The Customer Comes Second

In their search for excellent customer service, some restaurant owners invoke the adage, "the customer comes first". Yet many operators are left scratching their head when the more they repeat this mantra, the less their staff seems to put it into practice.

Effective leadership requires more than a recital of famous quotes, adages or proverbs. To be an effective leader - getting others to buy into an objective - you must first be a good servant. In other words, learn to lead by example by treating your staff the way you want them to treat your guests. If you want to motivate your staff to do something, then you need to walk the talk.

As human beings we crave recognition, respect, kindness, courtesy, dignity and appreciation. How many loyal customers do you think you'd have right now if each one of them were to experience these each time they visited your restaurant?

Now ask yourself, how much respect, appreciation and recognition do you actually give to your staff? Do you praise them for a job well done - even if it's routine? When you find them doing something wrong do you pull them aside privately or do you find yourself calling them out in front of others? How often do you remind them of their importance? Does your staff feel dignified in their jobs, or do they only do it for the money?

As an owner or manager, you have enormous influence over the work environment. Here are some tips for making your staff feel appreciated and respected:

• Smile - it's often been said that a smile requires much fewer muscles than a frown; besides, a smile given is more likely to get a smile in return.
• Listen more and talk less - take time to communicate more effectively by asking your staff how you can better help them do their jobs - and then listen to their responses with genuine empathy.
• Call them by name - Dale Carnegie once wrote there is no sweeter sound than hearing one's own name. Name recognition is one of the most effective forms of flattery and makes the recipient feel valued.
• Respect their time - you don't want your customers to wait, so why make your employees wait when they need your help, advice or direction?
• Give them your undivided attention - have you ever been telling someone something and noticed they are constantly looking away or are distracted? Don't allow interruptions or distractions to take your eyes or attention away from the one you are talking with.
• Say please and thank you - simple courtesy and manners produces amazing results. Chic-fil-A and Marriot are well known for teaching their staff to respond with, "My pleasure" whenever a guest tells them thank you. Is it any wonder they are recognized leaders in customer service?
• Apologize - when you make a mistake with an employee, admit it, apologize for it and then correct it. Showing humility conveys respect and sincerity.
• Criticize in private - managing employees oftentimes requires that disciplinary action be taken when rules or policy are not followed. When corrective action becomes necessary, do so in a private setting. This shows respect and dignity and will be recognized by the entire staff - not just the one being disciplined.

When you treat your staff in a manner that makes them feel like #1 in your eyes, they'll almost certainly treat your guests as #1 in their eyes.

Everyday Rules For Every Supervisor

Here are five rules every manager and supervisor should follow everyday. They are simple in concept and easy to do. Challenge yourself to follow them.

1-Know your people. Take time to offer a friendly greeting at the beginning of each workday. You will be amazed at how your greeting in the morning or at the beginning of the shift can set the tone of a Team Member’s attitude all day. A “grumpy” manager or supervisor will most likely have “grumpy” Team Members. Let Team Members know that you care about them as individuals. So, talk to them occasionally about their outside interests.

2-Give plenty of feedback. Let people know you really do notice the work they do. Make specific comments about the work they do. For example, instead of just telling a person they did a good job, specific about what was really good about their work. You might say, “I really like how detailed you are when you serve your guests”. Expect some mistakes, especially with inexperienced Team Members. So, when mistakes are made with new tasks, assume first that your instructions were not clear, and take the time to clarify the expectations.

3-Never ignore non-performance. When you recognize someone is not meeting job expectations, check to see what’s happening. Identify and discuss the problem performance with the Team Member and let him/her know that you expect an improved performance.

4-Praise Team members who do what’s expected of them. Remember, the salary is not sufficient recognition for satisfactory job performance. Just praising the exceptional performance will mean few Team Members will be praised. It’s easy to praise top performers, but don’t forget the rest. Take time to show those who regularly perform their work adequately that you appreciate their efforts. Remember, good performance gone unrecognized will diminish. If you don’t show you care about what they do, why should they care? If you don’t show you appreciate them, why should they appreciate you? I could go on, but you get the idea.

5-Remember the work atmosphere. The most important part of the work climate is a healthy sense of self-esteem. When Team Members feel good about themselves and they feel good about what they do it is much easier for them to be cooperative and display a willingness to go the extra mile for you. When you think about it, the attitude of the boss is the most important attitude of all. You, as a manager or supervisor set the tone. Remember, never, regardless of the situation, scream or shout at a Team Member or anyone, as this will break all lines of communication and you will lose your team’s respect and credibility.

Following these five supervisory rules can make the difference between success and failure as a manager or supervisor. Check yourself every day against these five rules

Customer Service Principle

Throughout business history, companies have introduced grand strategies designed to raise their levels of customer service. They soon discovered, however, that the strategies were the easy part. Getting employees to buy into the strategy and make it work proved more difficult. Not surprisingly, results were usually doomed to failure from the start.

This inability to "close the deal" has been a perennial cause of puzzlement and frustration to company executives. They assumes that once strategies are unveiled, employees will implement the program in such a way that customers notice an increased level of customer service.

Wrong. Not only do sales and service not rise; morale goes down with them! The reason? The assumption that customer service can improve without employee commitment. All too often, management forgets that strategies and programs start and end with their people.

