Tactics for Cultivating Exceptional Customer Service

5
Tactics for Cultivating
Exceptional Customer Service
+ 5 customer service pitfalls to avoid
by Julie Maager
A
ny restaurant
operator worth
their salt can testify,
chapter and verse, about the
importance of good customer
service: “Our number one
priority.” “The key to our
success.” “The lifeblood of
our operation.”
Yet, if customer service
is the lifeblood of restaurant
operations, why do so many
customer service encounters
seem so... anemic?
Great customer service
—exceptional customer
service—is amazingly elusive.
Like Sasquatch or a Vikings
Super Bowl ring, it often
evades those who are seeking
it. Wisconsin Restaurateur
spoke to several restaurant
operations that have a
reputation for exceptional
customer service to get their
wisdom and insights.
1
know character, temperament
and attitude trump training
and experience and hire
accordingly.
Chris Murphy, manager of
the upscale restaurant Eddie
Martini’s in Wauwatosa, says
personality and attitude—not
skills or previous experience
—are the primary things he
looks at when making a new
hire for the front or back of
the house.
“We are looking for the
kind of person first,” he said.
“The skill set we can train.”
Restaurant consultant
Bill Marvin, known as “The
Restaurant Doctor,” agrees.
Exceptional customer service
comes from an attitude
of hospitality, something
restaurant operators often
excel at themselves but
struggle to impart to
their staff.
Regarding teaching
hospitality, Marvin said, “the
bad news is you can’t do it; the
good news is you don’t have
to.” According to Marvin,
hospitality is an inborn
employee
personaLity issueS
Are you gonna
be a problem?
Impressed by his
new hire’s years of
experience, he was
startled to find out that
her surly personality
made "service with a
smile" a pipe dream.
2
3
Hiring employees with
the right attitude
Not to knock
good training, but all the
instruction in the world isn’t
going to make a good server
(or host, or counterperson)
out of someone with
a negative personality.
Restaurant operations that
excel at customer service
4
5
attitude, so seek out and hire
people who already have it.
“Start with people who have
a warm and ingratiating way
about themselves and you
can teach them the technical
stuff,” he said.
2
Adding value with
customer service
With all the dollar
menus, online discounts,
coupon books and the like,
it may seem that promotions
and low prices rule among
customers who aren’t buying
“the recession is over”
headlines. But smart operators,
from upscale to quick service,
know that customer service is
part of the value equation for
customers.
“It’s just not good enough
to deliver on quality food in
a clean environment at a fair
price,” said Jeff Bonner, vice
president of operations and
training at Culver Franchising
System, Inc. “The overall
guest experience, including
how they are treated, is part
of the decision-making
process when it comes to
returning or not.”
The culture of hospitality
Culver’s tries to cultivate
among its staff, Bonner said,
leads to customer service
continued on page 16
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continued from page 14
2
It’s been over
an hour!
3
4
DEVALUED
SERVICE
The 2 for 1 special
had customers
flocking in. Too
bad the poor
customer service
kept them from
coming back.
5
moments—refilling coffee
at the table, helping parents
with high chairs and booster
seats, taking out an umbrella
for a guest and walking them
to their vehicle in the rain—
that don’t happen in a lot of
quick service operations.
“We hear from our guests
letting us know how our
folks went out of their way to
provide that level of service,”
Bonner said. “To them, it is
just not the ‘norm’.”
Likewise, at Eddie
Martini’s, the staff go beyond
what has become the normal
expectations—doors are
opened, coats are taken and
guests are greeted by name,
Murphy said. “You don’t see
that anymore and people are
surprised,” he said. “It sends a
message, like ‘It’s just me they
have been waiting for.’”
3
Encouraging
cooperation
among staff
bussers, your business may not
be offering the level of service
you expect. An individual
employee can have a great
game face in front of the
customer, but great customer
service only happens when
employees are getting along
and working as a team.
At the Original Pancake
House in Madison, manager
Dani Morgan attributes much
of their customer service
success to the long-term
waitstaff and the team attitude
they have cultivated.
“We work with each other.
It’s not like ‘I just coffee my
section.’ We coffee everyone’s
section,” she said. Morgan said
the servers recognize that next
time that customer may be in
their section and they don’t
want that person to remember
bad service.
At Anello’s Torch Lite
in Shawano, the regulars
recognize the camaraderie
among the staff and appreciate
how everyone gets along, said
owner Rita Anello-Mondus.
