ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - March 12, 1999

SERVICE AS MARKETING
George Pytlik sent this note along. It is worth pondering.

As a marketing professional who works with restaurants, I have learned that the most powerful marketing tool any restaurant has is customer service. If a guest perceives bad service (whether real or imagined), no amount of advertising expenditure will bring her back. The following true story illustrates the impact customer service can have on sales:

I overheard a conversation between a restaurant owner and a guest, which took place while the guest was paying. Asked if everything was fine, the guest responded that although he was a regular customer and usually enjoyed his food, on this visit his veal was overcooked and he was unable to eat most of it. The owner said she was sorry to hear that, proceeded to ask for the full amount of the check and sent him on his way.

Contrast this with another conversation at a different location (same brand) where a regular customer made an offhand remark that her meal, while tasty, wasn't quite up to the standards she was used to. The owner immediately said, "That's terrible!" and wrote out a voucher for a free meal on her next visit. She objected that this wasn't necessary but the owner insisted.

The true impact of these widely different attitudes is visible when comparing sales volumes. The first restaurant has sales that have steadily declined for years while sales at the second have broken records year after year, despite significantly increased competition. Both locations started with similar sales levels at around the same time.

Now I realize that the second response is limited to regular customers and must involve someone authorized to give something away. The point this makes is that the owner's overall attitude towards customers is the secret ingredient to growing sales. It gets passed along to all staff, creating a corporate personality that matters to guests far more than your prices or your advertising ever can.

A NOTE FROM THE DOC
I wouldn't limit such a caring response just to regulars, however, and I would be sure that every member of the staff is authorized to, coached in how to and encouraged to handle such a situation if it arises in their presence. None of us operate in a market big enough that we can afford to let ANY guest get away!

THANKS, TROY
My thanks to Troy Brackett for forwarding the missing issues of EHC. Troy publishes the Producing Profitable Results e-mail newsletter. For information, contact him at <troy@profitable.com>. All back issues of EHC are now on my website at http://www.restaurantdoctor.com/ehc.html.

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