This assumption is a throwback to the thinking of the American Industrial Age when employees were reduced to a component of production, not unlike a piece of equipment.
Industrial age thinking was based on the concept that employees did not want to work and were definitely not concerned enough to do quality work. Employees were given orders, and except for breakdowns (injury or illness), tasks were grudgingly completed. Of course time has proven again and again that employees DO want to work, they DO enjoy their work, and they want to care about the quality of their work. Research has shown that work plays a huge part in a person's self esteem, self worth and personal happiness.

To turn your strategy into reality, you must create an environment that builds employee pride and quality. It is absolutely vital that customer service be a long-term, everyday commitment that employees believe in. Otherwise, employees will think it just another passing management fad that will fade away after a brief flurry of activity like so many other programs. They've seen it all before and if they don't believe it, it won't succeed.

To illustrate the difference in employee attitudes consider this parable. An observer passed by two job sites and asked one employee from each what they were doing.
Employee one: I'm working like hell for too little money.
Employee two: I'm building a cathedral.

Notice any difference in attitude? One was sold on the project and therefore became part of it, while the other was merely a part of the machine. Which employee would you want representing your establishment?

Customer Service Principles:
•Commit to excellent customer service. Live it, breathe it, believe it, and reward it.

•Sell the employees on the whole, not just their part.

•Ensure that any Marketing initiatives emphasize your employees, not just your products. When morale and pride go up, you can bet services and sales will go up. Make your employees feel they are part of an elite group.

•Ensure all customer contact employees have autonomy to accommodate their customers, even if it means bending company rules. Then take a hard look at those bent rules, and see if they need to be discarded entirely.

•Be better than your competitor by knowing your competitor. Take your key people out to a competitor's operation, and talk about what works there and what doesn't (after you've left, of course.)

•Finally, keep the focus on your people: They ARE your business!

Quality Restaurant Service

Randall Turner, a dear friend of mine, dines out at least twice a week and knows good service; he also knows when the wait staff is indifferent. A recent experience at a restaurant in the area made the evening memorable for all the wrong reasons.

"I was there with business associates and wanted to try a new restaurant that had been touted", he recalls. "The place was cavernous and the eight servers outnumbered the customers."

It was a warm night and the small group decided to sit outside. After a long wait the server appeared. Filled their water glasses and disappeared. "We had to hunt for more water, bread and for the waiter so we could order," Randall complains. "There were only two other customers in the restaurant that probably sat 150 people. We knew the servers were out there but we could not see them. It was almost funny."

The service did not improve as the evening wore on.

"After the meal we ordered coffee and when it arrived sometimes later I tasted something strange and sweet in the brew," he relates. "When I asked the server what it was she replied, "I don't know what it is. It's something."

Having to chase down the waiter for the bill was the icing on the cake.

Although the food was good, the quality of service soured the entire dining experience. It was a new restaurant and perhaps the staff was working out a few kinks. But Randall says he likes to patronize a restaurant that will appreciate his business. "It is disappointing when the meal is superior but the service is not up to the same standards," he concludes. "That is what stands out in my memory."

Quality service is vital to the reputation of any eating establishment. It will make or break a business, and customers will not return if they don't get good service.

Not that providing quality service is easy. Customers can be demanding and the menu can be complex and ever changing.

Is quality service learned or is it fundamental to a person's nature? I think is a little of both. I think anyone can learn the basics of how to wait a table. but some people are naturally in tune with customers and how to go beyond just filling their needs, Those are the employees making the big tips.

Typically, servers earn minimum wages plus tips. Particularly hectic days can be costly, since a server is often too busy to provide the personalized attention to each customer that generates larger tips.

Experience providing good service anywhere can be transitioned into the restaurant industry. If someone worked as a telemarketer or a clerk, the same principles can relate to those in a wait staff or in other position in a restaurant.

Customer Service Radar

On multiple occasions I've heard colleagues and restaurant operators praise service personnel who have "it". "it" is difficult to define, but "it" makes customers happy. One facet of "it" is what they refer to as "table radar". M*A*S*H viewers know that "Radar" O'Really received his nickname because his "radar" enabled him to know what was going to happen before anyone else did. With "table radar" a server knows what the guest needs before the guest actually asks for it.

Since this talent for assisting customers before they ask for assistance can lead to extremely satisfied customers it is appropriate to ask if this is a talent one must be born with or if it is a skill that can be learned. I believe that this is a skill that can be learned and developed. Servers with "table radar" have the ability to "read" the customer's face and postures and to detect subtle cues that lets them know the customer needs something. They act upon these cues and past experience to provide information, assistance, and sometimes products before they are requested.

To develop this type of "radar" the server needs to recognize that the customer is not as familiar with the menu as he or she is. The server must understand that even before many customers have the opportunity to express their need for assistance verbally they will show signs of bewilderment, confusion, or dissatisfaction on their face or in their posture. The customer may even show these outward signs before they are personally aware of their own feelings and confusion.

Once the server recognizes the customer's signs that assistance is needed, the server must overcome his/her own hesitancy to intrude and must be willing to approach the customer to offer assistance. Often the fact that someone offers assistance will trigger the customer's recognition and naming of their own needs, which they will express to the server.

