"My order is always wrong". Those are words we don't like to hear.
I had a guest today who was waiting for her food. Her body language suggested that she was in a hurry and concerned about her order. I decided to be pro-active. I said hello and asked her her name so I could check on her meal. She responded with that awful phrase"My order is always wrong".
The initial reaction may be of insult. As the restaurant leader you may feel insulted that a guest would say this to you. But, like my Director always says, "take a guest complaint seriously, but not personal". It is probably not true that her order always wrong, especially since I did not recognize this guest or her order, but that should not matter. We work in a world of perception.
All you should be thinking about is building a relationship with the guest and making sure her order is always correct.
I simply introduced myself to her and assured her I would check her order personally and that we would work harder to complete her order correctly in the future. She immediately relaxed and we began to talk. When she left, she felt good about her experience and is more likely to come back now. That is the goal.
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2 comments:
Great job Lester! This reminds me of one of the 10 deadly sins of service.
As you eluded to in your blog service is a complex concept, and despite your best attempts, you will fail to please some of the people some of the time.
The key is to know that it's just as important to know what to do when service fails as it is to know how to make it rock.
It's one thing to have a clear policy for correcting complaints, for example don't compromise standards, and although the customer is not always right, pretend that they are.
My Ops friend always use to say "BLAST the customer"!
a process for handling customer complaints: B.L.A.S.T.
Believe the Customer.
Listen to their concern. Apologize.
Suggest a solution.
Thank them.
lol DP
Our Customers are never a problem. If we are facing an issue always think this way: Would we have this conversation if that was my only customer or my only table in the restaurant? if the answer is No, that means that we know what the problems are and we will fix it. If the answer is Yes, you may want to make a carriere move!!!
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