Good customer service can greatly affect how people feel about your restaurant and how much they're willing to come back or promote your business to others. Here are some steps that you can take to make sure you have great customer service.
Step 1: Audit the Current Experience
Before you can set about improving your customer service experience, it's important to know how you're currently doing. For this step, it can be helpful to hire outside food-service management services to audit your customer service experience; since a third party has an impartial perspective, they can often catch things you'd miss. Your food-service consultant may send representatives to dine in the restaurant and collect data or to observe the staff and customers at different times to report on the details they see. Another helpful thing they can do is collect anonymous data by putting together customer surveys.
Step 2: Get More Specific about Expectations
Once you've gone through the process of auditing your customer-service experience with a consultant, you may identify some key expectations that you are falling short of. In this regard, putting together a very detailed guide for improvement can be helpful. For instance, don't simply tell employees that they need to be quicker about taking orders; set a specific number for how much time should pass between the customers sitting down and their having their orders taken. By being very specific about what you expect, you can set clear guidelines for staff to improve.
Step 3: Create an Environment of Continuous Learning
Adjusting to a new standard of customer service can take some time. In order to pull the transition off without a hitch, it's important to create a positive learning environment. Give employees many chances to ask questions, and even have regular staff discussions to see how the new customer-service guidelines are working. Taking time to discuss issues that come up can certainly be difficult, especially if your restaurant is very busy. But if you are willing to invest in employees getting better at their jobs, they will be more loyal in turn and have a more positive work environment, which can translate to better customer service.
It's not always good enough to have excellent food; it's also important to create a great environment through top-notch customer service. By following these steps to audit and improve your customer experience, you can make sure that you're giving customers an all-around positive experience at your restaurant.
Share5 July 2016
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