Where the customer is either unfamiliar with the restaurant's offerings or undecided about what to order, it will be necessary for the server to describe what options are available, i.e. specials of the day, house specialty, etc. The information to be communicated may relate to menu items available, drink specials, special of the day, house specialties and/or specific products that the server feel will suit the customer's needs and wants at the moment.

Good servers make the customer believe that they have made a wise choice by affirming the decision and they act to see that the service and the quality of the product are of high standards. These actions are applicable to any staff-customer interaction. So the server must learn to let the customer know that they have made a wise decision ( even if the server would have made a different choice) and they must follow through to see that the customer receives excellent service.

Finally, like any other skill, the development of customer "radar" is not a one-time event. This skill must be practiced over and over again until the server becomes proficient at it. As the server repeats this proves the server will become more skilled at recognizing those customers who have unexpressed needs. The server will be more comfortable approaching the customer, will be better able to describe the available options, and will be able to confidently affirm the customer's choice and provide a satisfying customer experience.

To make this process more memorable, I have described the process using the first letter of each of the five steps listed to create the acronym "radar".

Recognize the customer and the possibility that they may be confused, seeking
additional assistance or service.

Approach the customer and make it known that you are available to assist them by providing information, services and products.

Discuss the customer's need and the options available to satisfy them.

Affirm the customer's choice and Act to deliver the product or service selected.

Repeat repeat, repeat until the process becomes automatic and you can use your "radar" to provide exceptional service to customers.

Defining Customer Service: The Customer Perception is Our Reality

You might not be able to define service, but you know it when you find it, and so do our customers. Countless seminars, books, articles have been written on the subject of service. Every company touts service as its goal, but service is an elusive concept which is extremely difficult to measure and evaluate.

Service is elusive and intangible, but it is the life's blood of the hospitality industry so we must ask ourselves, "What is customer service?" In today's competitive marketplace service is the most important thing a company has to sell. It truly makes the difference when two businesses have the same product. If service was just smiling or getting food onto the table on time it would be difficult enough, but we know it is much more complex than that.

We've been told over and over, every time we come in contact with a customer, that we make a good impression or a bad one for the organization we represent. The gurus have taught us that these are called the "moment of truth". That being the case, the first moment of truth takes place with a genuine and personal touch as soon as the guest walks in the front door. This sets the tone for the rest of the experience, and it gets even better, the dining experience will be unforgettable.

If you consider the effect that one person can have on the entire experience, and multiply that by a dozen or more employees, the moment of truth have increased exponentially. The first rule of service is simply to find the right people with the right attitude, and then teach them the rest. Let's face it, serving techniques can be taught; sophistication has to be acquired. It baffles me that during the interview process more employers don't ask prospective employees what they think customer service means.

Customer service is difficult to explain, and difficult to understand. The people who know best what customer service is, are customers, because they are the ones who know what they want. And because they are the ones who know what they want, it is the customers we should be listening to. Simply by accommodating the requests of your customers you create a demanding customer. And a demanding customer is not a bad customer. When you accommodate requests and your demanding customers go to another restaurant, they'll be disappointed if they don't get the service equal to what you have created. Hence, demanding customers equal profits.

As we continue to try to define customer service we find that there are some basic truths. To understand those truth you have to realize that customer service has to always be define from the customer's perspective, not the operator's. In fact, we need to remember, the customer's perception is our reality.

We all know that successful service is not a one-time event; you have to work hard at it.It is only as good as your last encounter. It is a production and it goes on stage every day at the same time, and it's live. There's not practicing; there's no rehearsing.

Ambiance at your restaurant can be overwhelmingly beautiful and your food delicious, but when service suffers the dining experience will be mediocre at best. The importance of customer service is forever clear: even the most delicious lobster isn't good when service is poor, because poor service leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

I know not all chef owners will agree with this statement, but I'm a firm believer that a good server can save a bad meal, but a great entree can't bail out a bad server. In my many years in the industry I've found that when I took care of customers extremely well and made them a focal point, profits in evidently flowed.

Executives around the world recognize service as the most important tool a compant use to differentiate itself from the competition. Therefore, they also realize that the most important people in any company are those who provide service. J.W. Marriott Jr. said "Service people are the most important ones in the organization. Without them there is no product, no sale, and no profit. Indeed they are the product. Service is and should be a high calling."

It is important for us to remember that guests are at our restaurant to spend money, and we should not deprive them of that opportunity. This is an industry where we have to constantly train, and when we are done training, train again, and then train again. It is human nature to under-learn and over-forget. Hospitality employees will tell you, "I already know that one." That's great, but it doesn't matter if they know what to do, it matters if they do what they know.

We've all heard the phrase, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression." The first thirty seconds sets the tone for the entire experience. The most important first step for anyone in our industry is creating a bond of trust and credibility with our guests. This is what we call rapport. The essence of rapport is commonality. People like people who are like themselves. If it's true that almost everything you become and accomplish in your life is with and through other people, then the ability to create rapport with other people is the most important skill you can learn. That being said, it is easy to understand why the main challenge in our business is to manage these millions of moments of truth every day. That means managing hundreds of encounters with customers each and every shift, because it is in fact service that determines how much money they are going to spend and how much you're going to make.

