ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - October 6, 2006

The good news and the bad news is that it looks like I will re-qualify at the Platinum level with Northwest this month. I admit that I do like the free first class upgrades, but the price of "free" seems to get higher every year.

This week I am headed to Raleigh, North Carolina to present a program for a distributor's best customers. What has YOUR distributor done for you lately besides just take your money? The best part of this trip is that I will get to have dinner at Angus Barn. Van Eure and her crew truly know how to do it right! Look for lots of pictures next week.

NO ACCIDENTS
Nothing happens by accident in a great restaurant. I am getting fed up with managers who fail to exert the direction their restaurants need and essentially leave many important details of the operation to chance or the whims of the crew. This is what most everybody else does ... and you will never excel if you operate like everybody else does.

Dress for Success
Take staff attire. If Job One is “No Unhappy Guests” (and it is), then the staff must dress for the guests -- they must wear clothing that is styled to appeal to the people the restaurant wants to attract.

Do you want to attract business people? Your staff must dress in conservative, mainstream fashions that present a business-like appearance. If the market is young singles looking to hook up with each other, you will want a more casual, modern look ... but again, one that the patrons will find attractive.

Absent direction, standards and inspection from management, the crew is likely to dress to please themselves (and each other) in clothing styles their peer group favors. This only works if the restaurant’s market is that same peer group ... and even then it is chance-y to give the staff too much unregulated latitude.

Whatever the dress code, the guest’s eye should be drawn to the restaurant, not the staff members. Here is my acid test for uniforms:
* Does the staff look clean, crisp and professional?
* Are the uniforms practical for the job and comfortable to wear?
* Does the look enhance the experience you want to create?

Music to Whose Ears?
The same philosophy holds for your music selections. Background music must be the appropriate tempo for the speed of the room, at the appropriate volume level for the ambience of the room and selected to please the guests, not the staff. You cannot allow your staff to select the background music without firm guidelines!

Who’s running YOUR restaurant?

WHAT THEY SEE IS WHAT YOU GET
The scene: I am having dinner in a chain restaurant (with one of the chain execs, yet)
Situation: My medium rare steak is closer to medium well.

Waiter (dully): "How's everything?"
Me: "The steak certainly is on the far side of medium rare."
Waiter (dully): "Oh" and walks away.

Cut to the table about five minutes later.

GM: "I understand your steak was overcooked."
Me: "Well, the steak is tasty but we didn't even come close to medium rare."
GM: "I'll take it off the check."

What's wrong with this picture?

People don't want bad food for free! What ever happened to plain old personal concern about a breakdown in hospitality to a guest in our house? In this case, all it would have taken to bring this around was some expression of personal concern: "I'm sorry that the steak wasn't the way you like it" followed by a generous offer to make it right.

I wasn't upset that the steak was overcooked -- it happens -- but I was stunned at the apparent lack of concern on the part of management who clearly should have known better. The server also mis-handled the situation ... but who is his role model?

THE SILVER BULLET AND YOU
I suspect that you have been accumulating “good ideas” all your professional life.

* Did you ever wonder why you haven’t implemented more of them?
* Why is that even when you know what you need to do, you still don’t do it?
* What will it take to bridge the gap between good intentions and implementation to finally turn your restaurant into the money machine you always imagined it would be?

The solution to these situations is THE SILVER BULLET.

You know what we mean by the silver bullet:
* THE SIMPLE FIX that will suddenly kick the effectiveness of your marketing into high gear
* THE SUBTLE SECRET that will have people lined up at your door long before you open, waving money and begging you to let them spend it
* THE MINOR TWEAK that will take the struggle out of building volume and lets you sleep soundly without worrying about making payroll
* THE ONE BIG THING that will finally change everything.

On November 13 & 14, 2006, at Bill and Joel’s Third Annual Most Excellent Restaurant Marketing Birthday Bash in Las Vegas, marketing guru Joel Cohen and I will reveal the secret of THE SILVER BULLET to a select group of restaurant operators. If you are part of the group, we will show you how to use this potent insight to finally get off your butt, dominate your market and crush your competition. (If you are not part of the group ... are you about to be crushed?)

Tuition goes up $100 on October 14 ... and Birthday Bash alumni can attend at a special reduced price. We have even devised a plan that will allow you to attend at no charge ... and get Joel and me as your personal coaches for a year to increase the odds that you will actually see those big sales increases after the program.

If you are ready to give up excuses in favor of real results, you really need to consider joining us in Las Vegas. Click on the link below to find out more about this event and how you can attend at no charge.

Find out more about the Birthday Bash.

THE PERPETUAL QUESTION
What did you learn from your staff today?

When one of our hosts no called/no showed for a shift, I didn't chew her out. Instead I posed these questions ... "Why is it that you didn't show up, and how does that impact the morale of your coworkers?" "How can we as a team learn to count on each other to do the right thing every time, if we don't do it?" "What should be done about you not showing up?"

After a calm conversation (her talking, me listening), she (not me) came to the conclusion that there were other things more important to her than working here. There were a lot of factors (gas pricing, athletics, college workload, etc), but she terminated her employment.

Sometimes listening is allowing the other person to speak and think through the process him/herself. -- Ken Henson, Pelican Pub & Brewery, Pacific City, OR

Ken is getting better and better at this ... and his life is getting easier and easier. Coincidence? I think not. Ken attended the CEO Foundations Course in Nashville last June and has really taken the principles to heart.

The goal of a good listener is to understand where the other person is coming from, why their actions make sense to them and generally how they have things "wired up." When you listen with unconditional respect and a quiet mind, questions will occur to you in the moment. Asking those questions will help move people to their own solutions ... and that will have much more impact on their behavior than another lecture from the boss.

People don't argue with their own information. Listen well and let them discover their own answers.

Never doubt that the most critical -- and perhaps profitable -- management skill you can develop is your ability to truly listen.

I will continue to collect your answers to this important question ... and you can add comments as often as you want. Just click on the link below and contribute your insights for the common good (and your own as well!)

What did YOU learn from YOUR staff today?

© 2006 Restaurant Doctor