reason2return

know your stuff!

2008-03-01T15:38:00.001-08:00

I'm so tired of going to restaurants who have good food, a good atmosphere and then poor service. I have a restaurant here locally that I have been to several times because I genuinely like the food. I have never had a bad meal there. Unfortunately I have only had one good server in all the times I have been there.

So let me speak to all the servers out there!

SERVERS:

Make eye contact and smile when talking to your guests
KNOW your menu and your specials. Don't read them off of a list. Explain them to your guests.
Suggest items. Suggest your favorite appetizer, drink or entree.
Upsell. If you know what would make a drink better.... suggest it!
Anticipate. Be looking for ways to make your guest more comfortable.
Don't say, "I don't know" unless it is followed by "but give me a minute and I'll find out."

Okay, I'll stop for now. But servers, remember that YOU determine the amount of your tip.

Take note!

2008-02-22T08:01:00.001-08:00

In Elkhart, Indiana we have a very large hispanic population. The Latino owned businesses are everywhere. As a lover of Mexican food, I often find myself in the taquerias and markets.
Sadly there is still prejudice alive and well in Indiana. Often I hear comments about "the Mexicans". There is a stigma attached to their businesses as if they are someplace to avoid and be afraid of. I couldn't disagree more!

My frequent experiences at these Hispanic owned businesses has been nothing but fantastic! The level of customer service provided should be a model for most of the "American" owned businesses in my area.

The service provided at Ricky's Burritos on Prairie St. in Elkhart is the best I have had in years. They are fast, personable, efficient and knowledgeable. I wish McDonalds and Burger King could say the same!

Here are some other opinions:
http://andrewtaylorrecommends.blogspot.com/2006/08/best-of-elkhart-rickys-taqueria.html

http://www.etruth.com/Know/News/Story.aspx?id=370984

Am I welcome?

2008-01-18T05:28:00.000-08:00

I try to be positive in this blog. My goal is to highlight outstanding customer service. But.... once in a while I have an experience that isn't positive, but I just think it needs to be shared.

Recently I took my daughter to a locally owned restaurant that is sort of an Elkhart "landmark". The restaurant has a long history that includes having served Al Capone more than once. We decided to give it a try. The handmade sign on their window said they were voted the best burger in Elkhart. I couldn't help but notice there were no burgers listed on the menu. Very odd.

this restaurant was obviously a family run institution. The best way to describe our feeling was this: Have you ever gone to a party or even where you felt like the "outsider"? You know, the feeling that everyone knows everyone and everyone belongs there... except you? That was it. The server (who was probably one of the owners) treated us like "outsiders". It became very obvious when some "regulars" came in shortly after us and she was an entirely different person. So, needless to say, we won't be back. Little did she know that we may have become a "regular" if she had treated us like one instead of an outsider.

Oh, I didn't bother to ask where the hamburger was on the menu. I figured if they didn't care enough about it to put it on the menu, then it was worth ordering.

Never underestimate the power of....

2008-01-11T04:09:00.000-08:00

A SMILE! I'm amazed at how an experience at a place of business can be taken up several notches if the customer service person adds a genuine, warm SMILE! I've had a couple of experiences lately where the service wasn't all that spectacular, but the person taking care of me was warm, personable and had a nice big smile. Don't let the smile go!

Now there's a good thought!

2008-01-04T09:19:00.001-08:00

"Any seeming deception in a statement is costly, not only in the expense of the advertising but in the detrimental effect produced upon the customer, who believes she has been misled."
--John Wanamaker, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Best of 2007

2008-01-02T05:56:00.001-08:00

What are the best customer service, shopping, eating experiences of 2007? I'll share some of my mine, but I want to hear yours first. Tell me about it.

a fresh response to something not so fresh!