You can't sell something you don't know anything about, and you won't suggest something if you don't know anything about it. Closing a sale is actually a transfer of enthusiasm. It is hard to be enthusiastic about something you don't know anything about and you can only sell something to the degree that you believe in it. You impress your guests when you are able to answer all their questions with authority.

It is important to remember that in every service opportunity there is sales opportunity, and in every sales opportunity there is service opportunity. You can have the best product in the world, but if you don't sell it, you still have it.

In this industry, we throw word "service" around like it's a basketball. In the writing of this article, I feel like I'm preaching to the choir, but it comes back to that basic premise that it is not what you know that matters, but doing what you know that matters.

Caring is the golden key. You have to care that your guests get the best service and the best value, and that they have the best time they could possibly have. When the guests know you care about them, that's when they are on your team. There's nothing better than having the guests be on your team; it is a win situation for everyone.

Service is an intangible product. It's a commodity that customers pay big money for these days and it's a word that's way overused. I recently read where it's the most overused word in the world.

"At one time in my life I thought I had a handle on the meaning of the word "service", the act of doing things for other people. Then I heard the terms "internal revenue service", "postal service", "civil service", "service stations," and I became confused about the word "service".
This is not what I thought "service" meant. Then one day I overheard two farmers talking, and one of them mentioned he was having a bull service a few of his cows. Voila! it all came into perspective, and I now understand what service is all about. Now I know what all those service agencies are doing to us"--Orionsky (pseudonym for on-line humorist and contributor to unsolvedmysteries.com).

Service, service, service. We spend a lot of time and money on training and retraining our employees about the importance of customer service, but we really never tell them how simple it can be. In fact, it is so simple it's mind-boggling. I have what I call the Simplicity Rule of Customer Service and it goes like this: "All you have to be is hospitable".

Being hospitable is the act or practice of receiving strangers or guest in a friendly and generous way. It's really that simple. All we have to do is hire people that are hospitable, and the rest comes easy. after all, we all know it's easier to train the technical side than it is to train the personal side.

In this industry, profits are not made by focusing on the larger details; profits results from focusing on the small details and caring about guests. You need to forget the macro, and focus on the micro. After all, when you really think about it, "It's the small things in life that are big".

Do Your Servers Understand the Magic Minute?

As a customer, we all know what tends to happen to our mood when after being seated we wait and wait to be recognized by someone.

A good rule of thumb, is for your guests to be greeted within 60 seconds after being seated. Any longer than a minute and the potential for irritation and frustration increases geometrically with each passing second.

During a service program I was conducting, a lady told me how a manager had impressed upon her the importance of recognizing the magic minute. One afternoon the manager got all the servers together for a minute and just before it started, dashed out to get something in his office. He returned and asked each person to write down how long they have been waiting for him to return. Most servers wrote down 4-5 minutes or more when in fact he had gone exactly "one minute".

A person's perception of time can be very different from reality. Especially when you're waiting, wondering if you've been forgotten, time can seem to creep by very, very slowly.

What a simple, yet brilliant way to demonstrate how important it is to greet and recognize every guest's presence as quickly as possible, within one minute after being seated. After a minute, the magic of the moment starts to wear off and the mood at the table starts to turn downward.

The Food Production Process - Part 2

Structure of the Food Market
The path of food products from the grower or producer to the end user is quite complex. The route begins with the producers or growers, who sell their products to processors. Often, an intermediary (a concentrator) is necessary to gather the output of numerous, widely dipersed producers into transportable quantities. Concentrators maybe grain elevators, receiving plants, or cooperative marketing organizations, such as sunkist growers in California. Processors may be divided into primary processors such as flour mills and secondary producers such as bakers. Producer may use a food broker to sell their processed product. A broker is an independent sales agant who works on commission and does not take tittle to the goods. From the processor, the goods are shipped to major distribution centers and wholesellers around the country or region. The processor himself may maintain regional warehouses and act as wholeseller. The wholesellers are ussually specialized according to the markets they serve - institutional or retail stores. Institutional distributors may be specialized even further, dealing only with top quality hotels and restaurants or specializing in a very few products or just one product.
Although the marketing channel may vary somewhat for different types of food products, generally follows the same pattern. The restaurant or institutional buyer may buy the product at various stages in the channel. If he/she buys from a local farmer, he/she is buying from the producer. He/she may buy from a local or district office of the processor, or from a variety of wholeseller distributorss. He/she may even enter the channel farther down and buy from a few items from a retail store, although this is ussually a poor practice.
Marketing food products through channels is an enormous and costly task. Approximately 60 % of the consumer food dollar goes to the cost of marketing, and about 40% goes to the farmer. Labor has always been the largest cost in marketing, with transportation second. Packaging is another cost that is increasing in importance.
Marketing cost have been viewd suspiciously by the consumer and food service operator alike as pure profit to many unnecessary middlemen; but this middlemen provide the following important services: storage, grading, and identification of products, transportation, transfer of ownership, (buying and selling), packaging, advertising and financing.
(Part 3- Receiving and Store Management)

