My TOP FIVE must in customer service.

I had a bad experience when I went out with my girlfriends the other day. We planned to go out for dinner and head out for some dancing afterwards. The restaurant we went was a Greek restaurant, locating at West End, Brisbane. The horrible experience we had inspired me to write this.

I will tell you how awful the service was that night as I tell you my top 5 must to have in customer service. As a former supervisor in hospitality industry, I put myself in both customers’ and staffs’ shoes. So when I get treated like I am nothing when I have been an welcoming customer, I get quite annoyed at their unwelcoming attitudes. So I have to apologize for this long post, bear with me. Get your coffee or tea ready 🙂

1. MUST HAVE A WELCOMING ATTITUDE

This is the first impression your customers will receive, as they call up for a booking and as they walked in to the door. It is the same in both retail and hospitality. When a customer call up, you don’t answer with a grumpy voice, do you? Or when you walk into the restaurant/store you face your customers with an unpleasant face.

I personally think it is rude, when we as customers walk in to stores and get greeted badly. As customers, they have choices, to either spend their money in your store or else where. Why make them feel so unwelcome?

So this is what happened that night, we walked into the restaurant and the guy gave us the most awful welcome ever. We were late, but accidents do happen. Restaurants do get busy, but it will make the customers feel like they are valued and spending their money at somewhere they know they can get a great service; if the staff call them up and check if everything was alright when they are running late. We apologized for being late but this waiter wasn’t the happiest person, you can tell! He was like “Your booking is at 6, you are half an hour late.”

How would you feel, when you have apologize for being late and you are going to spend your time and money at this place…and you were greeted with this sort of attitude? Immediately we weren’t very happy towards the waiter. As he was going to take us to our table he then again said “I was going to take some menus, but because your booking was at six so I actually have set up the tables for you already.” Did we get furious!

2. MUST BE INFORMATIVE AND UNDERSTANDING

When your customer call up to make a booking, you tell them what you know. Either there is a limit dining time, a special event or a change of menu. Everything that a customer should know, you tell them. This may effect them making a booking, but it will definitely save the restaurant having a bad feedback because of the lake of information.

In a retail situation, the more information a retailer provide the more customer will trust them. Information about the product, the warranty or the store rules. Again, whatever the customers should know, you tell them. I don’t think anyone would be happy if they weren’t told they can’t do refunds or exchange.

That night, when we walked in we got an awful attitude from the waiter; moreover we were shocked that we only had certain time to dine. He spoke to us like we SHOULD have known. Well, we didn’t know. Did the person who took the booking told us that we only have 2 hours dining time? Nope.

Before he took us to the table he said “So you only have an hour and half to dine in, because your booking was at six and there 2 hours dining time rule.” We weren’t very happy about what he said because we weren’t informed. He then replied “It is normal on Friday and Saturdays to have 2 hours dining time. Don’t worry we can serve you in one and half hour.” It is not how quick you can serve us, it is how long we want to spend time catching up. It is not how long we can eat, it is how long we want to take, to enjoy our meals. Did this waiter apologize for how uninformative they were? Nope. Should they apologize? Yes!

He was not being understanding regarding to the fact that we could have an accident, hence our lateness; and he threw this bomb on us. All I could say is RUDE. Always put yourself in the customers shoes. And many customers need to put themselves in the staffs’ shoes too. It is a mutual understanding that both parties should have.

3. MUST BE PROFESSIONAL, YET FRIENDLY

If you are too friendly to a customer, they will not take you seriously. Joke around with your customers who you think they might take it the way you expect them to. Some customers may take it offensive when staff joke around with them.

I personally feel it is always good to ask how they are, and you can go from there. Some customers will tell you their whole life stories, some will just respond you in short answers. In the end it is your call, and to test your professionalism and see how one customer is.

A customer can be super rude, as they think they are the king/queen because they are spending the money. That doesn’t mean as a staff you need to treat them the same way. In the end, maybe they had a bad day or whatnot, and a customer shouldn’t affect how amazing you are. Keep it cool, because you know you are better; not because you are getting paid for it.

There are some occasions where CEOs shop for themselves and obviously they are super professional. As a staff, we need to learn to be at the same level as them or even better. In the end, they are customers too; they may get special treatments because most of them are VIP but that doesn’t mean you can’t be friendly. Most of the time they are willing to lower their guards and professional shield to make another connection.

So once again, was the waiter that night professional? Sure, maybe he was trying to be. However his attitude was the worse so how professional can he be? After he showed us our table, he told us “Sorry, we are not BYO.” We then again got really confused and annoyed. One of our friends went there a few times and it was BYO. He then said “Yes, we are only BYO on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays.” Excuse me? You are either BYO, or you are not. And if you have chose to do this sneaky non-BYO on the weekends, TELL YOUR CUSTOMERS. There were three other tables that had the same problem that night. He even told us that this information says on their website. Is it really the customers’ fault when they have been there before to check their website regularly? Or is it that the staff, who really need to be professional and friendly to remind their customers?

4. MUST CHECK UP ON YOUR CUSTOMERS

Either in hospitality or retail, you need to make sure your customer is happy in the store. Check up on your customer whether they are happy with everything or if they need anymore help. See if the meals are okay or if they need more drinks. Check up on them, they will feel happier about spending their money at your store. Most importantly, it will void major complaints in the end if you already solve the problem previously.

http://www.restaurantnews.com/top-100-best-restaurants-for-service/

There are times where customers come in not needing any assistance, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to go back in 5~10 minutes to see if they are interested in the sales racks or the new arrivals. Or there are times where regular customers come in and you know they will only order certain amount of drinks. That doesn’t mean that one day, they might want something different.

We didn’t get meal check that night. Thankfully, there wasn’t any problem with our food. We were enjoying each others company and were chatting away. The food was good, but it definitely didn’t make up for the lack of service.

5. MUST MAKE SURE YOUR CUSTOMERS WALK OUT HAPPY

Lastly, your customer will come and pay, but…will they? Did you check on them and make sure everything was good? Are they willing to pay what they have received and how they were treated? It is different in retail because customers normally come back AFTERWARDS to complain if there were any faults. Nonetheless, make sure your customers walk out happy.

They had a bad experience? That’s okay, apologize and wish to see them again. Make sure you have solve the problem before they leave the store. They will walk out with more positive impression then that bad taste in their mouths.

They came into the store just to have a browse? No worries, let them know what sales and what new arrivals you have. Wish them to have a great day and happy shopping. They may not want to buy something at first, but with a friendly service and attitude, they may come back just for that!

Word of mouth is really powerful. Some people just under estimate how big of an impact it can be. I am here, writing a bad experience I had. How many people would it reach? I don’t know. How many friends and family have we told regarding to that horrible dinner? Many.

So there it is, my top 5 must in customer service. Thank you for bearing with me. Such a long post. Still got your coffee or tea? Hope they are not cold by now!

P.S The restaurant I went to was called Lefkas Taverna. As mentioned, they are locating at West End, Brisbane. Give it a try, maybe you will get a different experiences than us and tell me all about it if you do try it! Obviously we have decided we will not go back, unless we have to… but what are the chances.

Image credits –
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/425379127275465603/
http://www.cramerphoto.com / Via stylemepretty.com
http://www.cosmopolitan.co.id/article/read/1/2015/5638/4-cara-mengatur-keuangan-bersama-pasangan
bottomlinehealth.com/surprising-restaurant-tricks-that-keep-you-slim/
http://www.dynamicsretailsoftware.com/blog/is-retail-pos-software-the-key-to-bolstering-repeat-business