2007-12-17T18:16:00.000-08:00

I'll admit it... I'm a die hard bargain hunter, a total sucker for a red tag. Here in Indiana we have a great chain of stores from Michigan called Meijers. Meijers carries everything from from clothing to groceries. (Its my preferred alternative to the world wide chain out of Arkansas) One of the things I enjoy is doing my grocery shopping on Monday after the weekend rush. On Mondays I can get meat on clearance at because it didn't sell over the weekend. I have made many purchases like this and never had a negative experience...until last week. I bought a chicken and went to use it the next day but discovered it did not smell like anything I cared to eat. I threw the meat away and decided to just count it as a loss since I had not kept my receipt (I'm not in the habit of keeping my grocery receipts). Later that week I was in my Meijer store (Goshen, Indiana) and decided to just let the service desk know what had happened. I told the employee there that I expected nothing, but was simply letting them know that they might want to be more careful in the future. She promptly called her manager and asked him to come talk to me. I told him what had happened and assured him that I expected nothing in but was simply informing him. He asked me what I had paid for the meat and I told him it was merely $4 and no big deal. He turned to the customer service desk and told them to take $10 from the drawer and give it to me. Now THAT'S customer service. As far as he was concerned I could have been making the entire story up, but to him it was more important to him that Meijers go the extra mile and retain a loyal customer than to require me to have a "receipt". By the way, before he offered me the $10 I had already told him that this single "bad meat" experience would not keep me from shopping at Meijers in the future.

Thank you Meijers for a FRESH take on customer service!!!

http://www.meijer.com/home.jsp

Bentwood Tavern

2007-12-12T17:10:00.000-08:00

In my line of business I travel a lot around the area. Last week my partner and I stopped in at the Bentwood Tavern in New Buffalo, Michigan. The Bentwood is situated in the Marina Grand Resort. http://www.marinagrandresort.com/?mth=bentwood

It wasn't a busy night at the Tavern, but we were greeted by Lee, the food and beverage manager who quickly sat us. Lee stopped by later in our meal to see how we were doing and seemed genuinely interested. He was great! He had that perfect balance of being friendly and conversational, but not intrusive. He also made two great drinks for us! The blood orange martini was almost like eating a piece of orange candy.

Hillary was our server. She was personable and knowledgeable. She provided excellent service to us throughout our entire meal.

We had the opportunity to meet Chef Jenny Drilon who has put together a declicious assortment of entrees suitable for any budget. The tilapia was cooked and seasonsed to perfection! At the end of our meal Chef Jenny sent desserts to us. The bread pudding had a caramel sauce that I could drink by itself! The cuban coffee chocolate cake was light and tasty, just the perfect balance of coffee and chocolate.

The entire evening was very delicious and pleasant, but it was the outstanding customer service that left me with a reason to return!

Brand Autopsy

2007-12-09T21:06:00.000-08:00

Last week I heard a presentation by a man who worked in marketing for Starbucks for many years. It was a tremendous presentation! I wanted to share his website with you.

http://www.brandautopsy.com/

I'll try to write some more on this subject later, but in the meantime, go look at this guy's website.

No explanation needed.

2007-12-02T15:10:00.000-08:00

Okay so this is how I imagine this conversation went:

Walmart Employee: 'Hello, Walmart Bakery, how can I help you?'

Customer: ' I would like to order a cake for a going away party this week.'

Walmart Employee: 'What do you want on the cake?'

Customer: 'Best Wishes Suzanne' and underneath that 'We will miss you'.

another GREAT experience!

2007-11-28T18:25:00.000-08:00

Today my work colleagues and I were treated a tour and lunch at Swan Lake Resort in Plymouth, Indiana. We were given a complete tour of the incredible facilities by Corporate Sales Manager, Jeanette. I have to give rave reviews to Jeanette. She demonstrated impecable customer service. She was genuinely excited to show us her "domain". She demonstrated the five stars of customer service that I teach. I'll be sharing those with you soon. But for now, Jeanette, you were fantastic!!

look to the right for a link to their website.