The Food Production Process - Part 1

Purchasing:
The character of the product the resulting product cost begin with the purchasing of the raw materials. Although poor preparation practices may destroy the quality of a good product, good preparation practices cannot instill quality where it never existed. The best menu merchandising policies cannot compensate for purchasing that is not alert to new products, new markets, and new trends. And cost control cannot be wholly effective in production or service if buying is inefficient.
Buying must always be judged by its overall effectiveness and never by price comparison alone. An item’s purchase price is only as important as the item itself; it may be five cents less per pound or 15 percent cheaper by price but 30 percent more expensive in actual yield. The buyer should be interested in the lowest price only when the items are comparable in quality and yield. Good buying procedures provide a food operation with the products most suited to its merchandising policy at the most economical price.
“Buying” is not to be confused with “ordering”. Buying involves making decisions and setting policies about what products to buy and how to buy them, approving the vendors to be used and determining the frequency of the purchases and the quantities to be bought. Ordering is clerical activity which is done within the buying policy.
There are two approaches to commercial food buying: the needs of the operation and the availability of products in the market. When the food service operation is located at some distance from a food distribution point, the buyer may have to begin with what is available to him and make adjustments in the menu and preparation accordingly. When product availability is not a problem, the buyer first analyses the needs of the operation and searches out the products he needs. Most often, the products ultimately purchased are a compromise between need and availability. Whatever the approach, the food buyer should have some understanding of the market in which he/she is dealing.
(Next Part 2- Structure of the Food Market)

Service Excellence: The Food Production Process - Part 1

Service Excellence: The Food Production Process - Part 1

The Food Production Process - Part 1

Purchasing:

The character of the product the resulting product cost begin with the purchasing of the raw materials. Although poor preparation practices may destroy the quality of a good product, good preparation practices cannot instill quality where it never existed. The best menu merchandising policies cannot compensate for purchasing that is not alert to new products, new markets, and new trends. And cost control cannot be wholly effective in production or service if buying is inefficient.
Buying must always be judged by its overall effectiveness and never by price comparison alone. An item’s purchase price is only as important as the item itself; it may be five cents less per pound or 15 percent cheaper by price but 30 percent more expensive in actual yield. The buyer should be interested in the lowest price only when the items are comparable in quality and yield. Good buying procedures provide a food operation with the products most suited to its merchandising policy at the most economical price.
“Buying” is not to be confused with “ordering”. Buying involves making decisions and setting policies about what products to buy and how to buy them, approving the vendors to be used and determining the frequency of the purchases and the quantities to be bought. Ordering is clerical activity which is done within the buying policy.
There are two approaches to commercial food buying: the needs of the operation and the availability of products in the market. When the food service operation is located at some distance from a food distribution point, the buyer may have to begin with what is available to him and make adjustments in the menu and preparation accordingly. When product availability is not a problem, the buyer first analyses the needs of the operation and searches out the products he needs. Most often, the products ultimately purchased are a compromise between need and availability. Whatever the approach, the food buyer should have some understanding of the market in which he/she is dealing.
(Next Part 2- Structure of the Food Market)

Right And Left-Brain Management Style

Different management styles can originate from the left or the right side of the brain. The left side has an irritating devotion to numbers, analysis, logic, etc, concerning itself with cash flow and the dire consequences of mismanagement of finances. The right side deals with more romantic ideas and imagination rules.


Right and left-brain Management Styles

Have a look at this model of a company using left-brain management styles, called British Risk Aversion Plc, or BRA:

• New ideas are regularly dismissed

• The organization is not always concerned with external needs

• The emphasis within the organization is on problem solving

• Stability and experience are the most valued attributes within the company

• The good of the organization is put before the success of the individual

• Command and control are the dominant processes

• It is practically impossible to change the corporate mind-set

Now compare with this model of a right-brain company, ACE – Adventure Corporation of Europe:

• Creativity and new ideas are welcomed

• The company focuses mainly on the needs of the customer

• The emphasis is on taking advantage of new opportunities

• Motivation and innovation are among the most valued attributes

• The company's aims and those of individuals are largely aligned

• All staff are granted autonomy and are able to show their initiative

• Minds and policies regularly change, according to circumstance

ACE is much more fun place to work than BRA and much more likely to embrace the new because the whole outfit is geared up to do just that.

However judging by a show of hands, members of an audience I addressed recently were more likely to work in a company resembling BRA rather than ACE.

The measured prudence of BRA has to be combined with the dynamic venturism of ACE for a knockout left-right combination of management styles.

Passion for a Better World

Too often our sensibilities are assaulted and bludgeoned by all that seems bad in the world -the T.V. bulletins of the day's horrors, the full, graphic story we get by watching the eleven o'clock news.

in reference to:

"Too often our sensibilities are assaulted and bludgeoned by all that seems bad in the world - the T.V. bulletins of the day's horrors, the full, graphic story we get by watching the eleven o'clock news."
- The Greatest Gift (view on Google Sidewiki)

A Captive Audience

It's more cost effective to use in-store marketing to encourage repeat business and increase sales than it is to attract new customers. This is called four-walls marketing, this approach includes suggestive selling, in-store advertising and other marketing tactics that take place within the four walls of your operation.


Here are the four steps to four-walls marketing.

1. Market to your internal customers —your employees. Start by treating staff members well and getting their buy in. Make employees partners in your marketing efforts. Ask for their input, Reward workers for participating in activities like distributing fliers or selling gift certificates.

