IMPROVE YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE

Know Where People Sit

When you run a dining room in a hotel , motel etc you need to provide adequate training so that employee's or owners that serve in the dining room know exactly what they should be doing.

I recently stayed in a motel which had a dining room that seated about 30.

Well run dining rooms know the table layout & the number of diners on each table.

When taking the orders the employee's will record where each diner is sitting so that meals can go to the correct diner.

Therefore it was interesting to see meals coming out of the kitchen and the waitresses then calling out a name " Mary " and waiting for Mary to acknowledge that was her meal.Then " Bill" was called and Bill put his hand up to get meal.This went on all the while I was there.

It was an interesting experience and quiet entertaining but not a great example of customer service.

Identify Regular Customers For Repeat Business

When ever I travel I tend to use the same place to stay if I have previously enjoyed my stay and the level of customer service is up to standard.

Recently I visited clients in Broken Hill and stayed at a popular tourist hotel the Silver Haven Motor Inn.

When checking in and asking my name it came up on their computer and they immediately offered me a discount as a regular visitor.

If you are in the service industry reward your regular customers and put the processes in place to identify these customers.

It is all part of customer service.

Mantra Car Service To The Airport

In my final post on The Mantra On Jolimont I would like to briefly mention the ride to the Airport.    

The Mantra will if you want organise a car to take you to the airport ( and pick you up ).

Being a bleak day we booked the car when leaving to take us to the Airport.

The car was ready for us 10 minutes before we were due to leave ( a good sign and good customer service ).

The car was spotless , we were helped with our bags and the driver went out of his way to make us feel welcome.( More great examples of good customer service).

On the drive to the airport he pointed out local landmarks and had an intimate knowledge of the city ( great customer service)

At the airport we were assisted from the car , a receipt was issued for the drive and we were at the airport in plenty of time.

Would i remember this and want to book it next time , yes , and why , because here was a great example of why good customer service will get repeat business.

Mantra on Jolimont Experience Part 2

We recently stayed at the Mantra on Jolimont and this brought up some lessons on basic customer service.

When we were checking out on our way down to reception we came across a poor woman who's child had locked the 2 of them out of the room.She asked if we could notify reception ( she was in her pyjama's ) to get someone to let her in.

At reception we informed the staff member about the woman and he asked politely if we minded waiting for the other staff member to assist us while he took care of the poor woman locked out of her room.

It was all handled with polite perfection by the staff members at The Mantra who were concerned with not only serving us but taking care of the woman locked out of her room.

Mantra Breakfast Service

Breakfast on Grand Final day in a hotel in Melbourne can be a experience especially if you are short staffed or not organised.

The Mantra on Jolimont where we stayed was no exception.

The girl who was in charge of the dining room "Maxine" was trying her best but it was like"trying to hold back the incoming tide"

They ran out of cutlery , they ran out of coffee , food came out and was placed on tables without cutlery or condiments and the poor girl was running around trying to satisfy customers , bring out food , seat customers , clean tables , and fix the mentioned issues.

All this with a packed dining room.

So what lesson can be learnt from this.

Just as with any good restaurant you need "one person to be in charge" of the dining room who concentrates on seating customers and guiding other members of staff to fix any issues that arise.

That person cannot be running back and forth out of site of the dining room but must see the dining room as their priority.

There were other staff members there at the time but they lacked a clear direction and that is why someone has to be in charge to embody ' good customer service ".

And Now The Bill

Many places will not split a bill , dont know why , as it is helping the customer and going some way to give at least a bit of service.

In some establishments I can understand why when they struggle to use a calculator.

Anyway back to the Alma Hotel.

It was now time to pay the bill.

I asked if we could just pay our share ( 2 people ) and it was then that the waitress noticed that the bill she had given us was not ours but a duplicate of the table next to us.

She then noticed that she had not charged some items to the next table and proceeded to ask them for more money after she had finalised their bill.All this while we were still there and waiting.

I would have said that going after the $10 owing was a bit too late considering the bill had been finalised.

It was then onto our bill.

I then wanted to see a copy of our bill as she said she was now unable to give us one and wanted us to go on " blind faith " that she was correct.

After 10 minutes she was able to get a copy of our bill from the machine and we worked it out amongst ourselves about paying.

I felt sorry for the poor girl serving us and it is in no way her fault , just lack of training.

So the lessons for customer service here are:

• It's not that hard to split the bill
• Train your staff in the use of their equipment
• If you make a mistake - for customer relations sometimes you should wear it
• Be accurate in what you do
• Serve and finalise one customer at a time when completing a bill dont " chop & change"

Substitutions And Service

On the heels of the specials saga comes the substitutions saga .