That's what I'm talking about!!

2007-11-25T17:19:00.000-08:00

My partner and I decided to do something different for Thanksgiving. Since my children were with their mom this holiday we decided to head to Chicago and eat out. I'm a member of opentable.com (which I highly recommend) and I get regular e-mails from them highlighting new restaurants. I should mention that I am a total "foodie". I am NOT afraid to try new things. I like full flavors and beautiful presentation served in a great atmosphere. But all of that MUST be accompanied by outstanding customer service!!

We chose to dine at Vermilion in downtown Chicago. ttp://thevermilionrestaurant.com.
The reservations were made via the website. We arrived in Chicago early, only to discover it was quite the ghost town on Thanksgiving day! We decided to go the restaurant early and have a drink before dinner. I called to see if they were open yet. The enthusiastic voice on the other line was more than gracious and descriptive in telling me about their lovely lounge area that was open. I immediately had a good feeling about the evening.

We arrived and took a place at the bar for a pre-dinner drink. Malaura was the bartender. She was friendly and helpful. She gave us some tips on which drinks she recommended. I always appreciate it when a server is honest with me. I WANT to know their opinion, their honest opinion, not their sales pitch! She was great. I found the Cucumber Mint Martini served up in a metal martini glass to be most refreshing!

After finishing our drinks we were seated and introduced to our server Milah. I can't say enough good about her! I applaud her! She KNEW THE MENU! I counted on her to give me descriptions, explanations and recommendations. She did all of the above. She was personable and knowledgeable. When we inquired about what wine would be good with our meals she didn't just recommend one, she explained the wine and why it would be good with our choices. I loved it! In fact, thanks to Milah I experienced two of the best wines I have ever had.

Congratulations to Vermilion for training a great staff! Milah - you are awesome!

A new low in Customer Service

2007-11-21T05:03:00.000-08:00

Last week my partner and I decided to use a coupon from the Sunday paper to dine at a mainstream franchise restaurant. I guess we fell for the glossy pictures and of course using Wanda Sikes' voice on their commercials didn't hurt either (I LOVE Wanda!).

After being "greeted" (I use that term very generously) by the two teenage girls at the hostess station we asked to wait until a seat became available. We sat there watching and listening to the two girls (about 5 feet away from us) as they discussed hair styles while running their hands through their hair. I felt like I was in the hall of a Jr. High School.

It was a brief wait till they called out, "David. Party of 2." Which seemed unnecessary since we were the only two guests in the waiting area, but we gladly followed the host to our booth.

We couldn't help but notice the little black gadget on our table. When we asked Curtis, our server, we were told that it was for us to use to summon him if we needed anything. He then told us that it did other things too, but he didn't seem to know exactly what those things were.

I can only imagine how this gadget was marketed to the national restaurant chain. The sales pitch must have pointed out that this little black button was going to solve all customer service problems. Never again would anyone be left trying to flag down a server, instead they could simply press the black button and the server would magically appear. Sounds good? On the surface it would appear to be the ultimate solution to insuring that you have satisfied customers.

What we quickly discovered was that with this new technology the server no longer needed to pay any attention to the guest. "If they need anything, they'll buzz me." At the end of our meal the table had been cleared of all but our drinks. We were talking and drinking, but soon our drinks were entirely empty and we were ready for our check. I put the system to the test. We decided to wait and see if our server would come to our table on his own or wait till we pressed the button. He passed our table at least three times and even glanced at our empty drinks, but never stopped. Instead he joined the other servers by the bar to resume their lively chat. After the third time of passing our table, glancing our way and not stopping, I decided to press the button. Sure enough, he was quickly there to see what we needed.

My partner said to me, "What are we tipping for?" Good point! A server's job is to anticipate and fulfill the needs of the guest. If I am responsible for looking after my own needs and notifying my server when I need him.... maybe he should tip me!

I call this a NEW LOW in customer service!