2. Subtly influence customers through zone merchandising. Every restaurant has specific areas—or zones—that you can use to influence customers. This concept, called zone merchandising, offers numerous promotional opportunities. Some key zones include:

• The lobby. Set up easel posters, mobiles, standing displays or dangling advertisements to promote specific menu items before customers are seated.

• The counter. Advertise items on cash-register toppers, menu boards, counter cards and your specials board.

• The carryout window. Give customers take-home menus and magnets with your restaurant's name and phone number.

• The dining room. Have servers point out specials and signature items. Use dessert trays, wine displays and free samples to entice customers.

• The table. Use table tents, place mats and napkins to brand your restaurant.

3. Strategically design your menu. Did you know that your menu can influence customers to buy more—and to order your most profitable items? What the eye sees, the eye buys, One-page menus should feature your most profitable items in the middle of the page, surrounded by a graphic box to make them stand out. Two-page menus should feature your most profitable items on the upper half of the second page, because that's where guests' eyes drift first.  Make menu copy brief and enticing. For example, an item featuring your "chef's special recipe" will tempt customers.

4. Keep in touch with customers. Send coupons, information about special events and birthday cards to customers in your database. E-mail blasting is a great tool Start by collecting customer information. For example, hold a random drawing for a free lunch and require customers to fill out an entry form with their name, address, birth date, etc.

Some things never change when it comes to the traditional way of increasing average checks and retaining customers in a restaurant. Nothing may be able to replace the personal touch in an "inpersonal world" driven by the high tech.

Passion of Expressing Ourselves

.There are some important words and phrases we seem to have great difficulty with. They are everyday words that they get caught between our good intentions on one hand and our inhibitions or fear of rejection on the other.

in reference to:

"There are some important words and phrases we seem to have great difficulty with. They are everyday words that they get caught between our good intentions on one hand and our inhibitions or fear of rejection on other the other."
- http://belovebepresent.blogspot.com/2011/01/passion-of-expressing-ourselves.html (view on Google Sidewiki)

Say That Again? Seven Things Never to Say to Your Customers

I recently stopped at a local hardware store for a new bolt for a wheelbarrow. The only metal pin they had was too long. So, an assistant gladly volunteered to cut it down to size. As he was sawing away, one of the managers waddled past, scowled and snapped: "Doesn't he have a hacksaw at home?"

Honesty is the best policy and you should always be thruthful, but there's a difference between being truthful and being downright rude. A snarling attitude towards customers will not get you repeat customers. Good customer loyalty is the lifeblood of any business and comments like this only drive customers away.

We've all been on the recieving end of these sorts of remarks and customer service faux pas from businesses of all types and sizes, but that doesn't mean it's acceptable. We all have bad days, but that shouldn't become the customer's bad day too. Poor customer service loses business - fast. Here, based on my own stumbles down the rocky road of verbal iscues, is a sample of things that a client or customer or guest should never, ever hear from you or your staff:

1. "Why are you doing that for him?" This is pretty much what the hardware manager's flip remark meant. It may seem ludicrous to say it, but service for a customer - be it run of the mill or beyond the call of duty - should never be questioned in front of the person with the Visa card in hand. A business person that questions service like this will appear rude and entirely dismissive of customer service - a sure fire way to lose business.
2. "Are you sure you can afford this?" On a trip to a beautiful paradasiac destination, I wanted to surprise my wife by reserving the honeymoon suite at a luxury hotel, the Front Desk Manager, cajoled a member of his staff at the desk to "make sure he knows how expensive that suite is" before I even inquired about the detail of the price, which by the way I already knew. Of course- customers need to know the price of an item prior to purchase and that information is common courtesy, but beware of the connotations of suggesting an item is priced beyond a customer's means. This can taken as a direct insult.
3. "What an idiot that last guy was!" This was muttered by one server to another in a restaurant, as I was ready to pay for our tab. Needless to say, not every cient or customer is cherubic, but commenting on them to another employee - or even worse, a customer - is grossly unprofessional. This is tantamount to "bitchiness". People buy from people, and prefer to buy from people they like. Nobody likes to hear another customer sneered about. It makes customers feel uneasy, as they'll think you might say that about them when they leave your business.
4. "We don't have it." however siccint, this is a repeat offender, said most recently when I asked a grocery assistant if they carried a particular brand of olive oil ( after her four-word reply, the grocery assistant stared past me glassy-eyed as though she were looking for ships on the horizon). of course, businesses run out of stock or may not offer certain services or item, but just hearing "no" or words to that efect is tantamount to adding "And stay out!" Don't leave things hanging like that.
5. "What a _____name." (Choose "different", "funny", "unusual", "bizarre"", etc.) Don't misunderstand me, I know I have a, shall we say, esoteric last name. But I don't adore the attention I get when a niwit callously belittles my family moniker-belittling my very own identity. It would be far more diplomatic to ask how a person's name is pronounced correctly.
6. "I haven't a clue about what I'm talking about, but I'll rumble on regardless." this is the Brand X version of any number of ill-concieved remarks, ranging from the bank clerk who loudly gives a customer her mutual fund recommendations ("I hear you can make money in them!) to the doctor's office receptionist who tells a patient that she may need a biopsy.
7. "I only work here." This cliche' -most recently uttered to me by a waiter after the wrong meal was delivered for the third time -should be forewver buried. In four wretched words, an employees conveys a complete absence of enthusiasm or involment, let alone a willingness to address a problem. This does not bode well. All staff should ensure they know their own area and can politely pass a customer 's query on to the right person should it fall outside their area of expertise.

