‘Tis the Season to De-Stress Your Customers
Like it or not, the hustle and bustle of the season is going to be in full swing everywhere very soon. What can you do to make customers really have a break when they visit your establishment? Consider these tips for ways to build relationships that last after the holidays while boosting sales during them:
- Offer chair massages. It’s the ultimate pampering… and it can be very inexpensive to provide. Contact a local masseuse school where students need to complete a number of massages before earning their degree. Then, ask them to work for tips or by the hour. After the massage, train servers to suggest a glass of wine or a cappuccino… often customers will want to maintain that relaxed feeling.
- Provide gift-wrapping. During down times (like 2 to 5 p.m.) offer free gift-wrapping with an entrée. Shoppers tend to take earlier dinners after skipping lunch and they’ll enjoy getting something done while they eat. If you don’t want to put an employee on the job, ask a local charity to do it for donations.
- Give the gift of easy giving. Everybody offers gift certificates, but few do it in an appealing way. Wrap certificates of all amounts in boxes and top them with mini-gifts like wine bracelets or ornaments. Then display them everywhere and let customers know how easy it is to put them under a tree.
Waitstaff Training: Serving from the Guest Perspective
One of the tricks to good service is anticipating what guests want before they know what they want. When training your waitstaff, remind team members that they don’t have to be mind readers, but they do need to search for cues. Go over these restaurant training tips at your next team meeting:
- Empty glass, full glass. We all know what empty glasses signal, but how often do we offer a soft drink or water after the second (or third) cocktail is declined? And what about full glasses? When wine glasses (or other cocktails) are still full minutes later, ask the customer if the drink was satisfactory or if she would like something else.
- Stuffed briefcase or little black dress? Business dinners often want the meal served quickly so that the papers and work can be spread out after the dishes are cleared. Conversely, people meeting socially often prefer to spread out the dining experience and enjoy each other before the food arrives.
- Little people, fast food. When young children are present you can assume that Mom and Dad want the food there as soon as possible. If the adult entrees will take longer, ask if they’d like the children’s orders more quickly. If that’s not possible, bring out bread, crackers or other items to hold them over.
- Ask. “Are you in a hurry to get to work?”, “Is this a special evening?” and simply, “How can I help make this a great night for you?”
Build Guest Loyalty: It’s Simpler Than You Think
Often we bog ourselves down with external, uncontrollable factors—the hot new concept that just opened up down the street or the construction that’s blocking our entrance—but our main focus should be, “What do customers want? And what are we doing to give it to them?” Here are some tips on how to get inside your customers’ heads:
- Listen up. If the big boss was down for a visit, what would you do? Call a group meeting, roll up your sleeves, bring a notepad, create an action list and consider everything that was said as serious and important. But your customers are your biggest boss and most of their input is never heard. Instead, work the table. Ask specific questions—what would you change about your experience tonight?—and prompt real suggestions. Chart all comments—positive and negative—look for similarities and actively pinpoint areas of improvement.
- Go for the group. Every quarter, pull together a select group of regulars and ask them if they’d be a member of your focus group. Feed them well when they are there, and send them home with gift certificates as thanks. Ask tough questions—where else do you go? why? what’s the primary reason you come here?—and be receptive to all comments, positive and negative.
- Apologize well. When a problem occurs, deal with it immediately and apologize sincerely. Then, if the customer agrees, ask for specifics: “Our customers are very important to us and we are always looking for ways to improve. If you have a minute, I would really value your input. How do you think this could be avoided? Has this happened to you here before? What changes could we make internally to ensure your satisfaction?” Then, listen well and reward the customer with a gift certificate. You’ll gain a loyal customer and invaluable input.
SERVE-US not SERVICE
How can you motivate – and empower – your servers to make more tips? Transform their style from “service” to “serve-us!”
Here’s a quick lesson in providing serve-us to pass along to your servers:
First, find out two things about the guests at each table:
- Have you been here before? (Or are you regulars?)
- Are you in a hurry? (Or do you want a more casually paced meal?)
A guest who has never visited before has different needs than a regular… same with guests in a hurry. Modify suggestions for each group:
When providing serve-us to regular customers, welcome them back with openers like…
- “Would you like the usual or our new special… the blackened chicken pasta?”