If any drama tries to rear its
head among the staff, she is
quick to nip it in the bud.
“If you are caught talking
negative about one of your
co-workers, you’ll be talked to.
It’s just not allowed,” she said.
Allison Callos, manager
of Island Café in Minocqua,
echoed those sentiments. “If
somebody is mad at someone
in the kitchen, it’s not
going to flow well and your
customers will see it,” she said.
2
UNCOOPErative
3 Employees
Their boss imagined that because Gary and Angela were
spectacular servers that spectacular service would be the
result. Sadly, lack of cooperation got in the way.
4
Could you refill
waters on my
fourtop?
That’s not
my job.
5
Spectacular servers do
not automatically provide
spectacular service. If your
top servers don’t get along or
are continually ticking off the
line cooks and cursing out the
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4
Nurturing sincerity
and personal
connections
Some restaurant owners may
think they can write a perfect,
sincere script for each of their
employees so every customer
gets the same perfect, sincere
service. However, you can’t
script good service.
Marvin has seen many
restaurant chains that
have scripted their service
and “gotten into creating
these little robots,” he said.
However, the one-size-fitsall automated approach to
customer service rarely works.
“I can do everything
right and still leave people
cold,” Marvin said. Where
exceptional customer service
reigns, it’s usually because
employees are making a
genuine, personal connection
with your customers. You
can’t script the human touch,
but you can model it and
nurture it in your employees.
At Island Café, Callos said
making a personal connection
with their customers sets them
apart from many restaurants.
They know people by their
first name, what they like
to drink, what their favorite
menu items are. The new
employees pick up the attitude
from the experienced workers.
“We try to show that to
the others just getting started
and they pick it up quickly,”
Callos said.
At the Original Pancake
House, the regulars and
waitstaff know each other by
name and often banter back
and forth. “We kind of have
a Cheers-like atmosphere.
People come in and it’s
like ‘Norm!’” Morgan said.
3
4
This time
with feeling!
scripted
performance
5
Mary always used the required
scripted phrases, but her insincere
performance left customers cold.
According to her, that
genuine connection from
servers who truly like people
can’t be faked. “Customers
know when you are sincere
and when you’re just out to
get a tip,” Morgan said.
5
Fostering a positive
work environment
“No matter how
warm and friendly you are,
I can crush it out of you as
your boss by being a jerk,”
Marvin said. The bottom line
is people who feel miserable
in their jobs don’t provide
good customer service. All our
interviewees said their loyal
customers often remark on
how happy the staff seems. By
cultivating your employees’
happiness, you are also
cultivating good customer
service.
At the Original Pancake
House, Morgan said each
server is given more tables
than many restaurants give
their waitstaff. While it may
seem counterintuitive (fewer
tables should allow each
server to provide prompter,
better service, right?) the
effect has been that the
servers make more tips, staff
turnover is reduced and
Life changing hospitality
Can customer service be life changing? Maybe it can.
Eddie Martini’s in Wauwatosa is located near a medical
complex. Manager Chris Murphy recalled how they had a man
and woman who became steady customers of theirs for about a
month. The couple eventually shared that their son was in the
hospital with a life-threatening condition.
everyone is happier in their
jobs. At Eddie Martini’s, lots
of the staff have been there
five years or more and several
10 years or more, Murphy
said. At Anello’s Torch Lite,
many staff members have
been there 20 years or more.
Staff happiness leads to
longevity which allows those
personal connections between
patrons and staff to take
root. When that happens,
customers turn into regulars.
“People like talking to
the same person up front,”
Murphy said. Knowing the
staff and that the service they
receive will be consistently
good is one of the things that
brings people back to Eddie
Martinis, he said.
It is also one of the things
that brings people back to the
“Cheers-like” atmosphere at
the Original Pancake House,
Morgan said.
“We hear all the time,
‘You people are so happy’
and ‘You’re always smiling,’”
Morgan said. “People are
pleasantly surprised when they
come in a place and people
are happy.”
2
3
4
5
Staff will be
cheerful, warm and
pleasant or…
Poor work
environment
… I will yell at them
until their attitude
improves
“They said ‘We are really enjoying coming here for a couple
hours each day in an otherwise nightmarish time in our lives,’”
he recalled. “Afterward, they sent us a note saying we changed
their lives,” he said. Murphy shared the note with his staff
and said it was amazing and humbling that their extension
of hospitality could have had that impact. “It was really
something,” he said. WR
Nov/Dec 10 • Wisconsin
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Restaurateur
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