10 Resolutions For managers and Employees

Now is the perfect time to reflect on the past year, especially as it relates to your job.


1) Pay attention in class.

Treat every day at work like a school day. Be sure you learn something and make yourself more productive by what you've learned. It doesn't have to be skill-set related. It may be as simple as understanding how to work with specific peers (emotional intelligence). Whatever you do, take mental notes. Don't go through the day like a sleepy zombie.

2) Look for the next rung.

You need to excel at your job. This is how you gain credibility. But the key to career happiness is to understand your next step. Career patching is critical if you're to remain engaged on the job. Be sure to schedule discussions with your manager to get clarity on the next challenge. If it's not going to happen for you on your specific team or in your company.

3) Understand company goals.

Make sure you understand how your job contributes to your company's business objectives. Are you in a revenue-generating role? A brand awareness role? Is your mission to delight the customer? Clarity on how your job fits into the big picture will give you inspiration and a sense of accomplishment -- and will make your "small successes" feel like you're making much more of an impact.

4) Be ethical.

Bring integrity to your job. Whether you're running the company or cleaning the bathrooms, be honest in all you do. Don't call in sick just to get a day off. That's stealing. Put in an honest day's work. Be accountable. If you're working remotely, be sure you're working. Do what you say you're going to do. Be on time. Honesty and reliability mean a lot to your team members.

5) Stay fit.

Try to break a sweat for 20 minutes, three days a week. Go for a walk at lunch. Join a gym. Lift weights. Go for a run. A healthy body makes a healthy mind. Exercising increases blood flow to the brain. It gives you ideas. You'll be more productive at work. Best of all, you'll feel great.

6) Stretch your role.

From time to time, think how you can go above and beyond. Are there projects outside of your defined role that you could help with? Be proactive and ask to join. Better yet, come up with your own ideas and work with your manager to implement them. If you're a hamster, step off the wheel and poke your head out of the top of the cage. Stretch a little. This won't go unnoticed.

7) Manage up.

Make sure you and your manager are in firm agreement on what you're doing. Be proactive and get on his or her calendar to ensure you're meeting or exceeding expectations. Don't assume your manager is paying close attention. There are bad & good managers. If there's a disconnect between what you're doing and your manager's expectations, you're part of the blame. Don't wait until review time. Why take this chance?

8) Manage Across.

Your colleagues are important. Even if you're in a role where you work primarily alone, be sure to make time to understand your peer's roles and how they go about their job. Show an interest. Don't just choose a few friends and become part of a clique. High school is over. Be friendly and courteous to all workers in your organization. You never know when you may need them. Or be reporting to them.

9) Communicate.

Don't leave people waiting for answers. If you're in an e-mail environment, return e-mails promptly. Let people know what you're doing. If you're working on a project, always ask yourself who needs to know about this. Then tell them. Talk to people. Give people the heads up. And when someone helps you out, be sure to thank them. It's amazing that this even needs to be on a list but bad communicators are everywhere. Don't be one of them.

10) Make time for play.

Have fun. Work hard, but smile while you're doing it. No one likes a Grinch (especially this time of year). This doesn't mean disrupting the workplace by acting like an eighth-grader. Instead, approach each day with a positive spirit and stay loose. When you leave the office or workplace , have some fun. Enjoy you friends. Make time for them. Make time for you. It's called work-life balance. All work and no play makes ... well, you know.

Is Your Company Striving for OK?

Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? But it happens every day in food service operations around the world. It is a pet peeve of mine when a manager comes striding to my table and asks the insane question, "Is everything OK?"


What's wrong with this picture, you ask? Let's break it down:

Everything? Is the manager asking if I am satisfied with the political, economic, ecological and sociological status of humanity? Or maybe the manager thought that I was about to burst out crying and was attempting to offer help?

What about the word OK?

By definition OK means the minimum acceptable level. I doubt seriously if the mission of any company is to strive for the minimum level of customer service! So when the eager manager excitedly receives the expected "yes", knee-jerk answer to the knee-jerk question, the manager goes away pleased. But should the manager be pleased?

I think not.

I don't blame the manager. He or she was trained that way. Indeed, it was probably pounded into him or her to visit every table. 100% table visitation. Asking everyone in the restaurant if "Everything is OK" is like a prime directive in most restaurant chains.

What's so wrong with wanting to get the opinions of all your customers?

First of all, when you ask 'Is everything OK', you're not giving the customer an opening to respond. Instead, it becomes a formality, like the greeting of "How are you?" You don't really expect an answer, except for the polite "Fine".

Of course, visiting every table in most restaurants doesn't give you any time to actually stop and listen to the customers! By running around and asking "Is Everything OK?" you can quantify the experience, and give yourself a false sense of accomplishment by making your 100% table visitations.

It is like the owner of a hotel demanding that the hotel manager keep the hotel full. All the hotel manager has to do is keep reducing the price of the room until the owner's results are accomplished. Never mind that the hotel is losing money. It may be full now, but it sure won't be around for long.