- “Did you know we just added three new items?”
First-time visitors need a different type of serve-us. Reassure their choices and provide menu guidance with dialogue like…
- “May I make a few suggestions?”
- “You can’t eat here without ordering our famous ____________!”
Guests in a hurry? Service-us them with a sense of urgency and…
- Suggest items that can be prepared quickly
- Combine steps (for example, take the entire order at once, suggest dessert and drop check (if the dessert is not ordered) or suggest the dessert to-go)
For guests who want a casual pace, don’t rush them, but…
- Deliver “silent serve-us” if they prefer to be left alone
- Suggest dessert, coffee or after-dinner drinks
But perhaps the best definition of “serve-us” is to serve the guests the way they want to be served.
Train Waitstaff to Serve Customers with Food Allergies
Most people with serious food allergies are alert and cautious when ordering, but what happens when they’re misinformed? Many servers—especially younger, less experienced workers—often don’t realize that a mistake in correctly reporting ingredients can lead to death. Here are some tips for everyone in your operation who prepares, handles, serves—and sells—food:
- Don’t add surprises. There have been incidents where peanut butter was added to chili to thicken it—and nuts ground up for texture in cheesecake—and customers died as a result. Clearly list all high-allergen ingredients on your menu. These tend to include: eggs, fish, milk, peanuts, shellfish, tree nuts (including almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, hazelnuts, hickory nuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts) and wheat.
- Train servers to describe menu items and ingredients upon request. Stress the importance of saying, “I’m not sure, let me check” instead of assuming ingredients haven’t changed. Assign an “allergen” specialist and make sure one is on each shift so that servers and customers have someone to answer questions. If no one knows, encourage the customer to order something else.
- Train chefs and kitchen prep workers to be constantly diligent. There are many stories about ingredients changing in products (barbeque sauce, salad dressing, etc.) and food preparers unknowingly serving them. Diligently check your products and communicate that importance to your team and your suppliers.
- Stress “no shortcuts” policies. Some food prep workers just don’t get it, but a tiny amount of an allergen can lead to a serious reaction or even death. It’s not okay to scrape off nuts, sour cream, etc. and then serve the item.
- Invest in food allergen training products, and then implement them effectively.
Train Waitstaff to Handle Angry Customers
Maybe the soup was too hot, maybe the steak was tough, maybe the drink was wrong and the dessert never came. Maybe it was all of the above (eek!). But whatever the problem, your customer is angry and you have to fix it. Here’s how to handle it and how to train your staff to turn unhappy customers into satisfied ones:
- Know what customers want. That’s easy, right? They want you to fix the problem. Well, yes, but first they want to express their feelings… and they want you to understand exactly why they’re upset.
- Give it to them. First, tell them you are going to take care of their problem, then listen like your life depends on it. Ask questions if you need to and don’t interrupt. Only when angry customers are finished having their say should you begin speaking.
- Find a solution. Remember, you are solving a customer’s problem… you are not offering an appeasement. Ask customers how they would like their problem solved. Then, if you can, comply with their solution. If you can’t, negotiate as politely as possible.
- Make a personal goal. Encourage your team members to promise themselves: “When customers are angry, I will get them to calm down; I will understand their problem; and they will thank me before they leave.” Even if that goal is never achieved, it shifts the focus of dealing with a problem on your team member, instead of the customer. And when that happens, customers are much more likely to leave feeling understood and team members become empowered to improve a difficult situation.
How to Get New Guests to Come Back
The holiday season brings in new guests… and your great food and service will bring them back. Before the holiday season hits full swing, be sure to brush up on your service and sales training and make a commitment to get completely involved in meeting—and pleasing—new guests.
- Acknowledge them. Your servers should determine whether or not the guest is new and inform you when it’s the first visit. Train servers to ask, “You’ve been here before, haven’t you?” instead of “Is this the first time you’ve visited us?” Even if they’re wrong—and guests are new—servers won’t risk offending regulars. Then, after you hear of a new guest, personally stop by their table and thank them for coming in. You may even want to send over a complimentary drink or dessert. This small investment will pay off huge with word-of-mouth marketing and repeat business.