At the Alma Hotel I had "Goody's Seafood Basket" and asked not to have the prawns , still wanted the calamari , piece of fish , scallops

Normally in restaurants you would receive extra of something else , say calamari or scallops as you did not want or could not eat one particular item.

Not at the Alma Hotel this night.

My meal was identical in quantity of items presented minus the prawns as i compared it to someone else's on the next table that I knew.

I know times are hard but if you want to give people a memorable meal it pays to go just that bit further and think about things from the customers viewpoint not from a " dollar viewpoint".

It all boils down to customer service and putting the disciplines in place to make sure your customers are looked after and catered for in a way that will encourage repeat business.

Please note:  The photo is not the meal I had 

Knowing Your Specials Will Increase Your Sales

Had dinner with friends the other night at the Alma Hotel in Adelaide on Magill Rd.

We sat down at our table , were given menu's , ordered drinks and settled down to peruse the menu.

After a few minutes our " waiter " ( I use that term loosely ) came to take our order and here is where the problem started.

I asked what the specials were , not an unreasonable request I thought , and was told , "they are on the specials clipboard " that he had left at the end of the table ( it was a table of 12 ). He had no intention of telling me the specials just pointing me in their general direction ( and to be totally honest I don't think he had any idea what they were ).

Specials are designed to ease the pressure in the kitchen for the cooks/ chefs and are relied upon especially on busy nights.They are usually good profit lines that can be largely prepared before the night begins and can assist in the flow of meals from the kitchen.

To be totally honest are we expecting too much from waiters , waitresses to remember 6 to 8 lines and have a general knowledge of the other lines on the menu.

Restaurants and dining establishments ,that do, generally reap the rewards of increased sales and a bit less pressure in the dining room.

It's all about customer service.

On Wednesday I will talk about the next aspect of this meal and customer service lessons that can be learned.

Your Attitude Will Get You Discounts

Please enjoy this guest post from Stephen Mitchell

Today  I decided to put my grand plan into action. At midday I walked
to Photographic Wholesaler's (heron known as "PW's") to get what I
wanted. As a consequence of the great customer service I received
today, I've written this short article explaining how I help myself to
get great prices, get continual good customer service and why
retailers like giving me discounts.

In order to get good service anywhere, you have to be polite not
irate, precise not random, and pleasant not demanding. This same
series of techniques is used by retailers to get your service, so why
can you use it also? Here's a few ideas you might like try next time
you go shopping:

POLITE vs IRATE

Ever noticed how much worse your help gets when you get irate with a
retailer? Suddenly all they want to do is take your money, put your
product in a bag and promptly ignore you. Just because you are having
a bad day and want to vent it on the next person you meet.

Seriously, this is wrong. No retailer deserves your bad attitude.
Particularly if you don't like their service or product! How on earth
are you going to get a refund, credit or replacement if you are
blaming the retailer for the problem. Ok, it's a given, sometimes the
product has a fault before it is given, but that is rarely often the
fault of the retailer. If you buy a boxed product - open it in store.
Small electrical goods can be plugged in to ensure they work. Yep,
I've done this.

PRECISE vs RANDOM

The best way to get service anywhere is to go in knowing what you
want, knowing what the options are, and with a good idea of what he
competitors are offering.

In order to bargain effectively, do the research. With pre-knowledge,
your confidence to ask for discounts is increased. Being able to
travel from store-to-store to fight them off against each other means
you need to have precise and accurate data.

So don't turn up with just your money: Arrive knowing exactly what you
want/need. Have a target-price that you will NOT go above. This means
knowing when to say NO. Because if you don't, your retailer certainly
will. Whilst you may not want to spend too much, the retailer has to
cover their costs. Don't imagine for a minute that the retailer is
going to give you anything at the wholesale price.

PLEASANT vs DEMANDING

Do you like people who demand attention? I hope not. Like '<em>Polite
vs Irate</em>', it is important to involve and engage in all the
pre-sale pleasantries. Say hello to the check-out-chick using the name
on her badge, compliment your sales-assistant on her/his dress sense,
and just take the time to know with whom you are dealing. Those extra
few minutes may make all the difference on the final sales price.

From shoes to ceiling fans, flowers to steel pans, paving stones to
dog cleaning, everything is negotiable. All it takes is the
willingness to say hello, greet your retailer happily, and ask "How
much discount would I get if I: bought 2 or more / paid in cash?"
You'll be shocked to discover how effective this is and how much money
you will save.

When was the last time you got a discount after being aggressive?

Appearance Is Everything In Customer Service

Your image and appearance and or your staff's image and appearance to customers will reflect your desire to reflect an image of good customer service.

if you look shoddy or your staff looks shoddy it will be reflected in your sales.