After my years running venues, I still look back and reflect “Wouldn’t it have been nice if everything went smoothly every day?”
We know that we need to work hard to design an experience that is as amazing as we can for each guest who walks through our door. However, most shifts, unexpected points of chaos came our way. Even with the unexpected, there was always one thing we had control over at the end of the day, the one thing that had we not paid attention to it would have cost us customers if we were not careful….
Perception
Perception is one of the main factors that govern how our customers feel about us. Perception can be controlled by culture, heavily impacts your immersion, and is the foundation of service recovery.
There are some obvious factors that contribute to customer perception.
- Timely service.
- A seamlessly designed immersive experience for each guest.
- A plan to quickly address service issues when they arise.
- Actively working with your staff to help create a better overall customer service experience.
Less obtrusive actions we take (or don’t take) can just as easily strengthen or destroy a relationship; things that we may gloss over but that the customer might not.
The best way to impact customer perception is to put yourself in their shoes. Sit on the other side of your bar and work your service strategy from the outside in.
To get started, you can ask yourself the following:
- How would the solution I presented to my guest feel if I were in their situation?
- Am I (or my staff) doing or saying anything that could damage my customers’ perception of my venue?
- Will they have good or bad things to say about how I handled the situation on Yelp/Facebook/Opentable later that evening?
No matter how well you prepare, things will go wrong in a restaurant. If you add managing customer perception to your service recovery process, you will be able to turn most mistakes into a situation that strengthens the relationship you have with any guest who had a less than perfect experience.
Your Favorite Restaurant Coach,
Dave D