- Give them a reason to come back. When guests leave this holiday season, include a free item for their return business. Make the redemption date after the holiday season—“valid from January 3 to March 31”—and make it worthwhile. A free appetizer or dessert often works well and redemption rates are much higher for free items versus discounts.
- Invite them. It sounds simple, but many hosts, servers and managers neglect asking customers to come back. Add dialogue training to pre-shift meetings and remind employees to say to all customers, “We hope you come back and visit us again soon.” Even better, invite them back for a specific reason: “Come see us again on Tuesday – all appetizers are half off until 6:00!”
Three Keys to Improving Service in Your Restaurant
It’s been said that the most expensive item in a restaurant is an empty chair. So how do you fill those chairs? It’s not just about your food, not by a long shot. Remember, service is your invisible product and obviously it involves a little more than sloganeering, smile training and serving hot food hot and cold food cold.
When someone gets bad service in your restaurant, the word can spread like wildfire. We’re certain that you’re insured against fire in your restaurant but are you insured against BAD SERVICE?
Since what “good service” is varies so much between each server and each guest, we’d like to suggest a solution to the “service” puzzle. It involves breaking down every facet or experience of the guest’s visit into a separate unit, or contact point or Moment of Truth, and then delineating:
- How the customer should be treated to ensure 100 percent guest satisfaction.
- Identifying which employees and managers interact with the guest at each Customer Contact Point and will therefore have the greatest impact on the guest’s experience.
- Deciding on what training is necessary to ensure that each interaction or Customer Contact Point results in a positive experience for the guest.
If you use a full-service restaurant as a model, you can break down your individual Customer Contact Points into 12 specific areas. By knowing what your service challenges are in each area, you know what you have to manage and who’s responsible for the service delivery. String them all together in chronological order and they add up to hospitality’s Cycle of Service.
Greet and Seat: What Are You Missing?
When most of us walk into a restaurant we hear, “Two for lunch?” We nod, follow the host, take the menu and forget about it. We expect that kind of service. But what if that changed? What if we experienced a host that truly greeted and not just seated us? How could that change our whole outlook of the restaurant and its service? Encourage your team members to consider that and brainstorm ways they can improve this first service and sales step.
Here are some ideas to get started:
- Open the door for guests. Forget the podium… plant the host by the door and make sure they make eye contact, smile and make a personal greeting.
- Use names. If a guest is required to wait and give a name to hold her place, there’s absolutely no excuse for a host to not use it later. It’s as easy to say, “Please follow me, Mrs. Smith,” as it is “Right this way.”
- Sell the wait. How often do you hear, “There is a twenty-minute wait tonight”? Instead, train hosts to say, “There is a short twenty-minute wait, but if you’d like to have a seat at the bar I’ll come get you the minute your table is ready. The bartender can set you up with one of our great appetizers or specialty drinks!” What would convince you to wait?
- Teach everyone to greet guests. If the host is not at the door, everyone who works in the front-of-the-house to welcome guests and let them know the host is coming.
The Four Ps of Product Knowledge: Does Your Waitstaff Know Them?
After you’ve motivated your team to try suggestive selling, boost their confidence by making sure that they can describe your menu accurately and appealingly. You can’t sell what you don’t know. So, when testing your team, remember to hit the Four P’s:
- Portion – How many potato skins do you get? How many ounces is the steak? How big is the salad? How many layers is the chocolate cake? When you quiz your team during pre-shift meetings, you might be stunned to find out how many details they’ve forgotten.
- Preparation – Is it grilled or baked? Squeezed with lemon or lime? Stir-fried or sautéed? Often it’s the smallest detail that makes the sale… and gains the customer’s confidence. When servers know the complete preparation of each menu item, customers are more willing to accept their suggestions and splurge on that dessert or other add-on item.
- Presentation – Is there a garnish? A sizzling plate? A cutting board or a bread bowl? When your servers can accurately add these details, they’ll create interest and intrigue (and sales!).
- Price – You would hope that your servers are well-versed in the prices on your menu, but do they know – and provide – the price of specials? Often customers shy away from ordering your most prized meals of the evening, because the server didn’t include the price in “our specials tonight…” description. Because they don’t know, customers assume that those items are too costly… and select something else on the menu.
To build product knowledge of your restaurant’s items, train your servers with Work Smarter Not Harder, the Service That Sells! Workbook. Click here to learn more.
