Make your customers feel like they have not been cheated.
Counting change back to the customer after the transaction will give a sense of trust when dealing with the customer.
Also make sure the customer can see the till screen on how much change they should get back.
If you run a cafe / restaurant here is one of the best tips you can have.
Try and bring the table all at once , whether it is a 2 , 4 , 6 , 8 etc
Let me give you an example.
I was at a cafe this week for breakfast and there were 7 of us.
2 cooked breakfast's came out first , wait 5 minutes then another 2 cooked breakfasts came out , wait a few more minutes then a serve of toast came out , then & here is the trump card , 2 serves of muesli came out ( the easiest thing to prepare).
A bit of preparation and all the meals could have arrived at the same time.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ".
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
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.