Don't get me wrong; The concept of customer feedback is right, but the execution and results are dangerously wrong. By getting a stock response from a hastily asked question, you've learned nothing about the customer's experience that night. And what if everything actually WAS just "OK"? In today's market, will a so-so "OK" experience guarantee that the customer will come back? Of course not.

Here are four rules to follow when asking about your customer's perceptions of your service:

1. Allow time to listen, don't just go through the formality of asking.

2. Ask specific questions, not general, sweeping statements.

3. Use a superlative that you want to be identified with to the customer. Was your service excellent? Fantastic? Outrageous? Set your sights high not low. Never OK.

4. The quality of the effort is worth far more than the quantity of effort.

It's time that the hallowed expression "Is everything OK?" was finally laid to rest.

Manage Profitability

Profits are essential for any business. Unless there is a sufficient profit margin, the business cannot exist. The jobs it provides, the products and services it delivers, and the contributions it makes to the community would cease.

All managers play a role in an organization's overall profitability. Some managers are responsible for generating revenues, others are responsible for making products or delivering services, and still others are responsible for helping the line functions do their jobs.

To be a successful manager, you need to manage your financial responsibilities. This is much more complex than just increasing revenues and keeping cost low - it also means managing assets and liabilities.

To manage profitability, you need to understand how the organization makes money and your department's role in that process. You may need to set financial goals, work with sales and marketing to determine pricing and volume, determine whether and when to make capital expenditures, identify ways to reduce costs, justify investments, and so on.

Here are some guidelines and suggestions for effectively managing profitability, including:

Understanding Financial Management: Sometimes the biggest obstacle to effective financial management is simply a manager's lack of understanding of financial terms and processes. Often just learning the basic financial principles allows managers to use financial processes and reports thus improve their work unit's profitability.

Setting Challenging Financial Goals: The first step in managing for profitability is establishing financial goals and a budget that is realistic, yet challenging, in its profits objectives. You may have the responsibility of actually setting goals, or you may input to others for goal setting and budgeting.

Managing Against Your Financial Goals: Once you have establish your financial goals, your next responsibility is to manage effectively so that you stay on course and come as close as possible to achieving them, to help you do this, follow this process:

• Identify the three to five key cost and revenue areas that will make or break your financial goal. Get to know the operations of the areas that make up your costs and provide revenues. Talk with the people who know how these areas operate, the impacts they have, and the ways in which they are affected by other forces.
• Ask your manager, your employees and, if appropriate, your peers for their opinions on which of your budget items are the key ones.
• Determine how frequently you need to see reports comparing budget projections and actual.
• When you receive the reports, monitor them carefully to see how your budget is working.
• Plan in advance how you will handle significant changes in your budget projections.
• Conduct formal monthly reviews. Use the reviews totrack status and progress against goals, understand what is happening, and make changes in assumptions and forecasts if necessary.

Looking for Ways to Reduce Costs: Becoming cost-conscious and continually looking for ways to   to reduce costs is one way that you can manage for greater profitability. Although you are undoubtedly aware that long-term goals and strategies sometimes require expenditures that won't contribute to short-term profits, for the most part it is helpful to look for ways to reduce costs wherever you can.

Pursuing Ways to Increase Revenue: as you know, you can increase revenue by increasing sales or by increasing the price of your products or services. however, increasing sales without concern for profit margins or increasing prices without knowing the impact on sales is both shortsighted and naive.
The primary responsibility for sales and pricing belongs to the sales and marketing departments. It is important to understand this process and monitor what you are getting, especially if you have overall responsibility for the business unit.
In addition, managers these days also are concerned with internal suppliers and customers. many managers are internal suppliers and, in turn, are also customers. You sell to your internal customers and set prices. many of the same principles of selling and pricing are involved internally as well as externally.

Analyzing and Justifying Capital Expenditures: managing profitability includes spending money wisely. When you or your employees have identified capital expenditures that are believed necessary, conduct a through analysis of actual total costs and expect benefits. Include the following in your analysis:

• Cost of identifying vendors and suppliers
• Actual capital cost itself
• cost of implementation or change, including training needed
• Intangible costs, including stress and inconvenience
• Expected benefits, both tangible and intangible
• Cost or impact of not making the expenditure

Ask your staff to make this kind of analysis for all capital expenditures, so you can make more informed decisions.

Involving Employees in Financial Management: Your employees can be your best allies in increasing the profitability of your department or area for which you are financially responsible. Involving your staff members in every aspect of the budgeting process to which they can contribute can yield many ideas for improving profitability.

Managing the Perception of Your Profitability Management: Some managers believe that they already are managing aggressive financial goals, but others may not share that perception. If this situation occurs, first collect additional information by answering these questions:

• How do your goals compare with others in the organization?
• How aware are others of your attention to the organization's bottom line?
• What's the perception of the opportunities available to you for contributing to profitability?
• How does what you do in your area compare to how other managers approach their financial responsibilities?

This analysis will identify the areas of discrepancy between you and others. Then you can determine a plan of action that may include:

• Stretching your group more
• Educating others
• Providing more financial information
• Becoming more comfortable holding people accountable for aggressive numbers.