales.
If your sales have been in decline, sure, a different marketing approach might help but it's likely, the situation has more to do with what you're doing or not doing in your restaurant every day and how you're being perceived by your dinners.
We live in a cause and effect world, if your sales are too low something is causing it, so before taking any action, I believe the best place to start is to first step back and objectively look at what's going on in your restaurant and in your local market.
Also before you blame the economy look at your competition and see if business has declined there as well. If their business remains constant, that means there is something wrong with the way you conduct business.
First, consider the following questions:
AP Consulting
Restaurant/Hospitality Consultant
First, consider the following questions:
- How's your food quality? Is it consistent?
- Is your service staff friendly and responsive?
- Does your staff engage in meaningful conversation with the guests?
- Does your wait staff create customer loyalty?
- Do you have a superior customer service organization?
- Are you giving your customers exactly what they want? How do you know?
- How does your restaurant's value proposition and experience proposition compare to what your customers can get at your competitors?
- What are you customers saying about you? Check comment cards, Yelp and other review websites?
AP Consulting
Restaurant/Hospitality Consultant
Will You Greet Customers With an iPad?
Customers at some restaurants aren’t greeted by a waiter.
Nor do they step up to a counter like in a fast-food restaurant.
Instead, each table is equipped with an iPad, from which customers can order their food with no human intervention, no contact with a staff member whatsoever.
Waiters just confirm orders with customers, bring the food from the kitchen when it’s ready, and are available to accept payment and help customers who need it. But customers can enter and leave the eatery with little interaction with a human being.
If this technology is widely adopted, it has the potential to drastically cut labor costs at many restaurants, and put many waiters out of work.
BUT, if as a restaurant you opt for that technoclogy, I predict that you will be out of business very fast as well, because when you have been in the restaurant industry for as long as I have, you understand that it's all about customer service.
The iPad is not going to come around and see if everything is OK and if a customer likes your meal. It is not going to have a meaningful conversation with a customer and build a relationship to create customer loyalty. The iPad is as cold as marble, and in business or sales people do business with who they like the most.
You go to a restaurant for the food the first time, and you go for the service the second time.
Andre Plessis
AP Consulting
Hospitality/Restaurant Consulting
Instead, each table is equipped with an iPad, from which customers can order their food with no human intervention, no contact with a staff member whatsoever.
Waiters just confirm orders with customers, bring the food from the kitchen when it’s ready, and are available to accept payment and help customers who need it. But customers can enter and leave the eatery with little interaction with a human being.
If this technology is widely adopted, it has the potential to drastically cut labor costs at many restaurants, and put many waiters out of work.
BUT, if as a restaurant you opt for that technoclogy, I predict that you will be out of business very fast as well, because when you have been in the restaurant industry for as long as I have, you understand that it's all about customer service.
The iPad is not going to come around and see if everything is OK and if a customer likes your meal. It is not going to have a meaningful conversation with a customer and build a relationship to create customer loyalty. The iPad is as cold as marble, and in business or sales people do business with who they like the most.
You go to a restaurant for the food the first time, and you go for the service the second time.
Andre Plessis
AP Consulting
Hospitality/Restaurant Consulting
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